DOING INSURANCE ONLINE

In recent years the Azerbaijani insurance sector has developed dynamically and important reforms have been implemented in this area. In particular, technical and institutional transformations have been carried out in the compulsory insurance system, and important measures have been adopted to raise staff professionalism and public insurance literacy.

The creation of the country’s Compulsory Insurance Bureau (ISB), tasked with ensuring the stability of this market and protecting the interests of policyholders and third parties, played a special role in this process.

One of ISB’s most important activities is introducing innovative solutions, the latest methods and approaches aimed at improving customer satisfaction in the insurance sector.

In his interview with Region Plus, ISB executive director Vusal MASIYEV spoke about the measures ISB is taking and plans to implement for the further development of the compulsory insurance market, which has significant potential in Azerbaijan.

"In 2025, ISB implemented a number of important reforms and innovative projects. How do you assess the impact of these innovations on the sector?"

"Essentially, I would characterise 2025 as the year of InsurTech project implementation in the insurance sector.

At the beginning of this year the full transition to electronic format for "Green Cards" issued abroad was completed. This step ensured the conversion of insurance policies into electronic format and enabled their verification via QR code. In addition to preventing document fraud, digitalisation also increases transaction speed.

The process of introducing an innovation related to the damage-assessment procedure in the event of an insured incident has also begun. Thus, if there is dissatisfaction during the assessment of property damage following an insured event, or if the insurer does not provide an assessment of the property damage within seven business days, the policyholder can select an expert via the ISB system’s electronic service.

Another of our projects, Insurebus Gateway, is aimed at enabling the transmission of insurance transactions to market participants through API services. This project will allow insurance companies to verify data in the ISB system, which will ultimately create conditions for faster and more accurate operations.

Another important project is related to real estate. Since Azerbaijan is located in a seismic zone, correct risk assessment is of great importance for compulsory property insurance. In view of this, a special model for assessing natural-disaster risks is being developed.

Thanks to this model, developed by CatMod Azerbaijan in cooperation with the Turkish company TRUPT, insurance companies will be able to forecast potential earthquake losses in advance.

Overall, the other important projects to be implemented in 2025 are aimed at increasing the security and resilience of the information system of the Azerbaijani insurance institute. These projects will deepen the digital transformation of the insurance sector."

"Recently, we learned that the Green Card system is now available in Garabagh. Could you tell us more about this innovation?"

"Yes, from now on the international insurance service Green Card is available in our liberated territories.

For reference, the Green Card system was created in 1949 by the Working Party on Road Transport of the UN Economic Commission for Europe to simplify international road transport and regulate losses within that system. Motor-vehicle owners registered in system member countries receive insurance coverage when travelling to other member countries if they hold a Green Card policy.

Since 2016 ISB has been a member of the Council of Bureaux, the governing body of the Green Card system, and this form of insurance has been implemented in Azerbaijan. However, in the early years of membership, given that application of the Green Card system in occupied territories was impossible, coverage under it was limited to other geographic territories of the country.

After the restoration of Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, ISB applied to the Council of Bureaux to remove the territorial restriction regarding Azerbaijan’s provision of "Green Cards".

Finally, through mutual cooperation and effort the restriction was lifted, and ISB’s geographic jurisdiction was again determined in line with the territorial integrity of the country recognised by the UN.

I would also note that in 2025 a number of important activities related to the Green Card system were carried out in Azerbaijan and abroad."

"The Compulsory Insurance Bureau launched a new platform, www.tpl.az, for simplified online issuance of cross-border insurance contracts for vehicles with foreign registration plates. Could you describe the advantages of this platform?"

"The purpose of the new system is to prevent delays and congestion associated with on-site insurance at border checkpoints and to make this service more accessible and rapid.

The new system allows users to conclude a cross-border insurance contract online before entering the Republic of Azerbaijan. For this the user enters the required information on the platform, chooses an insurance company and makes payment electronically.

The main advantages of the platform are the ability to complete the process quickly and conveniently online, a user-oriented interface, the option to choose an insurance company and real-time policy verification.

The platform was developed in accordance with Azerbaijani legislation and is designed to improve service quality by supporting the country’s digital-transformation policy."

"ISB recently launched the service Request for Insurance-claim history based on a person’s written consent". What are the benefits of this service?"

"The new service we launched is very useful both for insurers and for citizens. For example, citizens can, based on their written consent, share information about insurance claims electronically, ensuring secure and efficient data transfer.

To provide consent, a citizen must log in to their personal account in the ISB information system. This requires use of electronic-signature tools (myGov ID, SİMA İmza, Asan İmza or Electronic Signature (e-imza)).

A new request can be created at any time in the "Consent request regarding insurance-claim history" section of the personal account, and existing requests can be tracked or deleted in the "All my requests" section. Consent is valid only for the period specified by the citizen and cannot exceed six months.

The applicant may grant the insurer this permission in two forms: single-use and unlimited. In the case of a single-use request it may be made only once during the chosen period, while with an unlimited request any number of requests may be made during the specified period.

On the basis of this agreement insurance companies can obtain from the ISB system information on the number of claims for which the citizen was at fault or in which they were involved, the type of vehicle that caused the damage, the dates of the accidents and of registration of the information in the system, as well as the type of accident.

Overall, the new service allows citizens to consent to electronic sharing of insurance-claim information in a secure and prompt manner. For insurers, obtaining information becomes more transparent, automated and time-efficient."

"In 2025 another important project is being implemented that will enable electronic requests for the Interior Ministry certificate ("Form 4") about details of an incident considered an insurance claim via the ISB information system, including for voluntary-insurance contracts. What are the expectations for this project?"

"This project is an important step towards unifying information exchange in the insurance sphere and digitising processes.

"Form 4" is the accident certificate issued by the Interior Ministry that contains key information about an insurance claim, such as the time and place of the incident, data on the participants (at-fault and injured parties), and details of damaged property and the nature of the damage. It is a key document for receiving an insurance payout and is used by insurance companies when settling losses.

Previously access to this information was provided only to ISB member insurers and was limited to compulsory-insurance contracts.

Thanks to the new system this capability has been expanded: insurers who are already ISB members will receive electronic access to the information contained in the certificate via the Bureau’s information system for both compulsory and voluntary-insurance contracts, whereas companies that are not ISB members will be able to receive information only for voluntary-insurance contracts.

This innovation ensures reliable and prompt information exchange among insurance companies, speeds up investigation processes and minimises the human factor.

As a result, the industry’s information infrastructure is strengthened, decision-making becomes more objective, and the market is shaped into a transparent, resilient and digital governance environment."

"ISB’s IT solutions have won awards at international competitions. Which activities led to these impressive achievements?"

"Indeed, ISB received five awards within international programmes in 2024 and 2025 alone.

Thus, in 2024 ISB won awards in three categories at the Global Insurtech Awards held in the UK. In particular, ISB took first place in the Best Customer Engagement Software category, awarded for effective customer-relationship management and improvement of service quality.

At the same time, thanks to innovations and the high efficiency of the integrated insurance mechanism, we received second place in the Best Embedded Insurance Provider category. Our contribution to the development of new technologies and processes was also recognised with second place in the Insurtech of the Year category.

One of ISB’s main achievements was also receiving The BOLD Awards. At the event in Lisbon (Portugal) our bureau’s IT projects were awarded first place in the Boldest InsurTech and Boldest SaaS categories by the jury and public vote.

I should note that The BOLD Awards programme includes 33 categories based on the digital industry and features individuals, startups and companies.

Categories cover areas such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, robotics, health-tech, insurtech, the metaverse, software-as-a-service (SaaS), space technologies, education technologies and other directions.

In October 2024 we submitted an application to the organisers to participate in the competition in three categories. Based on evaluation against four criteria (transparency, level of impact, reach and the human factor), the projects presented by ISB became finalists in all three categories."