Minister Elvan Addressed the Insurance Industry In Turkey

Minister Elvan addressed the insurance industry in Turkey. Treasury and Finance Minister Lütfi Elvan said, "Initialize building blocks that can own banks."

In his speech at the Turkish Insurance Association General Assembly Meeting, Treasury and Finance Minister Lütfi Elvan stated that while the share of the banking sector in the financial sector is over 85%, the share of the insurance sector is only 4.5%. Said, "As both public and private sector stakeholders, we need to come together and get to the root causes of this problem." Minister Elvan said: "When we look at Europe, the share of the banking sector is around 50 percent, while the share of the insurance sector from the financial sector can reach 20 percent. Therefore, we need to find the answer to this question very clearly. Why is the Turkish insurance sector still not developing at the level we desire? As both public and private sector stakeholders, we need to come together and get to the root causes of this problem. The steps taken in the last 20 years are of course important, but there is still a very serious potential that we have not reached.”

Minister Elvan continued his speech addressing the insurers with the following words:

“Our expectation from you is to think outside the box. There is a saying: ‘In developed countries, while insurance companies are the owners of the banks, in our country the banks are the owners of the insurance companies.’ Therefore, it is important that you build the building blocks of an insurance and pension sector that can become a bank owner in the future, and that you start such a transformation today. Of course, this transformation will be possible when every household and commercial enterprise is introduced to insurance and pension products."