written by General Manager of Near East Insurance Cengiz Ertürk

Firstly, as the youngest insurance company in the North Cyprus insurance sector I would like to talk about Near East Insurance.
 
Our company began its services in October 2019, in Kyrenia, with the vision of becoming a leading, trustworthy and admired company in the Insurance sector. We are taking firm steps in the Insurance sector with our many types of insurance, technological enhancements and the principle of forming good relationships with our clients and our aim of “always doing our best” as a member of the large Near East family.
 
Alongside the more typical types of insurance such as car, traffic, business and property insurance, we also offer private policies such as physician liability insurance and property value protection. By bringing innovation and dynamism to the insurance sector, with different perspectives and modern accessibility possibilities like mobile application, we are working to reach our goal of becoming the sector’s leading innovative company.
 
In order to reach our goal of being regarded as a trustworthy company, we have created an experienced, well-educated and customer focused team who will grow with our work capacity, be close to our policyholders, our work partners and our customers.
 
With all these features and our dynamism we are going to present the best possible insurance policies to you our customers.
 
As for the pandemic which has affected our country and the whole world deeply, at the moment the number of affected people around the world is 15 million and the number of deaths is over 650.000. Although precautions taken have prevented the spread of the virus in many countries and we are told it is coming under control, the relaxation of some precautions has brought the fear of a second and third wave. When we look at the course of events, it is predicted that a vaccine may be found and used by the end of 2021 and life will go back to normal?
 
The coronavirus pandemic has effected the ongoing and brought about new risks, insurance types according to customer requests, and methods of providing services, policy bill payments and the operational processes in the insurance sector.
 
First of all, risks arising as a result of the pandemic and requests for claims because of it have had a direct impact on health insurance and certain types of policies. The number of patients and the number of people that might be affected in the future has the potential to increase costs of health insurance steeply. We do not, however, expect a rise in the costs of Travel Health Insurance due to travel restrictions. Nevertheless, just as in other branches, loss in premium production is expected because of cancelled policies and a decrease in requests.
 
Due to the deceleration of economic life and restrictions, there has been a reduction in the Shipping sector. Moreover, there has been a decrease in employer liability insurance In the case of death due to illness also because of the increase of risks in cyber-attacks as people are working from home and sharing information online. Economic recession has also caused reduction in car, property and business insurances.
 
For the reasons already stated, there have been some difficulties with policy bill payments. Claims for damages which might come about because of the pandemic, the worsening market conditions and the risk of reinsurer partners falling is expected to affect sufficient company capital.
 
The most important impact of the pandemic is probably how people avoid coming together because they are afraid of being infected, so they prefer to work from the safety of their own home. With the foresight of this continuing after the pandemic clears, all insurance processes must be regulated accordingly. The insurance sector and the government need to come up with solutions.
 
Presenting İnsurance proposals, organising policies, delivering policies to policyholders, collecting policy bill payments, conducting damage assessments, making damage payments and assuring the necessary paperwork for each process is conveyed to both parties should be easily carried out in an electronic environment. By this means, policy holders will be able to apply for insurance, receive proposals and policies, make policy bill payments and finalise damage assessments without leaving home and interacting with other people.
 
In this context, improvements such as electronic signatures, mobile applications and having to print policies only on paper approved by the ministry must be changed so that processes can be carried out in an electronic environment. Improvements such as these are the most important factors that will bring the insurance sector forward, gain currency and productivity and increase customer satisfaction.
 
As a result of one of the largest risks faced by the world, the Coronavirus pandemic, the disastrous impact which it has caused all market sectors, including the insurance sector, will probably lead to downsizing, therefore evolving to Digital Insurance is vital for the future.