Zana Mozafari - PhD student of Economics, Tabriz University,Tabriz,Iran
Mokhtar Amini - PhD student of Accounting, Young Researchers and Elite Club, Qazvin Branch, Islamic Azad University, Qazvin, Iran

Nowadays, insurance services play an important role in financial markets. And Profitability is also one of the most important goals of financial management, hence it is important to recognize and investigate the factors affecting profitability in financial markets, including the insurance industry. This research studies the effect of macroeconomic variables on the profitability of the insurance industry for the period of 2009 to 2014 for 11 Iranian insurance companies. For this purpose, the data panel method has been used. The results show that interest rate and inflation are inversely related to the profitability of insurance companies, But the variables of economic growth, liquidity and firm size have a positive and significant relationship with the profitability of insurance companies during the period of study. Also, the results of the study indicate that there is not a meaningful relationship between the exchange rate and the profitability of the insurance industry.

profitability, insurance industry, macroeconomic variables