Aimed at analyzing the structure of the insurance industry, the research project entitled “Assessment of the Insurance Market Structure and its Impact on the Insurance Penetration Rate” has been conducted by IRC. In this project, it has been endeavored not only to assess the dominant structure of Iran’s insurance market but also the concentration, competiveness, and their impact on the insurance perpetration rate. In this project, in order to determine the market structure type and measure its concentration proportion, Herfindahl–Hirschman Index and concentration indices of four top enterprises have been used and the results have been compared with the relevant data from other countries.

The performance of the enterprises in various industries has a positive correlation with the market structure features such as concentration and competition. In the insurance industry, the competitive structure has an effect on the productivity of the major players in the market and creates pressure on the new policies in this realm. Thus, it is expected that a relationship exists between insurance market structure and its performance.

According to the results of the current study, the concentration of the country’s insurance market is high. It is also in a monopolized position from several sides. Based on the fact that the major reason of the monopoly in the insurance industry of the country is the presence of legitimate monopolies, the necessity of revising the relevant regulations is accentuated. One of the proposed measures in order to complement the privatization program of the insurance industry is the assignment of the ownership of the insurance enterprises in line with promoting competition and maximizing their efficiency, comparing and homogenizing the public and private companies’ structure, allocating technical facilities and required capital to private insurance companies.

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