The Central Bank has streamlined the registration of compulsory motor liability insurance through electronic document management

The Central Bank has streamlined the registration of compulsory motor liability insurance through electronic document management. In this case, the insurer will receive part of the data about the policyholder through the AIS Insurance system. According to experts, along with the reduction of costs for insurers and the ability to focus on selling more profitable products, the new order may increase the risks of data leaks. However, security experts are confident that information from AIS is of no interest to hackers.

Changes in the rules for drawing up a compulsory motor liability insurance agreement using electronic documents are fixed in the draft resolution of the Central Bank. According to it, in this case, the insurer will receive passport data, information about tax registration, car registration and driver’s license independently through an automated insurance information system (“AIS insurance”).

After issuing an insurance policy signed with an enhanced qualified electronic signature of the insurer, the company will send the policy to the policyholder’s email and to his personal account. If the policyholder’s data does not match the database or is missing, the policyholder, according to the new rules, must send scans of the relevant documents to the insurer.

According to Alexander Tsyganov, a professor at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, previously an MTPL agreement could also be drawn up with electronic documents, but there were no detailed rules. In addition, the new rules provide for the inclusion in the MTPL system of a new operator of a unified automated information system – AIS Insurance, represented by a subsidiary of the Central Bank, adds B1 partner Tatyana Samsonova. The Russian Union of Auto Insurers (RUA) is studying changes to the MTPL rules.

According to experts, registration of compulsory motor liability insurance according to the new rules will allow insurers to reduce costs. Avoiding paper copies optimizes the policyholder’s customer journey, as well as the insurer’s costs for administering the contract, notes Ms. Samsonova. The sales capacity of insurers’ offices will be able to concentrate on issuing policies of higher-margin types of insurance, adds independent expert Andrey Barkhota.

Moreover, the new procedure reduces the frequency of policyholders switching from one insurer to another, since the client in most cases will prefer the insurance company where the contract can be concluded remotely and as quickly as possible, Mr. Barhota believes. For the policyholder, the transition to electronic document management means that there is no need to bring copies, go to the office, etc., that is, the purchase becomes faster, explains Tatyana Samsonova.

However, experts point to the risks of information leaks. Any data has a vulnerability, even those located in the AIS, notes Mr. Tsyganov. If a new option for data sharing emerges, the likelihood of it being hacked and abused is not zero, he concludes. Fraudsters can also use unauthorized personal data to increase the effectiveness of social engineering, says Mr. Barhota.

However, information security experts assure that the risk of leaks is far-fetched. Data on compulsory vehicle insurance is not very high-risk and is not as interesting to hackers as account and card numbers, the amount of money in the account, etc., explains SafeTech commercial director Daria Verestnikova. Moreover, passport data is already located in many other systems – in particular, with the insurance companies themselves. In June, the Central Bank issued an instruction according to which the digital “daughter” of the regulator must define an information security policy and organize a system for managing such risks.

Yulia Poslavskaya