According to PRIAO-IRC, the research project is conducted by Dr. Mahboubeh Alaee, Faculty Member of IRC with the collaboration of Mr. Mojtaba Abed, Head of Health Insurance Division, Day Insurance Company, Ms. Zahra Majedi, Risk Expert, Charisma Financial Holdings. The project is written in seven sections including ‘Generals’, ‘Theoretical Foundations and Research Background’, ‘Exploring Various Types of Annuities and their Technical Features in India’, ‘Exploring Various Types of Annuities and their Technical Features in England’ and ‘Exploring Various Types of Annuities and their Technical Features in America’, ‘Annuity Products Offered by Iranian Insurance Companies’, and ‘Conclusion and Recommendation’.
The purpose of the current research project is to study and exclusively explore the annuity products offered in three countries including India, England, and America. The study further seeks to reform the annuity products offered by the Iranian insurance companies and to help develop new relevant products.
Familiarity with the various types of annuity products helps insurance companies both to meet the needs of the policyholders and customers and to take a significant role in increasing life insurance penetration rate. Thus, the present study undertook the endeavor to explore the annuities offered in selected countries including the relevant regulations and technical features such as the accumulation period, administration fee, commission, guaranteed benefits, possibility of withdrawal, guaranteed minimum interest rate, initial interest rate, policy renewal interest rate, age range for issuing insurance policy, minimum premium, surrender fee (penalty), taxes, exemptions, death benefits, investment requirements of insurers for annuities. The financial performance of the leading companies was also examined in the aforementioned countries. Finally, the study is ended with the exploration of Iranian annuity products, providing relevant recommendation for reforming the existing products and developing new products.
According to the results of the study, high inflation, lack of awareness and trust, the preference to opt for alternative capital instruments with high liquidity, lack of an optimized tax regulations for annuity products, and having ‘savings attitude’ toward annuity and life products are some of the reasons that the people do not choose to purchase such insurance products.
The results of research also indicate that the market volume in countries that annuities are purchased voluntarily is low and the development of retirement systems of countries are shaped based on such conditions. Thus, the following recommendations are provided by the study: factoring in more flexibility in offering traditional annuities, increasing the availability of the annuity products in the country, diversification of annuities with precise definition for each product, maintaining flexibility in offering relevant products, and managing the risks of the annuities.
Those interested to access and download the Persian full text with English abstract of the aforementioned research report, please take a visit to https://www.irc.ac.ir/fa-IR/Irc/4944/Articles/view/16040/1635/ .