Newly launched Türkiye Sigorta insures Tuna-1 well

ANKARA

Türkiye Sigorta, the country’s newly launched state-owned insurance company, has issued its first insurance policy to the Tuna-1 well, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Fatih Dönmez has said.

“The [natural gas] find, which has changed our country’s fate is now in safe hands and even stronger,” Dönmez wrote on Twitter.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in August announced the discovery of 320 billion cubic meters of natural gas reserves in the TUNA-1 well at the Sakarya Gas Field, which is around 170 kilometers offshore in the Black Sea.

Türkiye Sigorta, which gathered several insurance companies under a single roof, was launched on Sept. 7.

Türkiye Sigorta will become a major player in the global market, Treasury and Finance Minister Berat Albayrak said in the introductory meeting for the insurance company in Ankara.

Türkiye Sigorta to become global player, says finance minister

In April this year, the Turkey Wealth Fund (TVF) acquired all shares of public insurance companies for 6.54 billion Turkish Liras ($876 million) to consolidate them under a single roof.

The consolidation was a project of the Treasury and Finance Ministry, which was announced in December to raise the country’s domestic savings rate and grow the non-banking financial services sector, according to a press release.

As part of the project, the fund bought shares of Güneş Sigorta, Halk Sigorta, Ziraat Si-gorta, Vakıf Emeklilik and Hayat, Halk Hayat and Emeklilik and Ziraat Hayat and Emeklilik.

Türkiye Sigorta has 2,600 employees, and more than 5,200 solution partners. The insurance company serves a total of 15 million customers.