2023-08-24 19:24:37
The insurance market is “strongly” regulated by a legal, regulatory and normative arsenal made up of a set of laws, decrees and orders as well as circulars from the Insurance and Social Welfare Supervisory Authority (ACAPS) , indicates the Competition Council.
In an opinion on the state of competition in the insurance market in Morocco, the Competition Council specifies that despite this framework, the insurance market has been open to competition since the entry into force of the first law n° 06-99 on the freedom of prices and competition and this, by the liberalization of the rates of commission of the intermediaries in 2001 and the tariff of all the branches of the insurance in 2006.
Marked by merger operations by absorption in recent years, the insurance market is characterized by a heightened level of concentration, noted the Council, noting that the insurance market is regulated and controlled by ACAPS which oversees normal operation of the sector. The Council also indicates that the insurance market is an “emerging market with a sustained growth dynamic”. According to ACAPS data, the national insurance and reinsurance sector achieved, in 2022, a turnover of 57.5 billion dirhams (MMDH) and a growth of 9.7% compared to 2021, thus continuing its marked good performance over the past decade. In detail, in 2022, life insurance which represents 44.17% of the market increased by 10.7% to 25.4 billion dirhams, this increase is driven by savings which recorded a growth of 12.4%. .
As for non-life insurance, which represents 49.39% of the insurance market, it recorded a volume of 28.4 billion dirhams with a growth of 6.6% compared to the previous year. This is essentially supported by the performance of motor insurance, which recorded a volume of premiums of 13 billion dirhams. With regard to market dysfunctions, the Council emphasizes the relatively high barriers to entry and doubly blocking access to the insurance market, both for insurance and reinsurance companies (EAR) and for intermediate.
The opinion also mentions invisibility in relation to the processing time for approvals allowing the practice of insurance operations by the EAR, and exit conditions granting “a discretionary and disproportionate power to the sector regulator”. The Council also mentions “a hybrid accreditation system granting a substantial competitive advantage to mixed insurers, as well as an offer not adapted to inclusive insurance”. Concerning the offer, the Council underlines that the insurance offer is “insufficiently innovative”, with the presence of fragile insurance segments, and an untapped potential of the bancassurance channel.
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