The National Committee of Financial Services will significantly tighten requirements for insurers

The number of insurance companies in Ukraine may soon decrease again, experts predict. Already in July-August 2017, the National Commission for Financial Services planned to introduce new standards for their work. This will be done so that insurers increase their reserves and improve the quality of assets. However, the benefits of the new rules for clients remain questionable.

The draft order of the Commission ("On Amendments to the Regulation on Mandatory Criteria and Standards for Adequacy of Diversification and Asset Quality") was published at the end of March. The goal of the National Commission for Financial Services is to force insurers to increase their liquidity. Then they will be able to promptly and in full pay people for their policies. And they will stop inundating the regulator with their complaints about this.

Officials are confident that they are acting in the right direction, and the new rules will tighten the requirements. Namely:

• Insurers specializing in mandatory types of insurance (for example, motor civil insurance or "Green Card") and working in life insurance will be obliged to increase investments in government bonds from 25% to 40% of reserves;
• Those working with voluntary insurance (medical insurance, car insurance, property insurance, etc.) will have to increase their investments in debt securities of the Ministry of Finance from 15% to 25%;
• Real estate located in a combat zone will no longer be accepted as collateral for reserves. The National Committee for Financial Services will require insurers to replace this real estate with investments in government bonds or deposits. If they cannot sell square meters and turn them into money, then officials will insist on additional injections from the owners of the insurance company - an increase in capital will be required.

"All changes will force the shareholders of the insurance company to pay attention to the solvency of their companies and support them financially", - assured a member of the National Committee of Financial Services Alexander Zaletov.

Insurers will have fewer problems with fulfilling the new requirements: medium and small companies. Life companies may also have difficulties, as well as insurance companies specializing in mandatory types of insurance. Such as, for example, motor third-party insurance.

"It is difficult to assess which of the players will leave the market due to the new requirements. But today it is known that not all companies can afford excessive reserving. In addition, not everyone pursues a competent financial policy on the allocation of reserves," said Sergey Avdeev, Chairman of the Board of the Insurance Company "Arsenal Insurance".

At the same time, experts believe that the greatest problems with fulfilling the new requirements will be faced by insurers who today sell policies at dumping prices and pay intermediaries not the usual 20% commission, but all 40-50%.

However, it is not the regulator that suffers first and foremost from dishonest insurers, but the clients. After all, due to regular financial problems, insurance companies will not be able to pay people when they have insurance cases (health problems, accidents, property damage, etc.).

"Rather than complying with the standards, they will pay agents, but they will save on people by reducing insurance payments," confirmed Yuriy Chunikhin, chairman of the board of the public union "Ukrainian Insurance Ombudsman".

Problematic companies are already playing with policies: they practice reducing the amount of insurance compensation and other tricks. All with one goal - to pay people less later. To do this, they will come up with a variety of excuses. 

Let us recall that this year, Ukraine's gross domestic product will decline due to the blockade of territories not controlled by Kyiv. This factor was also influenced by the loss of control over Donetsk and Luhansk enterprises. This was predicted by the International Monetary Fund.

Source: Press of Ukraine