31.05.2021 Ankara
M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, President of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB), participated in the “Contribution of Insurance to the Turkish Economy, Expectations, Opportunities in 2021” panel organized online by the Insurance Association of Turkey within the scope of Insurance Week.
In his speech,
Hisarcıklıoğlu emphasized that the pandemic which immediately followed the
economic protectionism and trade wars affected Turkey as well as the whole world,
“Production processes were disrupted, supply chains deteriorated, the services
sector stopped. While the pandemic reminded us again of the importance of the
agriculture, food, logistics and health sectors, it also changed the way we do
business. The digital transformation, which may have lasted for decades, took
place in as little as 3-4 months. Here we are holding our meetings from afar,
as we do today, with the effect of digital transformation. Probably after the
pandemic, we will continue to experience these effects."
Hisarcıklıoğlu stated
that the insurance sector gave a good test in public and private sector
cooperation during this period, and said that it is a great convenience for
citizens to evaluate Covid-19 within the scope of private health insurance.
Hisarciklıoğlu stressed
that the agencies and appraisers continued to work both remotely and in the
field, except for the mandatory closure, and that there were no serious
disruptions in the provision of policies and compensation for damages.
"For me, insurance
means trust, savings, healthy growth as my partner who shares my risk,"
Hisarciklıoğlu said and went on, “In this sense, as the Turkish business
community, providing the guarantees needed especially by our industry and
solving the structural problems of our sector are among our primary
expectations. Because our industrial facilities such as agriculture-based
industry, textiles, furniture and chemistry are deemed risky, they cannot be
insured. It is very important to solve the problem of not being able to find
collateral in such sectors from time to time.”
- “Without insurance, there is no production”
Hisarciklıoğlu
emphasized that without insurance, there will be no production, “If the
investor cannot transfer his risks to insurance, he will not invest. This
applies to both domestic and foreign investors. You will not find foreign
investors in a facility without insurance protection. In fact, if you do not
have insurance protection, you cannot export the product you produce.
Therefore, as the real sector, we see our insurers as our business partners who
share our risk, who are with us on our bad days.
Again, we know that our
country is an earthquake zone. The year 2021 has been declared a disaster year
by our Ministry of Interior. As TOBB, we are working in cooperation with the
Ministry of Interior and AFAD to prepare our business world for disasters. We
guide our chambers and exchanges and companies in disaster management.
Insurance is a must for disaster management. At this point, we continue our
efforts to spread insurance awareness to the base and to reach all of our
companies.”
Noting that the
importance of insurance will increase further during the rapid growth process
in the post-pandemic economy, TOBB President said, “The selfless approach of
our sector, together with its companies, agents, appraisers and brokers, during
this troubled period is also admirable. Our country's insurance sector is in a
position to cover all kinds of risks at the point it has reached. As the
Turkish Private Sector, we have full confidence in the sector. We will continue
to stand by and support our insurers, who are our friends on bad days. Together
with our chambers, exchanges and SAİK, we will continue to make insurance more visible
and explain its importance. I expect 2021 to be a recovery and growth for all
our sectors.”
Hisarcıklıoğlu said
that agents and appraisers are making a great effort to improve insurance in
Turkey, increase insurance awareness and deliver insurance to citizens.
Stating that agencies
and appraisers are among the sectors that adapt most quickly to the pandemic,
Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “They have established the necessary infrastructure for
remote work. Thus, services were not disrupted and the wheels of insurance
service continued to turn without interruption.”
Hisarcıklıoğlu
explained that as TOBB, they continued their activities for agents and
appraisers during the pandemic period without slowing down, and organized
trainings and seminars online, especially TARSIM and credit insurance.
- “The future is not to sell insurance, but to be
consulted”
The TOBB President
continued: “In the second half of the year, we will start our trainings on fire
insurance and disaster management. Together with six of our Ministers, we
conveyed the problems of our agents and appraisers at the Sectoral Economics
Council we organized last November. We continue to pursue unresolved issues. In
particular, from the day the ‘Distance Sales Regulation’ containing regulations
against our agents was first published, we submitted our objections to both the
Minister of Treasury and Finance and our SDDK President Türker. We explained
that a new distribution channel to be created outside the agency and the appraiser
would harm the sector. Thanks to them, they worked closely with our Executive
Committee and were positive about our objections. Hopefully we'll be there will
be a reconsideration soon.
As the Union of
Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey, we provide all kinds of support for
the digitization of our agents and appraisers, adaptation to new conditions and
professional development. And we'll keep providing it. In Western countries, we
see that every company has a financial adviser and a lawyer, as well as an
insurance consultant. Our primary goal is to increase the capacities of our
agents and appraisers in our country and to ensure their professional
development. In this context, we should direct and encourage our agents to more
complex product groups. The future is not to ‘sell insurance,’ but to be ‘consulted,’
as in Western countries.
While we are with Mr.
Atilla and Mr. Türker, we will have requests for support in some matters for
our agents and appraisers. Our agents are the most important stakeholders of
our insurance companies. Let's give good news to our agents and appraisers
during insurance week. Let's increase the traffic insurance base commission
rates. We will also make arrangements for compensation without an appraiser's
report. For the healthy functioning of the system, it is very important that
agents and appraisers can also survive financially.
While I end my remarks,
I celebrate the whole business world and all employees working in the sector,
especially the insurance agents and insurance appraisers organized by TOBB, out
best wishes for Insurance Week and wish them healthy days.”