“Turkey is one of our key markets among developing markets. We trust in the Turkish market,” Bauer told Anatolia news agency in a recent interview.

“Zurich Sigorta, the Turkish insurance company of the Zurich Group, was the fastest-growing insurance firm among the top 15 non-life insurance companies last year in Turkey,” said Bauer. “The company increased its total premium production by 16 percent to 216.1 million Turkish Liras. Zurich Sigorta reaped 36.7 million liras in profits. The company increased its post-tax profit to 13.3 million liras.”

The company had reaped nearly 90 million liras in premium production as of the end of May this year, said Bauer, adding that this figure represented 12-percent growth compared with the same period last year. The company posted 51-percent growth in the individual customer segment, he said.

Zurich Sigorta aims to be one of the top three rapidly growing Turkish insurance companies, according to Ertuğrul Bul, director general of the company.

Premiums from commercial customers constitute 70 percent of the portfolio of Zurich Sigorta, while premiums provided by individual customers account for 30 percent. The company aims to increase the volume of individual customers this year, said Bul. “We want to focus on individual customers and also small- and medium-sized enterprises.” 

The company, which has launched “Zurich Help Points,” a term for the guidance, solution and service offerings in three neighborhoods of Istanbul, has recently opened its fourth help point in the Çankaya district of Ankara. “Zurich Sigorta aims to expand help points in Anatolia,” Bul said. “We plan to open a new point in İzmir in July. After that, Antalya and Bursa will come.”

Zurich Sigorta is especially trying to attract female customers, said Bul. Thanks to new pricing strategies, the share of women customers among all individual customers has increased to from 28 to 34 percent, Bul said.

The operating profits of Zurich Financial Services Group reached $5.6 billion with an 8-percent increase last year, according to Bauer. The company reaped $3.2 billion in net profits, representing a 6-percent increase, he said. “The company’s non-life insurance premium production totaled $34.2 billion,” he said.