Could you give us some more background information on your insurance company in terms of its historical background, structure and main activities today?
The history of our company differs from the history of other companies. "Kafolat" was officially established by the special Decree of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan in 1997.
During the Soviet period and even in the early post Soviet period, the state insurance company named «Gosstrah» was the only one operating. Later on, a new insurance company named «Agrosugurta» was created, and a few months later our company «Kafolat» was sreated as a new company.
Besides our head office in Tashkent we have 56 organizational affiliates and branches. Fourteen of them are the regional subsidiaries and 42 branches are located in different cities at Uzbekistan, and moreover we have an agency network which counts about 700 employees. The statutory capital makes up 500 million sums and as of 1999 our total assets make up approximately 1 billion sums.
Speaking about the insurance market in general, I should note that the insurance business belongs to fast growing types of business, and if we compare the development tendency of this industry with other industries it makes up not less than 1.6 times a year.
Can you describe a little bit your range of services? Are there any new services you are introducing at the moment or you want to introduce in the near future?
Nowadays our company provides more than 20 types of insurance services. Among them there are types of compulsory insurance such as property insurance of citizens, vehicle owner's third party liability, industrial life, mortgage insurance, etc., and voluntary types of insurance such as casualty and property insurance, notary public liability, audience's casualty insurance (in show and sport events), etc.
Currently we have prepared some normative documents to start providing life insurance services for the population of Uzbekistan. In case if this approach develops successfully than it is most likely that a separate company to be opened.
What specific types of insurance services your company provide and can you give us some examples?
The feature of insurance market of Uzbekistan is a formation of specialized insurance companies with pronounced elements of universalism. Kafolat is a universal insurance company and has a concrete territorial specialization as since it provides traditional and specialized type of insurance services in urban areas.
I believe that in a competitive environment we are
in a leading position in liability and property
insurance. |
I would like to observe briefly the certain specific traits of Uzbek insurance market. As you are probably aware we are in a transitional stage to the market economy, and this has certainly affected our field of business. Competition is getting rigid year by year, and surviving proves to be very consuming.
Can you tell us who are your main competitors here in Uzbekistan and what is your position in the market? What are your advantages in comparison to your main competitors?
In the field of compulsory insurance our main competitors are «Uzbekinvest» Insurance company, «Madad», «UzAIG» and others.
In the field of voluntary insurance there are more than 20 companies we are competing with. We are aware well that competition will get even rigid in the near future, and therefore the major stage of insurance development mainly depends on advertising and the quality of insurance products, which means the population and other legal entities have a choice among the insurance services.
Are there any new projects you are thinking about or planning, or may be you are looking for partners to introduce other services as you said where you will eventually create a new company? What can you tell us about the future projects?
In order to expand our activity we have prepared some documents for providing our insurance services in urban areas, and for this purpose an industrial insurance has a priority significance. Consequently we could offer different new types of insurance services.
As I mentioned above, we are about to conduct experiments on life insurance for which there is a real demand here. And the solution of issue on creation of a new company depends on success of these experiments.
I should note that the future activity of our company is linked mostly to non-life insurance. For instance, this year we have implemented a few new products like casualty insurance for businessmen who get loans, and also introduced voluntary types of building-construction insurance and others.
What would be your final message to our readers which will be potential investors here in Uzbekistan?
For more successful development of insurance business we need reliable and fair foreign partners. Especially in this connection it would be expedient to establish a new company on a joint base.
NOTE: World Investment News Ltd cannot be made responsible for the content of unedited transcriptions. |
KAFOLAT