Since its entry into the Turkish market in 2008, the German insurance company Allianz has expanded its investments and operations in the country in a sustainable fashion. The total investments of the company have surpassed 1 billion euros ($1.12 billion), while long-term plans regarding the market continue, Allianz Turkey CEO Tolga Gürkan said on Saturday.

The company will focus on the Allianz Technical Earthquake and Fire Testing and Training Center this year, Gürkan said, referring to the additional plans to launch Allianz Teknik, established on the campus of the Turkish-German University in Beykoz in October.

Besides, we will continue our investments that concentrate on agility, simplicity, efficiency and digitalization to serve our customers much better and faster," he said, recalling that Allianz serves more than 92 million customers with more than 142,000 employees in over 70 countries.

"Our roots in Turkey date back to 1923 with Şark Sigorta," he continued. "In 1974, Allianz became a partner in Şark Sigorta, which joined Koç Group in 1988. In 1998, the company changed its name to Koç Allianz. After Allianz Group took over the shares of Koç Holding in 2008, the company continued its path as Allianz. Allianz, which acquired Yapı Kredi Sigorta and Yapı Kredi Emeklilik in 2013, completed the merger process in 2014."

Since Allianz Turkey - Allianz Sigorta, Allianz Hayat ve Emeklilik, and Allianz Yaşam ve Emeklilik - leads the insurance sector in Turkey," Gürkan said the company has a huge ecosystem with approximately 2,500 employees, 3,800 agencies, 1,800 bank branch channels and more than 6,000 contracted institutions. Gürkan said according to the consolidated data of Allianz Sigorta, Allianz Hayat ve Emeklilik, and Allianz Yaşam ve Emeklilik companies points to an 11.7% market share in the first six months of the year in the non-life branch with TL 3.3 billion in premium production.

The Allianz Turkey CEO said that they have a market share of 32.8% in the health branch with the widespread use of modular and complementary health insurance as well as services that improve the quality of life, adding in addition to modular and complementary health insurance, they maintained their leadership in the health branch with a market share of 32.8% with the spread of services that improve the quality of life.

Gürkan indicated that according to the consolidated data, they maintained their second place in the life branch with premium production of TL 447 million and 9.7% market share and kept their third place in the private pension sector with a fund size of TL 16.5 billion TL and market share of 16.5%. Gürkan added that with 400,000 customers who preferred to stay in the system in the automatic individual pension system, they reached a fund size of TL 343 million and achieved a 5.5% market share.

"If we look at the most important developments in the first half of the year, traffic and automobile branches, the driving forces of the sector, were directly affected by the contraction in the automotive sector," he said, adding: "This process, reinforced by fluctuations in exchange rates and the foreign exchange-based spare part prices, had a negative impact on profitability and growth. However, this year, the high-interest environment made a positive impact."