The Insurance Association of Turkiye (TSB) has published a final report on eight priority projects for the 2025-2029 strategy period.
With the priority projects, the TSB aims to increase the insurance penetration rate and double the insurance sector's growth by the end of 2029 for Turkiye to become one of the world's top 10 insurance markets, according to a report by Insurance Gazette.
The eight priority areas are:
1- Supplementary retirement system
To ensure that individuals spend their retirement in prosperity, a supplementary retirement system supporting the Social Security Institution is envisaged to be implemented with contributions from employers and employees.
2- Developing innovative insurance products against existing and new risks
The aim is to develop new insurance products such as earthquake, pandemic, sustainability, climate, cyber, microinsurance and parametric insurance, and to expand financial insurance.
3- Education and cultural transformation in insurance
This area covers three tasks:
a. Insurance Employment Promotion Project: Developed to support the sector's sustainable growth and meet the need for a skilled workforce, this project aims to guide Turkiye's brightest minds toward insurance careers. The project focuses specifically on recruiting qualified candidates to insurance programmes and guiding successful graduates from non-insurance courses to the insurance sector. The project aims to identify the competencies needed by the sector and to conduct awareness-raising and incentive programmes to address these needs.
b. Vocational Training and Certification: The plan is to design basic and segment-based vocational training and certification processes for new entrants, existing industry employees, intermediaries, and stakeholders. The plan is to develop a model that includes the required length of experience of insurance talent based on the targeted segment. The TSB will prepare the legislative framework for the draft model, develop training content for segment-based certification processes based on the new model. Refresher training will be developed to keep intermediaries up-to-date on their knowledge.
c. Insurance Education Development Project: To improve the quality of insurance education and groom qualified human resources to the insurance sector, the project aims to improve the quality of undergraduate insurance education in universities.
4- Embedded insurance applications
The aim is to examine insurance products sold globally and locally, to evaluate the best embedded insurance models in the world, to develop the sector's channel structure, to identify the best practice model specific to Turkiye, and to establish an operating platform.
5- Health insurance coverage shifts from treatment to prevention
Private health insurance coverage, which provides financing for medical diagnosis and treatment, will be expanded to preventive health services that help insured people stay healthy.
6- Mandatory insurance products
The aim is to manage processes more efficiently by addressing the challenges in the coverage structures of existing compulsory insurances.
7- Claim information/ online tracking
The aim is to establish a structure where claimants can obtain information about the claim settlement process, see the status of their claims file, and track the process online.
8- Development of life insurance with savings
The primary objectives will be to develop insurance with mutual funds using a model unique to Turkiye, to allow policyholders to self-manage their savings under life policies, to make the necessary product-specific regulations in insurance legislation, to grant life insurance companies a certificate of authorisation for investment activities specifically for this product, and to increase life insurance premiums through mutual funds and contribute to the depth of financial markets.
The process to identify the eight priority projects began in September 2024 with input from top executives of insurance companies; experts from the Ministry of Treasury and Finance, the Ministry of Trade, and the Ministry of Health; officials and experts from the Insurance and Private Pension Regulation and Supervision Agency, academics, insurance agents, experts, professional organisations, and other representatives of the insurance ecosystem.
The approach taken by the TSB in this process represents not only strategic planning but also the institutionalisation of a culture of shared wisdom and participatory governance within the sector. The TSB says that it will continue the work with eight separate groups to complete the priority projects.