Howden Türkiye CEO Yılmaz: Demand for receivables insurance strengthens

Howden Türkiye Chairman and Regional CEO Atınç Yılmaz said that, due to the cooling in the economy, industrialists who doubt they will collect their receivables have shown growing interest in receivables insurance. Yılmaz said that as risks increase, awareness of insurance and the need for it also grow, and, saying 'demand is coming in much stronger,' he emphasized the importance of risks related to payments and collections.

Yılmaz stated that loss-of-profit insurance is not well known among business people: when fire insurance is taken out, 'the loss-of-profit insurance that arises because the business cannot produce is not fully known.' Describing the failure to keep insured sums up to date as another important problem, Yılmaz said, 'Insurance must be done correctly at current value, and the right risks must be chosen.'

Saying that the average cost of fire insurance is around 3 per thousand, Yılmaz reported that this rate has only recently come to 3 per thousand, and that previously reinsurers did not even want to write insurance in the Turkish market because it was cheap. Noting that health insurance prices have risen above normal insurance due to medical inflation, Yılmaz said that health insurance in Türkiye has risen seriously compared with the past, that it is now somewhat more stable, and that it is at roughly the same level as in other countries.

Yılmaz explained that floods and fires have increased due to global warming, that there is a need for 10 trillion dollars of investment worldwide to make companies safer, and that insurance could play a 2-3 trillion dollar role in making this happen. He noted that geopolitical developments, cyber risks and trade wars are also areas that insurance follows.

Saying that insurance stemming from trade wars has not yet been reflected in the figures, Yılmaz said that because customs duties will rise, the value of assets to be insured and damage costs will increase, and because trade volume will fall, there could be a decline in volume, particularly in transport insurance. Yılmaz said, 'At the moment no problem appears in terms of receivables insurance.'

Yılmaz said that between 2000 and 2010 the world paid 50 billion dollars a year in claims, while after 2020 that figure rose to 100 billion dollars and in the last year to 150 billion dollars. Noting that there is 500-600 billion dollars of reinsurance capacity in the world and that the figure had fallen to as low as 400 billion dollars three years ago, Yılmaz reported that, with the Maraş earthquake added in, finding reinsurance in the Turkish insurance market became quite difficult in 2024, that the cost rose by an average of 20-25 percent, and that commercial and fire insurance rose by the same rate.