The FINANCIAL — According to Georgian insurance companies, property insurance is becoming one of the most popular and demanded products among Georgian customers.
According to Tinatin Stambolishvili, PR Manger of GPI Holding, one of the leading insurance groups in Georgia, the overall number of property insurance sold in 2007 was GEL 3,956,238 – estimating 19% of the market share in this line of business. The majority of clients want corporate insurance and around 20% are for the retail segment.
“IC Group sold 985 insurance policies in 2007. Total value of these packages was USD 63 million. Most of the policies sold are for residential estate with a relatively small insurance value, while the total value of commercial property is about 70% of the total value of insured property. The same proportion is maintained in 2008,” George Bujiashvili, PR & Marketing Manager of IC Group, declared to The FINANCIAL.
The Insurance industry covers establishments that collect premiums in exchange for providing financial benefits in the event of loss or injury. Common forms of insurance include life, health and medical, home and property, workers’ compensation, automobile, retirement, and title insurance.
According to Aldagi BCI, the company offers various products and covers for property insurance. Basically it depends on customer needs. For each case our company works out possible products, it depends on the value of insured estate, covered risk etc.
Aldagi BCI is a leader insurance company operating in Georgia (30% market share 1H 2008 results), focused on long term earnings growth, BOG daughter company, with strongly diversified product range, multi distribution channels, the first company to penetrate the retail insurance market, continuously offering new products.
“In general this line of insurance consists of two types of insurance products, Corporate – covering large industrial and commercial properties, and Retail – covering individual property (private apartments, houses) and small businesses. GPI Holding is one of the pioneers in introducing retail property insurance products offering extremely attractive conditions at affordable prices,” Stambolishvili noted.
According to Bujiashvili, the prices of insurance packages depend not only upon the purpose of the use of the real estate, but also upon several other factors like type of building, year of construction and adjacent buildings.
According to Aldagi BCI, the company is the only company in the industry to offer construction companies Performance Bond which is a guarantee of satisfactory completion of the project by a contractor. Performance Bond is issued in favour of a client for whom the contractor is constructing a building.
“If the contractor fails to construct the building according to the specifications laid out by the contract, the client is guaranteed completion of the construction. Our company provides property insurance services in all regions of Georgia, our corporate clients are construction companies “Kalasi”, “Iberia” and “Olimpic Star”, the company noted.
“For individual property GPI Holding offers Policy-Komunaluri, with a premium of GEL 8 per month. Policy-Komunaluri is a combination of several risks – it covers all utility risks, building, furniture, home appliances, damage of water, sanitary and gas equipment, etc. Small business owners can benefit from our products called Policy-business and Policy-business-premium – providing cover for business property covering all utility risks for building, as well as stock, appliances and business interruption as well. The cost of the policy is GEL 15 with an annual limit of GEL 50 thousand,” Stambolishvili said.
“As for corporate property insurance, the rate varies from 0.1% to 1% depending on the type of industry and property, what values are involved, etc,” Stambolishvili added.
From 2008 Aldagi BCI offers customers various products of property insurance. For newly constructed apartments one can purchase the “New Flat” product, premium per annum is USD 1 for 1m2. The product enables customers to insure not only the flat but maintenance and Hi-Tech as well.
“New Flat” is foreseen for buildings which were constructed from 1998. In the case of old constructions Aldagi BCI has the special product “Old House”. It covers buildings and flats constructed after the 18th century. Product “My flat” covers flats constructed from 1950. For valuable things like pictures, jewellery, statues etc, Aldagi BCI offers the special product “Antique”, which can be purchased by an individual client as well as by museums to insure their valuables,” Aldagi BCI noted.
“GPI Holding offers a wide variety of construction risks insurance to local as well as international clients. Our major large clients are: Injmsheni, Meno International, Construction Company David, AISI, DAGI, etc. This is right – more people buy property insurance for newly built apartments and this especially refers to people who take mortgage loans from banks,” Stambolishvili said.
According to Bujiashvili, people are still reluctant to buy insurance for old apartments.
“It must be noted that more people are insuring newly purchased real estate rather than old ones. IC Group as a leading insurance company, strongly advises the Georgian population to insure their property. The main points to be paid attention to during the insuring procedure are: list of insured property, risks insured, deductible, rate and additional cover (like liability insurance),” Bujiashvili noted.
“This is right – more people buy property insurance for newly built apartments and this especially refers to people who take mortgage loans from banks,” said Stambolishvili.
“We would advise customers to be driven not only by price but first of all conditions – the scope of cover provided by this or that company. Considering the fact that most companies offer standard conditions we would recommend to look for a product which includes a wide variety of risks and has several options so as to fit to one’s individual needs,” Stambolishvili added.
Written by Natia Taktakishvili
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