“Global Conference on Insurance and Reinsurance for Natural Catastrophe Risk” was held in cooperation with the Association of the Insurance and Reinsurance Companies of Turkey and the World Bank

A two-day global conference on “Insurance and Reinsurance for Natural Catastrophe Risk: The role of Public- Private Partnership” was held in cooperation with the Association of the Insurance and Reinsurance Companies of Turkey and the World Bank in Istanbul, on December 8-9, 2005.

The conference gathered about 250 participants around the globe to discuss establishing catastrophe risk management systems through the insurance and reinsurance sectors with public sector involvement, and ways of getting the parties involved in the process.

During the conference, speakers from Germany, France, Norway, Switzerland, Australia, India, China, Indonesia, Japan and Turkey exchanged views on the systems to minimize the damages stemming from disasters. In addition, the participants found the opportunities to discuss the ways and means of governments to use the insurance and reinsurance sectors to compensate and minimize the damages originating from these disasters and review the systems of the different countries with different instruments for that purpose.

The sessions were on “Insurability of Natural Catastrophic Risks”, “Financial Market Solutions to Manage Natural Catastrophic Risks”, “Role of Governments and Developments of Public Private Partnerships for Natural Catastrophe Risk Management: Earthquake”, “Role of Governments and Developments of Public Private Partnerships for Natural Catastrophe Risk Management: Agriculture”, “Role of Governments and Developments of Public Private Partnerships for Natural Catastrophe Risk Management: Flood and Storms”.
 

The Project for the Implementation of International Financial Reporting Standards in the Insurance Sector is about to be completed

The working group which is established within the Association to perform preliminary works on the implementation of International Financial Reporting Standards in the insurance sector and to provide opinion and recommendations for each standard to the Undersecretariat of Treasury for the issuance of relevant communiqués for each Standard, is about to finalize its studies.

Within this context, the remaining three standards discussed during the December meeting of the above mentioned working group are as follows:

UMS 34: Interim Financial Reporting
UMS 7: Cash Flow Statements
UMS 39: Financial Instruments (Hedge Accounting)

The working group will give an end to its meetings with a general evaluation meeting which will be held in January 2006.

In 2006, during the second phase of the Project, the Association will organize training programs for the companies to ensure proper implementation of the standards. Moreover, the Association has published a book entitled “International Financial Reporting Standards in the Insurance Sector: Institutions and Summaries of the Standards”.
 

The Association has launched the Automobile Theft Information System

The system prepared by the Association to acquire statistical data relating to automobile thefts, has been made available to the use of insurance companies on the Association’s portal. The system will provide for a comprehensive data bank of information on the vehicles stolen and found in 2005 submitted by member companies of the Association.
 

The Association has held Its Fourth Insurance Training Seminar at Marmara University, School of Banking and Insurance

In the process of the Turkish insurance sector's harmonization with the European Union, the Association, within the scope of the training activities which it has performed to increase the insurance awareness in public, continues to arrange training seminars. The seminars were launched in May 2005 in insurance vocational schools and colleges providing insurance training.

Within this scope, the first seminar was held on 11 May 2005 at Sapanca Vocational School of Sakarya University, the second was held on 28 October 2005 at Suruc Vocational School of Harran University, the third was held on 29 November 2005 at Bozuyuk Vocational School of Anadolu University and the fourth was held on 29 December 2005 at Marmara University, School of Banking and Insurance.

In the seminar, presentations were made on “Institutions of Turkish Insurance Sector and TSRSB”, “Structure and Evaluation of Turkish Insurance Sector”, “European Union: Structure and Institutions”, “European Single Insurance Market” and “Solvency II”. Prior to the seminar, the students were provided with booklets prepared by the Association, enshrining all the presentations made during the seminar.
 

The Association initiated the series of “Research and Studies on Insurance”: The first book of the series is “Taxation Structure in the European Union and Insurance Sector"

The Association is introducing a research series titled "Research and Studies on Insurance" on issues which are of great significance for a competitive insurance sector. The series will enshrine the publication of researches analyzing the Turkish insurance sector, as well as the insurance sectors of developed countries and the comparison of the Turkish insurance sector with the insurance sectors of developed countries, offering solutions for sectoral improvement.

The Association published the first book of its research series in December, which is entitled "Taxation Structure in the European Union and Insurance Sector”. This publication is considered to become an important source for the harmonization of the tax legislation and applications during the EU harmonization process, and is being sent to all relevant parties by the Association. 
 

The Association published the second book of the series of “Research and Studies on Insurance”: “Financial Adequacy and Risk Management for Insurance Companies - New Regulations in Turkey and the EU (Solvency II Project)"

The Association published the second book of the series of "Research and Studies on Insurance" about the Solvency-II Project to be entered into force in 2010, which is extremely important both for the EU and Turkish insurance sectors. The title of the book is "Financial Adequacy and Risk Management for Insurance Companies- New Regulations in Turkey and the EU (Solvency II Project).
 

The Association published the second book concerning the Conference series called “the Primary Problems of the Turkish Insurance Sector throughout Turkey's EU Membership Process”: “Solvency II”

On 30 September 2005, the Association had held the second conference on “Primary Problems of the Turkish Insurance Sector throughout Turkey’s EU Membership Process: Solvency II” with the participation of the officials of the Turkish Undersecretariat of Treasury Directorate General of Insurance, Pricewaterhouse Coopers Luxemburg Office and Marmara University Institute of Banking and Insurance.

The presentations made during the conference and the “question and answers” were compiled in a book and published. The book is distributed to the Turkish insurance sector.
 

The Association published the third book concerning the Conference series called “the Primary Problems of the Turkish Insurance Sector throughout Turkey's EU Membership Process”: “Taxes and Practices Applicable to Insurance Companies”

On 31 October 2005, the Association had held the third conference on “Primary Problems of the Turkish Insurance Sector throughout Turkey’s EU Membership Process: Taxes and Practices Applicable to Insurance Companies” with the participation of officials from the relevant departments of the Ministry of Finance.

The presentations made during the conference and the “question and answers” were compiled in a book and published. The book, which is expected to provide an important source for those suffering a shortage of resources in Turkish on insurance issues, has been sent to all relevant parties.
 

A new system was launched for Authorized Agency Registration Tracking

The second part of the "TSRSB E-Institution" project, relating to the sector portal was concluded and member companies were provided with user names and passwords on August 2005.

Previously, there have been problems in tracking agencies working with different companies due to the fact that the software used at that time, was prepared to track the agencies by company and the same agency was given different registration numbers by each company it worked with. Moreover, the changes in the agency records made by the companies at later stages (including winding-up and re-founding of the agency, address and authority changes, etc.) and problems at the notification stage caused the data base to be impaired in time.

As a result, it is intended under the "TSRSB E-Institution" project that a new software and data base are created to eliminate the problems causing the impairment of the previous data base in time and to maintain the agency registrations in a proper format.

The required efforts have been completed in order to perform through the Association's portal the actions relating to "Authorized Agency Registrations". In the new system, the registration, termination and amendment actions relating to the authorized agencies are performed by data transfer from the companies, using the format provided on the portal.

By September 9, 2005, information concerning the existing active agencies of the companies was communicated to the new system through the mass data transfers in accordance with the report templates provided on the portal. The data concerning the agency foundation, termination and changes after September 9, 2005 are regularly transferred by the member companies via the portal.

The problems encountered especially during the data transfer process will be eliminated in the transition period and a proper registration system will be available by December 31, 2005 concerning the existing authorized agencies operating in the sector. In order to reach an agreement with the companies on the agency records created in the new system, all necessary controls will be conducted regularly through various reporting tools provided.

An operational and efficient system will have been provided with minimum waste of labor and time following the mutual agreement by December 31, 2005 relating to the agency records created in the new system at the beginning stage, provided that the notifications relating to the new agency foundations, terminations and changes are made regularly by the member companies via electronic medium.