Turkey’s insurance sector has strong growth potential despite difficult times for the sector due to the global crisis, natural disasters and uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa, according the global director of SAP Insurance.

More foreign companies will rush to the country for growth because Turkey remains a key country in emerging Asian markets, to Marc Kamphaussen told the Hürriyet Daily News on the sidelines of a gathering in Istanbul with local leaders in the sector.

 “Despite the profit loss of the insurance companies triggered by the global economic crisis, natural disasters and Arabian turmoil, in the long run, the companies will benefit from the current situation,” he said.

Emphasizing that nearly 70 percent of the Turkish insurance market was dominated by foreign insurance companies, the director said “There will be more investing in Turkish insurance sector.”

As Turkey’s insurance penetration’s ratio to gross domestic product stands at only 1.3 percent, the local market holds a great potential, he said. “It is so important for most of the international or global players to have a big footprint in Turkish insurance market.”

Turkey has received over $5 billion foreign direct investments in last five years, according to official figures from the Turkish Prime Ministry’s Investment Promotion Agency.

However, the nation’s insurance market closed 2010 with a loss, according to data by the Association of the Insurance and Reinsurance Companies of Turkey.

Insurance companies in Turkey collected 14.1 billion Turkish Liras in premiums last year, a 13.6 percent rise over the previous year.