Who will risk new territories – Kommersant

The Bank of Russia and the Ministry of Finance are working out ways for insurers to enter the market of new territories. The development of insurance services is necessary for the development of other types of business, especially given the high risks associated with the proximity of hostilities. Experts believe that first of all the proposals will concern liability insurance. At the same time, fears of sanctions, which were the prevailing reason for refusing to work in Crimea in previous years, will not determine the position of insurers.

The Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance are working on possible options for “launching the insurance market in new regions of the Russian Federation,” said Ivan Chebeskov, director of the financial policy department of the Ministry of Finance, during the XVIII International Insurance Conference on Tuesday, May 23. This applies to the DPR, LPR, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions. Without insurance, some lines of business simply stop, in particular, “this concerns insurance of the risks of transporting goods, someone must take them upon themselves,” he said (quoted from “Interfax”). The Ministry of Finance told Kommersant that “the issues are being worked out.” “The Bank of Russia, together with the Ministry of Finance, is actively participating in the discussion of possible options for stimulating the development of insurance in new subjects, including using various mechanisms of state support,” the Central Bank told Kommersant.

Experts believe that types related to liability insurance can become the main areas. First of all, these are compulsory types of insurance – OSAGO, compulsory insurance of civil liability of owners of hazardous facilities (OS HPO), and developer liability insurance (CMR) under government contracts will also be extremely important, since the region will be actively recovering and the volume of construction will be very large, notes the first Stepan Derevyansky, Deputy General Director of the Soyuz Insurance brokerage company.

At the same time, experts point to a high level of risk. The main difficulty is the proximity of the region to the territories of hostilities and their status, which is not recognized by the world community, notes Mr. Derevyansky.

At the same time, losses incurred in connection with or due to hostilities are not covered by the insurance contract; therefore, voluntary types, especially property ones, will not be in demand among customers. Potential market participants are frightened by the lack of a regulatory framework, an understanding of potential unprofitability – there may be difficulties with the inspection of property, its assessment and acceptance for insurance, he continues.

Market participants warn that it will be impossible to reinsure such risks abroad; In this regard, for the development of insurance mechanisms in the new subjects of the Russian Federation, it is advisable to choose an effective model for co-financing insurance premiums – this may be a specialized fund that provides co-financing of insurance premiums either to insurers or policyholders, independent expert Andrey Barkhota believes. Also, due to the fundamentally higher level of risks and the non-random nature of its escalation, insurance rates for new entities should probably be different compared to the standard ones, he notes.

However, experts believe that new territories may be very attractive to insurers.

According to Mr. Derevyansky, the procedure for organizing insurance in the new territories is generally similar to the similar situation in Crimea in 2014. However, then everyone was afraid of sanctions and acted very carefully, but now some companies are already under sanctions, so he believes that these companies will be the first to enter this market. In particular, Aleksey Nazarov, director of the PSB non-banking services development department, told Kommersant that today PSB Insurance is developing products for both compulsory and voluntary types of insurance. Their pilot launch in new territories is planned for this year, he said.

Meanwhile, Mr. Derevyansky believes that some of the smaller insurers will want to take advantage of the situation and enter this new market, where the level of competition is low or non-existent. He does not rule out that a separate insurance company will be created for this region, possibly even affiliated with some major federal insurer. The VSS did not respond to Kommersant’s request.

Julia Poslavskaya