Premium production rose 50 percent
According to data from the Insurance Association of Türkiye (TSB), participation insurance, which closed last year with approximately 70.2 billion liras in premium production and a 4 percent market share from the sector, continued its growth in the first six months of this year. In the January-June period, premium production rose 50.1 percent compared to the same period last year, reaching 48 billion 843 million 620 thousand liras. Total insurance premium production in the same period amounted to 743 billion 851.9 million liras.
Auto branch leads in non-life
Non-life insurance accounted for 96.2 percent of premium production in participation insurance. While production in this branch reached 46 billion 998 million liras, the life insurance branch had a 3.8 percent share with 1 billion 846 million liras. In non-life participation insurance, auto insurance took the largest share with 20.9 billion liras, covering 44.6 percent of non-life premium production. Premium production in the fire and natural disasters branch was 5 billion 960 million liras, and in the illness-health branch it was 3 billion 939 million liras.
Global Islamic insurance at 71 billion dollars
Şanbaz Yıldırım, Head of the Participation Regulation Department at the Insurance and Private Pension Regulation and Supervision Authority (SEDDK), recalled that global Islamic finance assets exceeded 4.4 trillion dollars, citing the 2026 report of the Islamic Financial Services Board. Yıldırım said, "According to the same report, global Islamic insurance assets grew by 14 percent annually, reaching 71 billion dollars. Approximately 75 percent of Islamic insurance assets are concentrated in the Gulf Cooperation Council and East Asia and Pacific regions."
Weight of participation-based funds in BES increasing
Yıldırım stated that as of June, there are eight companies in Türkiye operating according to participation finance principles: four in non-life, three in life and pension, and one in reinsurance. He also stressed that individual pension companies manage participation-based funds. Noting that the total fund size of the Individual Pension System (BES) and the Automatic Enrollment System (OKS) reached 2.4 trillion liras, Yıldırım said that 851 billion liras of this amount is in participation-based funds. "Thus, the share of participation-based funds within total BES and OKS funds reached 36 percent. In OKS funds alone, this ratio is at the 60 percent level," he added.
New distribution channel and international integration target
Yıldırım explained that SEDDK is carrying out various regulatory efforts to promote participation insurance. In this context, he noted that a draft circular has been prepared to make the decision-making processes of advisory committees more effective, and said, "We are working on a new distribution channel model specific to participation insurance. Our aim is to increase the visibility of products on the shelves without compromising participation finance principles and to reach more citizens."
Regarding the international arena, Yıldırım stated that regulatory groundwork has been established to implement the takaful (Islamic insurance) system in Türkiye, and that with this model coming to life, "they expect increased interest from international investors, especially from Gulf Cooperation Council countries, and the emergence of new cooperation opportunities."
Training and awareness efforts strengthened
Yıldırım drew attention to the importance of perception, awareness and training efforts for the healthy development of participation insurance. Noting that as SEDDK they organize mandatory participation insurance training for company personnel, Yıldırım stated that the training is conducted under titles such as "Historical Development, Basic Philosophy and General Outlook of the Participation Finance System," "Regulatory Framework of Participation Insurance," and "Participation Capital Markets and Fund Management," and that it will be renewed at certain intervals to keep knowledge and competencies up to date.
