Business news from Ukraine

EUROINS UKRAINE INSURER INCREASES PREMIUMS BY 88% IN Q1

Euroins Ukraine insurance company (Kyiv) in January-March 2021 attracted about UAH 165 million in insurance premiums, which is 88% more than in the same period in 2020.

According to the insurer’s press release, the main areas of the company’s work, as in 2020, remain car insurance and voluntary medical insurance – the most popular and demanded services on the conventional insurance market of Ukraine.

According to the company, premiums collected on compulsory motor third party liability insurance (OSAGO) for the first quarter amounted to UAH 47.4 million, which is 45% more than in the same period a year earlier, voluntary car insurance (KASKO) – UAH 23.2 million (a rise of 47%), and voluntary medical insurance – UAH 34 million (2.5 times more).

In addition, the company was able to ensure a high dynamics of premiums in other areas of activity. Thus, property insurance increased 4.6 times, insurance against fire risks – 2.5 times, against accidents – 2 times, third party liability insurance grew by 52%.

During the first quarter of this year, Euroins Ukraine paid out more than UAH 37 million to customers, which is 42% higher than in the first quarter of 2020. On average, the company pays its clients UAH 400,000 in compensations every day.

“In 2021, Euroins continues growing dynamically, strengthening its market positions. Our mid-term goal is to enter the top 10 of the leading insurance companies in Ukraine, and we are confidently moving towards this. To implement such ambitious plans, we are actively building up our team in all regions of Ukraine. We are developing digital insurance channels and partnership projects,” Board Chairman of Euroins Ukraine Yanko Nikolov said.

PJSC Euroins Ukraine has been operating in the Ukrainian market since 1992. It is a part of Euroins Insurance Group AD (Bulgaria).

The company has 22 licenses: 14 for voluntary and eight for compulsory types of insurance. The company specializes in motor, medical, property and cargo insurance for private and corporate clients. It has 19 offices throughout Ukraine. The company is a member of MTIBU.

ARX LIFE RAISES PREMIUM COLLECTION IN UKRAINE BY 45%

Insurance company ARX Life (formerly AXA Life Insurance) collected UAH 259.6 million in insurance premiums in 2020, which is 45% more than a year earlier, the insurer said in a press release.
It is noted that, despite the crisis, 2020 was a successful year for ARX and ARX Life, the total amount of collected premiums of which amounted to UAH 2.94 billion, which is 17% higher than the results of 2019. The total profit of ARX and ARX Life amounted to UAH 325 million.
As reported, AXA Group (France) in February 2019 completed the transaction with Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited on the sale of its subsidiaries in Ukraine – PrJSC Insurance Company AXA Insurance and AXA Life Insurance. On July 1, 2019, AXA Insurance changed its name to ARX Insurance Company. AXA Life Insurance began operating under the ARX Life brand.
AXA Life Insurance was registered in July 2013. The volume of premiums collected in 2018 amounted to UAH 93 million, which is 57% higher than in 2017.

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INSURANCE COMPANIES OF UKRAINE INCREASE TAX PAYMENT BY 24.5% IN 2020

Insurance companies of Ukraine in 2020 paid profit tax to the state and local budgets in the amount of UAH 1.674 billion, which is UAH 334 million (24.5%) more than in the same period in 2019, and 51, 5% more than in 2018, Oleksandr Zaletov, the vice president of the League of Insurance Organizations of Ukraine (LIOU), has said.

According to him, as a result of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, a significant trend in 2020 was the revision of business strategies for almost all insurance companies without exception. The drop in sales for a number of types of insurance (Green Card, tourism, KASKO) encouraged insurers and insurance intermediaries to digitalize. To one degree or another, distance sales and settlement using Internet technologies have become the main strategic objectives of the digitalization of the Ukrainian insurance market. In fact, an indicator of the competitiveness and investment attractiveness of the insurer was the ability to remotely conclude or renegotiate an insurance contract, amend it, and provide documents to the insurer confirming the insured event.

According to Zaletov, unfortunately, the legal framework and technologies for remote servicing of insurance companies’ clients lag significantly behind the needs and need further reform. In addition, on the way of increasing the customer focus of insurers, the tasks of improving the legislative regulation of issues aimed at protecting the rights of consumers of insurance services and countering their discrimination in the field of insurance are of particular importance. In this regard, it should be noted that basing an insurance rate on a characteristic that cannot be changed is contrary to the ideals of the EU and fairness.

“The terms of insurance contracts must not be excessive, inadequate or unfairly discriminatory, for example, direct or indirect restriction of citizens’ rights on the basis of race, color, political, religious and other beliefs, gender, age, health status, disability, ethnic and social origin, property status, residence, linguistic or other characteristics,” he said.

According to Zaletov, other representatives of non-banking financial markets, primarily financial companies, lessors and pawnshops, are also steadily increasing tax payments. So in 2020 they paid profit tax in the amount of UAH 604 million to the state and local budgets, which is UAH 196 million (47.1%) more than in the same period of 2019, and 149.6% more than for 2018.

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ALFA INSURANCE COLLECTS UAH 1 BLN OF PREMIUMS

Alfa Insurance (Kyiv) in January-November 2020 collected UAH 1 billion, this is the first such indicator for the period of its work.
According to the insurer’s website, during the specified period, the bulk of premiums from the total insurance portfolio was received from the sale of products for personal insurance and KASKO insurance – 78%, while 22% accounted for insurance of property, cargo, liability, etc.
“Achievement of insurance premiums in the amount of UAH 1 billion in such a difficult year gives confidence in the correctness of the company’s development strategy and customer confidence. As for the product range, the key focus will be on medical insurance. Already, the company’s clients on voluntary medical insurance are more than 110,000 insured. In 2021, it is planned to invest in the digital transformation of current processes and the launch of innovative online solutions,” Viktor Grek, a member of the company’s board, said.
Alfa Insurance was founded in June 2000 and is among the top ten leaders of the Ukrainian insurance market. It offers a versatile portfolio of services, including comprehensive business protection programs and a wide range of insurance products for individuals.
The company has 25 licenses, including 18 for voluntary and seven for compulsory types of insurance. The company’s services are used by about one million customers.

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EXPRESS INSURANCE SEES 20% RISE IN PREMIUMS IN JAN-SEPT

Express Insurance (Kyiv) insurance company collected UAH 306.4 million in insurance premiums in January-September 2020, which is 19.4% more than in the same period a year earlier, the insurer said in a press release.
The volume of compensations paid for this period increased 13.3%, to UAH 106.5 million. Some 79% of clients continued insurance contracts for the next period.
“We pay almost UAH 600,000 every day, observing the new requirements and standards of the market regulator,” Director of Express Insurance Tetiana Schuchieva, whose words are quoted in the press release, said.
In total, in January-September 2020, the company settled 3,544 insurance events under voluntary car insurance (KASCO) policies (a rise of 25.5% year-over-year) and 613 events under mandatory insurance of civil liability of vehicle owners (OSAGO) policies (a rise of 16.1%) with the payment of compensation.
The company’s insurance reserves as of September 30, 2020 grew by 31.4%, to UAH 226.8 million (a rise of 31.4%), assets – by 20%, to UAH 405.6 million, of which highly liquid assets accounted for 75%. Equity capital amounted to UAH 154.6 million, and the actual solvency margin reached UAH 154.3 million, which exceeds the standard indicator by 2.07 times.
Net profit in the first nine months of this year amounted to UAH 32.6 million (a rise of 28.2% year-over-year).
Express Insurance double liability company was founded in 2008 with the participation of the leader of the Ukrainian automobile market – the UkrAVTO Corporation. Most of the events under KASCO and OSAGO are processed according to the “one face to the customer” approach – at the dealer’s service center, without the need to visit the insurance company’s office.

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EUROPEAN TRAVEL INSURANCE INSURES 63% FEWER TOURISTS IN SUMMER 2020 THAN ONE YEAR AGO

European Travel Insurance (ERV, Kyiv) in three summer months of 2020 insured 63% fewer tourists than a year ago, when over 612,000 tourists were insured, the insurance company has said in a press release.
The number of tourists insured by the company who traveled in Ukraine fell by 58% and those traveling abroad – by 64%. In June-August 2020, ERV insured more than 191,000 tourists who traveled abroad, and more than 35,000 tourists who traveled across the country.
“For the company, as well as for the entire tourism industry, the summer was difficult. It was unrealistic to make any plans in the ever-changing situation on the travel market. Although the borders opened and air traffic resumed early June, tourists are seriously scared by the sad experience of quarantine, they were not in a hurry to plunge into the world of travel again. During the summer, the tourism business learned to work in a pandemic, and tourists got used to traveling in new realities,” ERV said.
According to the company, in general, over the summer period, 1,873 insurance accidents were registered with tourists abroad for the amount of UAH 10,602 and 45 – with those traveling across the territory of Ukraine for a total of UAH 122,000.
If in June only 86 insurance accidents with tourists abroad were recorded, then in August their number increased to 1,417 for the amount of UAH 7.326 million. Of these, 908 cases occurred in Turkey (for comparison: in July, 360 insurance accidents were recorded abroad, 243 of them occurred with vacationers in Turkey, 215 cases occurred in Egypt, 121 accidents occurred with tourists in Bulgaria. Other insured accidents in August were reported with tourists in Croatia (51), Montenegro (31) and Albania (14).

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