The insurance industry in Tajikistan is developing with new participants entering the market. However, public awareness of insurance and principles of the insurance activities remains low, although, according to SPITAMEN Insurance, the basic insurance principles are almost no different from the global ones, ASIA-Plus writes.

SPITAMEN Insurance company ranks 2^nd on the Tajik insurance market in terms of assets among 19 market participants and is the leader in terms of charter capital. The company offers services of 13 types of voluntary insurance.

The insurer noted that in Tajikistan companies are offering now types of voluntary insurance such as property insurance, life and health, motor insurance, mortgage, medical insurance, and others.

Compulsory insurance in the country is represented by 6 types - insurance of passengers of auto, air, water and railway transport, passengers of international road transport, property of agricultural enterprises, insurance against fire, liability insurance of vehicle owners and state accident insurance of employees with jobs of increased risk to life and health.

According to SPITAMEN Insurance, when choosing an insurance company, attention should be paid to the size of charter capital (the higher it is, the less likely is bankruptcy). The second criterion, as the insurer noted, is about assets (an up-trend of assets indicates a company's solvency). Attention should be also paid to the experience of a company. SPITAMEN Insurance believes that 3 years can be considered as the minimum period. In addition, one more criterion is the ratio of payments - an optimal level would be 40-50%, and if it is lower, that may mean frequent cases of claim denials. Besides, the choice of a company is affected by the ratio of the policy cost to benefits, as well as the wording of insurance contracts.

SPITAMEN Insurance believes that popularity of insurance in Tajikistan is influenced by factors such as a low level of consumer affluence, lack or negative insurance related experience, low activity of using insurance services, fear of bureaucracy when concluding contracts and claiming for reimbursement. SPITAMEN Insurance is working on all those factors at the same time, offering package insurance products at affordable prices, informing about the company and its services through social networks and the media, keeping a high level of paid claims for travel insurance and motor hull, as well as reducing the time for customers, needed to issue policies that can be now purchased on the company's website.