Life insurance hardly to be offered in Armenia soon

PanARMENIAN.Net - Armenia’s insurance market marks its 15th anniversary on November 19, 2010.

Director of the Association of Armenian Insurance Market Participants Andranik Ohanjanyan told journalists that liabilities of insurance companies totaled AMD 60bln by the end of 1997, while they amounted to AMD 3.25 trillion by the end of September 2010.

Besides, insurance premiums were collected at the amount of AMD 431mln in 1997, while their amount made AMD 6.6bln during the first nine months of 2010.

The sum of insurance payments amounted to AMD 826bln 13 years ago against AMD 1.3bln during the first nine months of 2010.

60,000 insurance agreements are effective in Armenia as of September 30, 2010.

According to Ohanjanyan, nine insurance companies operate in Armenia currently. There are 18 types of licenses for non-life insurance, while the voluntary vehicle insurance had been the most popular one prior to introduction of the compulsory vehicle insurance.

“There is no life insurance in Armenia, as under the law adopted in 2007 one company cannot get a license for life and non-life insurance. As a new company with a rather huge capital needs to be established to obtain a license for life insurance, a similar insurance company will hardly be established in Armenia in the upcoming years,” concluded Ohanjanyan.