Determining Factors in Financial Performance of Publicly Traded Insurance Companies at Istanbul Stock Exchange
Idil Ozlem Koc, PhD

Abstract
The insurance sector has a privileged place inside the finance sector because the insurance sector facilitates the way society's risks are transferred and dispersed, while also playing an active role in capital and money markets through the funds it channels into securities. With the added value and labor it thus creates, the insurance sector is capable of influencing the entire economy. This study aims to identify the factors affecting the performance of insurance companies publicly traded at Istanbul Stock Exchange. Various suggestions were made for many insurance companies yet to be publicly traded so that they can improve their performances. Panel data analysis was used to study the eight-year period between 2008 and 2015. As a result of this analysis, a positive relationship was found between the performance of insurance companies and their numbers of agents, technical profit/earned premiums ratio and financial assets investment profit, while a negative correlation was identified between performance of insurance companies and loss ratio.

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