On the other hand, figures show there is still notable room for future development, Aycı added, speaking at the Güneş Sigorta Economy Meeting in the Aegean city of Denizli on Tuesday. "Turkey is the 17th largest economy in the world, but it ranks only as 39th in terms of insurance penetration. This means there is a lot for the sector to catch up on. We need to bridge this gap," he said.

The total volume of the Turkish insurance market, consisting of some 65 insurance firms, is estimated at $9 billion. "While per capita insurance contributions in Turkey are around $120, in the world they are about $650, and in European Union countries, $700. On the basis of this we can say the market has not reached the level we would hope it to have reached," Aycı said.

"In the future, I expect important developments to take place in Turkey's insurance sector. A well-developed insurance sector will also contribute to employment," Aycı noted. At present, Güneş Sigorta has some 700 employees and offices in 11 cities of Turkey.

Read between the lines

There is also a need to educate the average consumer about the importance of making informed decisions when choosing insurance. "After the flood disaster in northwestern Turkey in October, we paid compensation worth 700 million Turkish Liras. We do not expect to be thanked for this as this is our job. But the experience made us notice there are some who had purchased a policy but had not even read what was written there. There is a need for a more professional approach by corporate clients – their management needs to pay more attention to the small print and the details of their insurances," Aycı said.

Consumers too, need to pay more attention when buying an insurance policy, he added. "One prime example of the prevailing attitude among some consumers is that some choose not to pay for the approximately 15 liras supplement for their car insurance, which would cover their vehicle also in case of a flood. That is very little to pay if we compare the sum to the costs incurred when a flood takes a car along," Aycı said.

Climate change, however, is affecting insurers' job as it has become more difficult to make risk estimates regarding floods and other natural disasters, Aycı said. "One insurance type that is bound to stay popular in the future is earthquake insurance, as Turkey is located in a seismic region," he added.

In an emailed statement on Nov. 3, Joachim Faber, a board member at Allianz, Europe’s biggest insurer, said 40 percent of insurers’ total losses were due to climate effects related to global warming. Faber had warned that Allianz has seen a 15-fold increase in weather-related insurance losses over the last three decades.