Do you need to set up a private retirement plan but are particularly concerned about the insurance market and solvency of companies?

Would you like to have a health care plan but fear the reliability of the insurance industry when you need it to reimburse?

It’s time to show you 11 great facts you may not know about the Insurance Market in Greece. Facts that have been implemented gradually over the last 10 years and provide a safe environment both in terms of the reliability of the insurance consultant and in terms of financial solvency of insurance companies.

1. The Greek Insurance Market is supervised by European rules and more specifically by the Private Insurance Supervision Directorate (DEIA) which belongs to the Bank of Greece (BoG) and receives instructions and regulatory frameworks from the Central European Bank.
2. In the last five years, new, stricter laws have been applied to both the operation of Insurance Companies and Insurance Intermediaries. Specifically, the acts 30 & 31 of the Governor of the BoG, Solvency II, the IDD and the GDPR are now laws of the state, thus “correcting” loopholes in the law that in the past made supervision more flexible.
3. After the closure of the insurance companies in 2009 (Aspis group) the auxiliary life capital was created and all the insured in this sector now when they pay their insurance premiums give a part in favor of it. The reason, of course, is the further protection of the insured.
4. Gone are the days when one could become an Insurer with a simple statement to the Chamber. Now an Insurance Agent in order to be able to practice the profession gives exams to the BoG of two levels (certification of professional knowledge for activity of distribution (counter) of insurance products and certification D for investment products based on insurance). Then, in order to maintain his operating license in the chamber, he is obliged to attend specific training hours for re-certification of knowledge every year and after that he has to take exams. Finally, it is obliged by law to maintain a Civil Liability contract, which, in addition to the above, due to cost, significantly prevents the “passers-by” of the sector to remain in the industry.
5. The Insurance Market is the largest institutional investor in Greece with over 14 billion euros invested in the country (data 2017).
6. In 2017, the Insurance Companies gave compensations that reached 2.25 billion euros, with the largest number being concentrated in the Life & Health sector.
7. In recent years, collaborations between insurance companies – diagnostic centers and private hospitals have increased and evolved in the interest of the insured. Depending on the contract, an insured can either be served with 100% coverage of his contract or participate in the costs at a usually low cost.
8. The crisis created new needs which the Insurance Companies through their new programs targeted and created the appropriate programs. Flexible programs that can stand and serve with dignity all social groups even those already affected by serious diseases. For those who have but especially for those who do not have and seek access to health care, now the premiums have been adjusted to very reasonable levels and are affordable to the people.
9. It may seem strange to you but now the Insurance Companies seek their insured to prevent the risk. The rationale behind this policy is that when there is prevention then the insured catches a situation bad for his health but the insurance companies themselves reduce the amounts they pay annually in compensation. For this reason most companies have integrated free check up in almost all their programs and some even discount their annual premiums when the insured does it!
10. During the period of economic crisis that the place experienced and is experiencing, the Insurance companies proved to be more creditworthy than the Banking Institutions. An example is the “haircut of Greek bonds” in which the insurance companies recapitalized themselves while the banks did not.
11. In the last 5 years, the Insurance Market has made leaps both in terms of its extroversion and in terms of the technologies it uses to make insurance more accessible, immediate and effective. Now people, apart from many conveniences through the use of technology (can use telemedicine through their contract, sign electronically, receive their contract electronically and even be 100% insured remotely) can compare services, programs, insurance premiums. Easy access to this information develops knowledge and cultivates trust and confidence in the final choice of the prospective client.

It is important to develop the insurance consciousness of the Greeks because the years when the insurance market was plagued are irreversible and it is an indisputable fact that the existence of private insurance costs much less to those who have money and those who do not, in case the danger.

wedo.insure team is available to make you feel safe.

Ask us. We know.

Source: insurancedaily.