Turkish Treasury seizes indebted insurance company

Noyan Doğan - ISTANBUL

The Turkish Treasury has seized Euro Investment’s insurance unit, Ege Insurance, on the grounds the company could not meet its liabilities amid financial difficulties on Aug. 7. 

The losses of the company were around 104 million Turkish Liras, according to sources. Ege Insurance has over one million policies with around 1 percent of the market. 

The Trust Fund has undertaken all compulsory insurance policies of the company, sources added. 

The ownership structure of the company has changed dramatically over the years after a number of seizures.

Ege Insurance was originally a part of Murat Demirel’s Egebank, which was seized by the Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF) in 1999. The TMSF also seized Toprak Insurance, which was owned by Halis Toprak’s Toprakbank, and combined these two insurance companies under one ceiling in 2004 under the name Toprak Insurance.

The insurance company was sold to Mustafa Şahin’s Euro Securities in 2008 for 7.2 million Turkish Liras and the name of the company was changed to Euro Insurance. Euro Securities however changed its name again in 2014 to Ege Insurance. Repeated changes in the name of the company were due to financial difficulties, according to sources.