The Future Of The Past Anadolu Sigorta Turkey’s Insurance Prof. Zafer Toprak THE FUTURE OF THE PAST Anadolu Sigorta TURKEY’S INSURANCE PROF. ZAFER TOPRAK DECEMBER 2010, ISTANBUL PROJECT COORDINATION FİLİZ TİRYAKİOĞLU BERNA SEMİZ ERGÜNTAN ELİF BANU KOCAOĞLU İLKER DEMİRCİOĞLU ESRA ERDOĞAN EDITING FATMA TÜRE PHOTOGRAPHS MEHMET OKUTAN PRINTING OFSET YAPIMEVİ ŞAİR SOKAK 4. ÇAĞLAYAN MAHALLESİ KAĞITHANE, 34410, ISTANBUL THE ENGLISH EDITION OCTOBER 2013, ISTANBUL TRANSLATION JAK KOHEN EDITING CALVIN MARTIN © ANADOLU SİGORTA All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. ISBN 000-000-000-000-00 The Future Of The Past Anadolu Sigorta Turkey’s Insurance Prof. Zafer Toprak The Future Of The Past Anadolu Sigorta Turkey’s Insurance 4 Following the founding of the Republic of Turkey, a new financial framework became necessary in order to set the economy on solid ground. Banking and insurance were the most important industries for this financial structure. Türkiye İş Bankası(Isbank) was established in 1924 by Celâl Bayar on Ataturk’s instructions. Isbank then founded Anadolu Sigorta the next year. Anadolu Sigorta was the first national company established in line with the Republic’s aims for the insurance sector. Anadolu Sigorta, a pioneer at every milestone of the industry, has maintained this pre-eminence since 1925. Tracing the progression from the past to today, our book “The Future of The Past” carves this history in stone with comprehensive details while offering insight into the development of Turkey’s insurance sector and the evolution of the country’s financial structure. Numerous works about insurance techniques and the legal structure of insurance have been published in Turkey to date. These works, however, are studies aimed at the present and the future. Unfortunately, historical studies of insurance are almost non-existent. Nonetheless, the identities of institutions are formed by their past. In this context, Anadolu Sigorta has undertaken a comprehensive project and filled this gap by preparing a book compiled from the primary sources available in the company’s archives. This project chronicling Anadolu Sigorta’s historical development, excluding the field of reinsurance, is the first history of insurance written in Turkey. Anadolu Sigorta, playing a key role yesterday and today in developing the insurance industry and seeking to parallel the changing social environment, is determined to constantly advance its pursuit of providing a wider range of higher quality service to the insured, backed by its innovative and state of the art products and services. Prepared with the meticulous, dedicated efforts of Prof. Zafer Toprak, “The Future of The Past – Anadolu Sigorta”, chronicles both the history of the Turkish insurance industry and the processes of economic, social and political changes in a country. Anadolu Sigorta 5 CHAPTER I .......................................................................17 CHAPTER III ................................................................... 51 INSURANCE FROM THE TANZIMAT ERA TO THE FULLY INDEPENDENT NATIONAL INSURANCE REPUBLIC 1936-1946 ................................................................ First Steps in Insurance ..................................................... 18 Sümerbank and Güven Insurance .....................................52 Insurance in the 2nd Constitutional Period ..................... 20 Güven Insurance Joint Stock Company Abolition of the Capitulations and Status of Insurance Feniks and Türkiye Milli Insurance Companies ................56 Companies ....................................................................... 20 Muammer Eriş and British Companies Treaty of Lausanne and Nationalisation of Insurance .......22 Relations with Güven Insurance .......................................57 First Steps in National Insurance Business ....................... 23 Radical Transformations in the Insurance Industry ..........59 Insurance Policies Related to Garages Distribution of Shares as of 14 March 1936 Minutes of the Extraordinary Meeting of 12 May 1935 Anadolu Sigorta and Itimad-ı Milli Company CHAPTER II .....................................................................27 The Memorandum of Refi Celâl Bayar .............................. 61 A New Insurance Company: Ankara Insurance ................63 THE REPUBLIC OF TURKEY AND NATIONAL Developments in the Insurance Industry ..........................67 INSURANCE 1925-1935 Celâl Bayar and the 1936 Insurance Industry Crisis Celâl Bayar and Measures for National Insurance Business National Interests and Insurance ......................................28 The Public Official’s Salaries Scale Law and Wages at “Maritime Insurance Is a Weapon for National Commerce” Anadolu Sigorta .................................................................67 Legislative Developments in the First Period of the Anadolu Sigorta in a War Environment ............................72 Republic ..............................................................................31 New Taxes in Emergency Times ........................................74 Constitution of the Central Office of Turkish Insurers The Reinsurance Problem in a War Environment .............75 The Founding of Anadolu Sigorta .....................................32 Consortium of National Companies .................................77 Anadolu Sigorta Board of Directors in 1936 ...................... 37 Kâzım Taşkent’s Letter of Congratulations Ziraat Bank Branches as Agencies Tariff Rates Reductions and the Ministry of Commerce ...78 Right of Priority and the Other Companies ...................... 37 Maximum Commission Rates Monsieur Piyos and “Reserved Right” Suphi Tanel’s Appointment as General Manager Anadolu Sigorta in the Memoirs of Osman Fikret Arkun Donation to Şişli Mosque The French Model Proposed to Isbank ............................ 40 Coming Through and New Opportunities .......................82 The First Shareholders of Anadolu Sigorta Labour Legislation and Lunch for Employees Annulment of the Right of Priority ................................... 41 New Reinsurance Contracts ..............................................84 Abolition of the Right of Priority The Ministry of the Economy’s New Tariff Rates .............. 43 Accretion of the Capital and the Legal Reserve Fund ........47 Celâl Bayar’s Appointment as Minister of the Economy and a Change of Management ..................................................48 On Celâl Bayar’s Letter of Resignation The Great Depression of 1929 and Insurance ...................48 The Future Of The Past Anadolu Sigorta Turkey’s Insurance 6 CHAPTER IV ....................................................................87 A Search for a New Strategy .............................................119 Social Security and the Pension Fund ..............................119 RECONSTRUCTION PERIOD 1947-1960 CHAPTER V ....................................................................123 New Headquarters: Anadolu Sigorta Building ..................88 The Purchase of the Hüdavendigâr Building I STABLE GROWTH PHASE 1961-1980 The Purchase of the Hüdavendigâr Building II The Hüdavendigâr Building and the Directorate of Passing Beyond the Critical Period .................................124 Foundations’ Share The Departure of Ziraat Bankası Undergarments Allowance for Employees Anadolu Sigorta Getting Computerised .......................... 125 The Course of Emptying the Building ..............................90 Contract with IBM The Renovation of the Anadolu Sigorta Building End of the Extraordinary Phase....................................... 127 The Billboards of the Anadolu Sigorta Building The Resignation of Hulki Dönmezer Keeping an Office in the Kınacıyan Building The New Mortgage Regulation ....................................... 127 The Opening of the Company’s Ankara Branch ...............94 The Supervision of Insurance Companies ........................ 131 Agency Appointment of Hasan Polatkan The Association of Insurance and Reinsurance Anadolu Sigorta İzmir Office ........................................... 96 Companies .......................................................................132 The Ankara Insurance Problem .........................................97 Competition and Cooperation among Insurance Permission for Harvesting Leave for Zeki Kadirbeyoğlu Companies ....................................................................... 133 Anadolu Sigorta’s First Capital Increases ........................102 The Private Sector and Insurance Companies Minutes of the Extraordinary General Meeting of in the 1960s .....................................................................135 31 March 1949 Synopsis of Fifty Years of the Republic .............................136 Minutes of the Extraordinary General Meeting of 8 Celâleddin Aksoy’s Message February 1950 Ali Sait Gönenç’s Message Shareholders of Anadolu Sigorta According the Minutes The Monopoly Problem in Reinsurance ..........................140 of the General Assembly dated March 31st, 1950 Türkiye Reinsurance Company ........................................143 Developments in Insurance Sector Post-1950 .................104 Lawsuit at the Council of State ........................................ 145 Gratuities for Raşid Rıza and Behzat Budak Milli Re and the Council of State Decision .....................146