Commencing operations on 19 July 1929, Millî Reasürans (Millî Re) was set up by Türkiye İş Bankası (İşbank) to operate the compulsory reinsurance system on behalf of the Turkish Treasury. As the world's only private company operating a compulsory reinsurance system, another feature that distinguishes Millî Re from other compulsory reinsurance operators is that it accepts compulsory cessions in all insurance branches.

These compulsory reinsurance cessions continued on the basis of different systems and with different percentages until 1 January 1992, at which date they were replaced with another system whose purpose was to increase local retention as well as reinsurance capacity in the insurance industry. This new system consisted of two parts:

1. Compulsory cessions that had to be made on a per-policy basis in all branches other than Life.

2. Cessions that had to be made from the reinsurance contracts.

The first part of this system remained in effect for ten years, ending as of 31 December 2001 while cessions from reinsurance contracts were extended for another five years. Millî Re's management of these cessions, which are called the “Decree Pool”, is to expire at the end of 2006.

Millî Re managed the Turkish Reinsurance Pool from 1963 to 1985, the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) Pool from 1975 to 1995, and the Turkish Catastrophe Insurance Pool (TCIP, whose formation it spearheaded) from 2000 to 2005. The company has also been managing the Federation of Afro-Asian Insurers and Reinsurers (FAIR) Reinsurance Pool since 1974.

Since 2002, Millî Re has been accepting business on a voluntary basis from Turkish insurers and currently supplies about 30%-35% of the industry's need for reinsurance coverage. The company's volume of premium, which amounted to USD 178 million in 2001, the year when compulsory cessions ended, reached USD 427 million by the end of 2004 and amounted to USD 537 million in 2005.

At the beginning of 2005, Millî Re acquired another Turkish reinsurance company, Destek Reasürans. In November, the company raised its paid-up capital to TRY 343 million (USD 254.3 million). As of yearend, the company's total shareholders' equity (including the contingency fund for earthquake) amounted to USD 417 million.

In 2006 Millî Re adopted a new strategy of accepting business from selected emerging markets up to predetermined limits. With the purpose of balancing the company's domestic acceptances with the foreign business, this strategy was reinforced and supported by the strengthening of the Turkish Lira against hard currencies which led to the minimization of currency translation losses. The scope of acceptances currently is limited with Asian and African countries.

To make it easier for the company to accept business from international markets and also to demonstrate its financial strength, in June 2005 the company applied to the worldwide insurance-rating and information agency A.M. Best Company to obtain a rating. The rating process was completed and as of the beginning of 2006 Millî Re was assigned a financial strength rating (FSR) of B+ (Very Good). A.M. Best grants this rating only to companies whose financial adequacy and capacity to fulfill their ongoing obligations are very good. This rating is proof of Millî Re's skill in risk-adjusted capitalization as well as of its success in its operational performance.

Successful in the past, Millî Re is committed to success in the future as well and will continue to create increasingly more added value for the insurance sector and for the national economy.