Three main consumer misconceptions that insurance is difficult, expensive and useless hinder the development of the market, MAYA TIKHONOVA, general director of the Soglasie insurance company, head of the PR committee of the All-Russian Union of Insurers (VSS), is sure. She talks about how insurers intend to fight these misconceptions and about promising business segments in an interview with Kommersant.
- At the last Moscow Financial Forum, a representative of the Central Bank suggested that a conflict was inherent in the relationship between the insurer and the client - the policy is bought in the expectation that the insured event will not take place, and the settlement does not take place on the terms of the client. Do you feel such conflict in practice?
- Rather, the problem in relations with the insured lies globally in something else: people do not realize the usefulness of insurance and do not trust insurers. They believe that it is difficult, expensive, and do not believe that they will be paid in the event of an insured event. The problem of low trust is not only in insurance. It is typical for the entire financial market. And one of its reasons is the short period of development of the Russian financial system as a whole. We conducted a survey on trust in financial and government institutions. The first level of trust is much lower. If we take the results of the survey, then the level of confidence in insurers is 19%, in banks - 29%.
The topic of complexity and the allegedly high price of the product are issues of financial literacy. In fact, an apartment can be insured for 6 thousand rubles. in year. "Insurance is expensive" is a myth. But in terms of the fact that insurance is difficult, here we have to admit that this is a difficult product and the market needs to work to ensure that the client understands what kind of service he receives. Based on the rules of insurance, for example, Casco, we print a memo in which, using infographics, we explain to the consumer what will be an insured event and what will not.
— Insurance in pictures?
- Yes. I think it's a pretty style simple pictures talk about difficult things. It attracts attention, makes the financial service understandable. In conditions of low penetration of insurance, it is necessary to look for methods of accessible presentation of the essence of the product. The main problem of the market is that insurance is not yet playing important role in the life of citizens and the economy of the country. The ratio of total insurance premium to GDP remains low. In 2017, it was 1.39%. In countries that are historically and geographically close to us, this figure is higher. For example, in the Czech Republic and Poland it is 3.4%, in Hungary - 2.8%. In Europe as a whole, in 2017, the ratio of the annual premium to GDP was 6.45%. If we evaluate the entire insurance market for individuals in Russia, we will see that only 19% of fees are truly voluntary insurance. Everything else is mandatory or imputed species.
- You head the PR committee of the insurance union, they say on the market that "Consent" knows how to work with public opinion. How do you plan to bring together insurers and customers?
— Within the framework of the VSS, we are planning to develop financial literacy population. We conducted a study on the perception of the industry by Russians, identified a number of problems and are now consistently trying to solve them. For example, it turned out that only 50% of the respondents who participated in our study knew about suburban real estate insurance. Moreover, there are types of insurance that people have never heard of, for example, other types of liability insurance other than OSAGO. Therefore, only by increasing knowledge about insurance products, we will be able to increase the number of policyholders.
To begin with, we decided to focus on personal property insurance and accident insurance. After all, everyone has an apartment and health. These are simple and affordable types of insurance. And so we decided to focus our main activity on the example of these two lines of business.
— How do you plan to develop their popularity? For example, a law on insurance of citizens' housing against emergencies has been adopted. Will it significantly help the market?
- The law has been adopted, but the results will depend heavily on the regional authorities, on their involvement in working with the population. People should be well informed about what this new insurance will give them. Also, the balance of the portfolio and its positive effect for all participants of the program - low cost of the policy for the client and acceptable loss for the insurer - depend on the interest and activity of the administration of all regions. In regions with a stable climate situation, the interest of residents in insurance will be extremely low, so serious explanatory work is needed.
In Russia, over the past 15 years, losses from major disasters exceeded 200 billion rubles. So, last year there was a fire in Rostov-on-Don. Floods in Primorye occur almost every year. In the first case, only 3% of the destroyed housing was insured, in the second - almost the same. That is, people have practically no opportunity to receive an insurance payment if something happens. Therefore, the protection of property of individuals is a strategically important type of insurance. According to the ARIA, the share of insured housing in our country is 7% and a third of this housing is located in Moscow. And in the US, for example, 95% of residential property is insured.
— The committee has strategic goals for the medium term in terms of insurance coverage?
The Committee for the first time received a budget for the promotion of voluntary insurance. Previously, we generally did not deal with this problem so seriously and methodically. This is done not by individual insurance companies, but by the community - in this case, there are much more opportunities. We must improve the knowledge of Russians about insurance products - this is our main KPI. Given that large insurers collectively spend billions on advertising, and leading banks spend tens of billions on advertising, the budget of our project is relatively small - 50 million rubles. But you need to understand that this is a start, a pilot project. Within the budget, one has to look for targeted effective solutions. So, for example, we run contextual advertising to combat auto-lawyers in the regions.
— The company pays a lot of attention to charitable projects, the anniversary of "Consent" is linked to them - the project "25 Good Years". They say in the market that at the time of your arrival at the company, the team was not there. You were looking for an idea that will unite everyone. The idea was charity. So it was?
— The task of a manager at any level is to create a well-coordinated team, and of course, I also use all known tools and techniques to inspire and motivate employees. This year "Consent" turns 25 years old, we thought how to celebrate this event in a special way throughout the country. We didn't want to make it a standard party. And we decided to focus on what we have been doing for a long time - charity. The main mission of the 25 Good Years project is to help everyone who is in a difficult situation. The participation of the company itself in these projects is mainly organizational. Employees find out where and who can be helped, we give them the opportunity and resources, and then they get together and do everything themselves.
We have several areas - helping children, the elderly, homeless animals and improving cities. We hold subbotniks, collect waste paper, plant alleys. Recently, an event was held in Kazan - we donated books to the children's library. And most importantly, thanks to the project participants, funds were raised to shoot video profiles of orphans. From these questionnaires, potential parents learn about the child. We started in May of this year and by September, nine children had found their families thanks to our questionnaires. Of course, when employees see such results, it inspires the whole team. It's great, in my opinion, and people are surprisingly actively involved in such a thing.
To achieve a result, it is important to involve the maximum number of participants in your business. Engagement is one of my favorite corporate values of "Consent". For example, in order to understand the wishes and needs of our agents, I hold meetings with them in Moscow and the regions. Over the summer, I talked to more than 150 agents.
We have rather ambitious goals for the development of Soglasiya. AT next year we plan to sign contracts for 40 billion rubles. and make a profit of 3 billion rubles. Why do I think we can definitely get through this? Because we managed to form one of the best teams in the insurance market.
- Maybe insurers should develop compulsory types of insurance in order to increase the involvement of citizens in the creation of their protection?
— I would say that in this case it would be more correct to develop civil liability insurance (GO). In Austria, for example, you cannot go to the ski slope without a civil defense policy. In the same place, for example, and even in Germany, civil liability insurance for owners of dogs weighing over 12 kg is mandatory. And in Russia, the statistics of deaths from dog bites is 35 people a year. The number of injured people in Moscow alone is measured in tens of thousands. There are pet owner liability insurance policies on the market. But this insurance is not of a mass nature. People should know that such insurance exists, it is profitable, and understand how important it is. Hidden defects liability insurance would also be useful (actually this is a multi-year contractor's liability insurance in case of hidden defects in the building). AT foreign countries, for example, in France, Great Britain, Spain, such insurance is in demand.
I am not saying that new types of insurance should be mandatory - this is not a solution to the problem of low demand. But the market needs to make a concerted effort to create a conscious need for insurance in the consumer, explaining its importance, accessibility and simplicity.
— How do you see the situation in the OSAGO market? What consequences do you expect from the tariff reform of the Central Bank?
- OSAGO should combine strict control by the Central Bank in terms of the terms of the policy and the settlement of losses and the freedom of insurance companies in setting the tariff for a specific policy. Such an approach, on the one hand, will protect the interests of policyholders, and on the other hand, it will allow each client to pay for himself and his risk and increase the attractiveness of this type for insurers. In a number of countries - France, Germany and in general most OECD countries - tariffs for car owners' liability insurance are free.
In Russia, however, drivers and various experts express fears that as a result of liberalization, tariffs will rise significantly and OSAGO will become completely unaffordable. Yes, at first they will rise, but only for unfortunate drivers who create dangerous situations on the roads. 10% of drivers are those insured who create losses in the OSAGO market. Who are these people? Those who cut, do not let a pedestrian pass at the crossing, try to slip through the yellow one, etc. They seem to be few, but the losses from them are very large. With an average policy price of 5.7 thousand rubles. the average payment has already reached 64 thousand rubles. Recklessness should be punished with a ruble - as a result, the cost of the policy will become an incentive for them to drive carefully. It can be expected that they will drive better and their unprofitability will decrease. In Russia, 90% of accident-free drivers. For them, prices after the liberalization of the tariff in OSAGO should decrease. This is how it happened in Germany. Everyone would benefit from such a system.
- OSAGO is unprofitable for you now?
— OSAGO, of course, is a complex type now, but for us it is a break-even line of business.
— The company is quite actively selling comprehensive insurance. According to the results of the first half of 2018, Soglasie increased fees for auto hull (an increase of 6.4%), while representatives of rating agencies note a drop in demand for hull insurance. What is the reason for your growth?
— The car hull market in the first half of the year showed a slight increase of 3.1%, to 80.1 billion rubles. At the same time, auto hull is growing at the expense of corporate insurance.
"Soglasie" has been a leader in corporate hull insurance for several years. First of all, we maintain market share through special services developed for corporate clients as part of claims settlement. This is the lack of certificates in case of minor accidents, round-the-clock evacuation from the scene of an accident, repairs at authorized stations Maintenance. All this allows our client to minimize losses in the event of an insured event and quickly return vehicles - a significant asset of their business - to the process of generating income.
We are also developing the Casco of individuals. We generally focused on the quality of services. We have such a service called "Immediate service". This is when a client from the scene of an accident immediately gets into the service, bypassing the stages of registration, communication with the emergency commissioner, visiting the company's office. As a result, 80% of customers who use this service are ready to recommend the service to their friends and acquaintances.
We have many processes set up automatically, everything happens quickly and without delay, but every client is important to us, and we handle non-standard cases with special attention. For example, recently our client, the owner of an apiary, was carrying honey and got into an accident in his car. 92 liters of honey spilled along the road and around the cabin. It was a serious insured event, although it seems, at first glance, a feuilleton. Bees flocked to the honey - and the emergency commissioners could not approach the car. The client wrote to us: "Come in protective suits, because there are bees everywhere!" The employees of the company found the costumes, the settlement of this case became for them interesting experience and, of course, we helped the client.
We always try to think about the client - both during settlement and even at the stage of concluding an agreement. For example, the company has developed a pricing system that allows for the most honest assessment of a client's risk in auto insurance, taking into account all the information available about him. This system made it possible to offer discounts to experienced car owners and not to increase the fare due to bad drivers who fall into the same category with them. We are implementing new internal scoring systems that allow us to better segment the incoming flow and identify unscrupulous potential insurers before concluding a contract.
In addition, we make the conclusion of the contract convenient. Already now it is enough to pick up a smartphone - and the insurance is in your pocket. Caring for the service and quality of service, not only in hull insurance, has yielded results. According to the results of six months of 2018, the company's total income amounted to 1.5 billion rubles. Return on equity in 2017 reached 23.7%, and in the first six months of this year - 33%.
— What types of insurance are important to the company now?
We are a universal company. In the portfolio structure, fees for corporate and retail types are almost the same. We have licenses for all types of insurance and reinsurance. We also deal with those types of insurance with which few people work in Russia. Such activities require serious specialist knowledge of the staff, and we have it. I am talking, for example, about maritime risks. Moreover, "Consent" is the only Russian company in the commodity credit insurance market in our country. First of all, because we were able to collect best team underwriters for this type of business. We are trusted by leading international reinsurers, and we manage to provide these rare risks for the Russian market with high-quality reinsurance protection.
We also maintain our leading positions in the declining agricultural insurance market. That is, our corporate client, who has concluded classical insurance contracts, does not need to look for separate insurers for rare risks - we offer comprehensive services.
— You have worked in banks for quite a long time. Do you remember your first impression of insurance when you switched to "Consent"?
- Then, in 2014, I was surprised by the level of detail in everything. In the bank, the balance sheet is closed every day, insurers - once a quarter. When the Central Bank began to oversee this market, in short term insurers have come a long way. I can say that an insurance product is much more complicated than a banking one. And I'm still very interested in participating in the development of this product. Relatively recently, the explosive growth of investment life insurance began. So, for the company "Consent-Vita" fees for the first half of the year increased by 120%. Taking into account market trends and the demand for life insurance products among customers, we are updating our product line, launching new endowment life insurance programs, as well as investment strategies.
The main danger in this market is misselling, incorrect, aggressive and "quick" sale of the product. In the company "Consent-Vita" call new customers and find out how thoroughly they are familiar with the program. We invest a lot in sales training so that they properly explain to the client how insurance works. We want our client to understand exactly what he has invested in.
Interviewed by Tatyana Grishina
Tikhonova Maya Alexandrovna
She was born on November 17, 1975 in Moscow. In 1997 she graduated from the Moscow state institute international relations Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, specialty "economist in international economic relations with knowledge foreign language". Over 15 years she worked in financial and credit organizations, in which she was engaged in project financing, treasury and technological development of banking operations. In 1997, she joined the International Moscow Bank, since 1998 she worked at the Granit Bank. In 2005 continued her career at Rosselkhozbank, has been an employee of JSCB Rossiyskiy Kapital since 2010. In 2012, she took the position of executive director in the investment directorate of the ONEXIM group, and also joined the boards of directors of the insurance company Soglasie and CB Renaissance Credit. Since March 2014 heads the insurance company "Soglasie".He is the head of the PR-committee of the All-Russian Union of Insurers.
Insurance company "Consent"
Founded in 1993. The capital of the insurer is 9.2 billion rubles. Soglasie is in the top 10 domestic insurers in terms of fees. According to the results of six months of 2018, the Soglasiya premium amounted to 15.2 billion rubles, payments - 8.4 billion rubles. The company's net profit for this period amounted to 1.4 billion rubles. (growth by 145% compared to the same period last year). Return on equity (return on capital) in 2017 reached 23.7%, in the first six months of 2018 - 33%. During this period, the company concluded 1.2 million insurance contracts. Motor views are key in "Accord". The volume of premiums collected for motor hull insurance amounted to more than 6.3 billion rubles. (41.3% of the total volume of premiums), for OSAGO - 2.7 billion rubles. (17.7%). Among non-motor types, the largest are insurance of property and liability of individuals and legal entities, except for mandatory types - 3.04 billion rubles. (20%), VHI - 2 billion rubles. (12.7%). Compared to the first half of 2017, the most significant growth was shown by auto hull (+6.4%) and travel insurance (+17.7%). The regional network of "Consent" has 350 structural divisions operating in all federal districts of Russia.
An extraordinary meeting of the participants of LLC "Soglasie" decided to change the general director. Maya Tikhonova, who previously held the post of Executive Director of ONEXIM Group, has been appointed as the new head of the insurer. The former CEO of "Consent" Sergei Savosin will take over as president of the company. According to Kommersant sources familiar with the situation, this is how the owner of the insurer reacted to the unprofitability of the portfolio of motor risks.
On Tuesday, on the official website of the insurer "Consent" there was a message about the change of the general director. “Maya Tikhonova, who over the past two years has served as Executive Director of the ONEXIM Group, overseeing the insurance and commercial banking areas, will be responsible for all operational issues of the company's activities in the position of General Director. Maya Tikhonova is a member of the Board of Directors of the company with from the very beginning of his work in the group and leads the audit and strategy committee under the company's board of directors.
For the former general director of the insurer, Sergei Savosin, the position of president of Soglasiya has been prepared. “The Russian insurance market is in a transitional stage of its development and is undergoing significant changes in the external environment,” he explains in the message. “This requires a greater focus on strategic issues and active interaction with industry organizations and regulatory bodies to develop systemic solutions.”
According to Kommersant's information, such a reshuffle came as a surprise to the company's employees. “The internal mailing list refers to an extraordinary meeting of Soglasie LLC held on March 24, at which such decisions were made,” says the interlocutor of Kommersant. “For us, all this is quite unexpected.”
Mr. Savosin spent a year at the post of general director. March 15, 2013 just as suddenly appeared a message about the dismissal former head insurer Elnur Suleymanov. According to Kommersant's sources familiar with the situation, the current replacement was "a reaction to the highly unprofitable motor portfolio that Soglasie has accumulated." At the end of 2013, according to the Central Bank, the insurer took fifth place in terms of fees - 41.8 billion rubles, more than half of the fees (29.2 billion rubles) falls on the now problematic markets for hull and OSAGO.
“The situation on the market is now difficult, and few of the shareholders are satisfied with how issues with the dividend policy are being resolved,” one of the interlocutors of Kommersant explains the decision of the owner of Soglasiya to change the general director. In the meantime, analysts assure that the insurer's auto insurance loss ratio is not the worst. "We haven't seen the numbers yet. financial result last year, “Consent,” Pavel Samiev, deputy head of the Expert RA rating agency, told Kommersant, “but we do not expect bad results from this company.” According to him, judging by the reporting for the nine months of 2013, "Consent" stands out from the background of other insurers with a low share of the cost of doing business (RVD). “On average, in the market, RIA takes 45-47% of the contributions,” continues Pavel Samiev, “Accord” has this figure less than 30%, that is, as they say, they save on themselves. This allows Consent to keep the unprofitability at an acceptable level.
In the insurance market, as in the banking sector, there is a "cleansing of the ranks". Small unreliable companies remain without licenses, large players are trying to make the market as comfortable as possible for the consumer. Maya Tikhonova, General Director of LLC " Insurance Company"Agreement"".
Auto insurance is one of the hottest and most discussed topics: last year, the rise in price of OSAGO policies led to the fact that a significant part of citizens began to travel with fake policies. The Russian Union of Motor Insurers announced that from July 1 this year, new OSAGO forms with a high degree protection. Do you think this will improve the situation in the auto insurance market?
- Undoubtedly, new, with enhanced degree of protection, OSAGO forms should improve the situation in the auto insurance market. According to various estimates, in 2015 the share of fake OSAGO policies ranged from 2% to 5%. That is, 1 million policies out of 40 million issued are fake. Given that average cost CMTPL policy is 5 thousand rubles, the insurance market received less than 5 billion rubles in 2015! And this problem should be considered in two planes. One is the deliberate acquisition of fake policies by car owners at a very low cost. Another is the growth in the number of scammers in the insurance market, selling fakes of very high quality: they can only be distinguished from real ones with the help of expertise. And, interestingly, often high-quality counterfeit OSAGO policies are imported to us from other countries - from China, Poland, Moldova and Ukraine. It is good if the policyholder checked the authenticity before purchasing the policy from an intermediary, but in fact, most often drivers find out about the presence of a fake when they get into an accident, when, declaring an insured event, they receive a refusal to settle losses. Therefore, to be sure of the authenticity of the policy, I recommend checking it on the websites of insurance companies.
Many car owners believe that the replacement of forms will entail an increase in the cost of OSAGO. This is true?
— All the costs of replacing the forms will fall on the insurers, so car owners do not need to worry that the cost of the policy will increase. I want to remind you that in the 13-year history of the OSAGO market in Russia, tariffs have been raised twice - in 2014 and 2015. It was a necessary measure. The limits that were originally set in OSAGO for damage to property, as well as life and health, were no longer enough for the consumer to be able to compensate for the cost of car repairs and medical expenses, due to rising inflation, the cost of spare parts, standard hours for repairs and so on. Limits on property increased from 120 thousand rubles. up to 400 thousand rubles, and for life and health for each victim - from 160 thousand rubles. up to 500 thousand rubles However, when the limits were increased, the tariffs had to be adjusted as well. Once again I want to emphasize: the replacement of forms will not affect the cost of the policies themselves for car owners.
Is your company ready to switch to new policies?
— We do not see any problem, including a technical one, for the transition to new policies. Obtaining OSAGO forms has been a well-established system for years. For car owners, the transition period will also be painless: from July 1, 2016, new forms will be issued to those drivers whose policies have expired. Old-style policies will also be legitimate before their expiration date.
Another problem of the auto insurance market is auto lawyers who buy the rights of claim from car owners. Insureds receive minimal amounts, and auto lawyers extract huge amounts of money from insurance companies.
-- "Auto-legalism" is one of the most acute problems of the insurance industry. Insurers suffer serious losses from the revitalization of their activities. If the insurance market lost 5 billion rubles from fake policies in 2015, then almost four times more from the activity of auto lawyers - 18 billion rubles. It’s even hard for me to call some of them auto-lawyers: sometimes, under the guise of a respected and very an important profession, people who call themselves auto-lawyers are not. It comes to the point of absurdity: in pursuit of super-profits, they arrive at the scene of an accident before the traffic police, receiving information about an accident from taxi drivers or emergency commissioners, or they are on duty near the centers for settling losses of insurers, intercepting car owners at the doors of companies when they go to declare an insured event. A person does not have time to come to his senses, how he is competently "processed", misleading: the main argument is that insurers do not pay, and if they do, then a penny, with long delays.
However, I want to assure car owners that the times when insurers underestimated payments or did not pay at a loss have already passed. In the struggle for each client, insurance companies are doing a lot today to improve the quality of the claims settlement service. But people, often out of ignorance, without understanding, sell the rights of claim to insurers, and for half the cost of the real amount of damage! And then auto-lawyers act according to the already worked out scheme. Taking advantage of loopholes in the law, using fraudulent schemes, in court they recover amounts that significantly exceed the actual amount of damage. But! Of these funds, the car owner receives an average of 60% of the amount, the lawyer puts everything else in his pocket. Whereas, by contacting the insurance company, the driver would receive up to 100% compensation or car repairs.
In addition, I want to warn you that not all auto lawyers are clean-handed, we often come across fake documents in courts in which the amount of damage is overestimated. And this is already fraud and, as a result, a criminal process, in which, of course, the car owner will also be involved.
Are there any projects to combat this kind of activity?
— The insurance market is looking for ways out of this situation. In the last year or two, in order to exclude underestimation of payments for auto insurance, a single directory of auto parts was developed and put into effect, which is periodically updated and expanded, making the loss settlement process more transparent. There was an opportunity for pre-trial consideration of cases to resolve contentious issues associated with the size of the insurance payment under OSAGO. The victim, who does not agree with the amount of the payment, can apply to the insurance company with a claim, and the insurer is obliged to give an official response and justify the amount of the payment within five days. In most cases, the company and the client find solutions, and this is a kind of protective measure in the fight against auto-lawyers.
The insurance community is discussing a number of amendments to the OSAGO law, according to which compensation for damage is supposed to be transferred as a priority to natural form: only a referral for repairs, and no cash payments. However, there are a number of exceptions (for example, a service station is out of reach), within which it will still be possible to receive compensation for damage. Thus, auto lawyers will have no access to receiving excess profits at the expense of insurance companies, and car owners will not worry that the insurer has underpaid them, but will drive repaired cars.
Does the activity of auto lawyers somehow affect the cost of OSAGO policies?
- It does not reflect at all and is unlikely to be reflected. Let me explain. Insurers on their own cannot raise tariffs for compulsory types of insurance, including OSAGO. Their billing is regulated by law by the Central Bank, as I have already said, and, as far as I know, such an increase is not expected in the near future. As for Casco, here, of course, they calculate possible risks and possible loss is included in the tariffs.
The situation is similar with lawyers and agriculture, few insurance companies now venture into this market, because the recovery of losses in the sector is calculated in huge numbers. What is the methodology for calculating agricultural risks in "Consent"?
- Indeed, these "lawyers" are trying to penetrate in addition to auto and other types of insurance. In second place "at gunpoint" they have, as you rightly noted, agricultural insurance. The insurance company "Consent" manages to stop this problem primarily due to a qualitative approach to risk control. It consists in examining each insured field and fixing any fluctuations in the development of plants, determining the yield, so to speak, on the vine. So that the client does not have any doubts, he also participates in the support of the contract, at all stages. And we believe this way one of the most effective in the fight against fraud. Plus, a balanced agricultural portfolio: a sufficient number of regions, reliable reinsurance protection, as well as high professionalism of employees, among which specialists with higher agronomic education predominate. All this allowed us to turn one of the unprofitable types of insurance into a profitable one for our company. SC "Consent" in recent times significantly increased the insured area of agricultural crops - from 333 thousand hectares in 2014 to 428 thousand hectares in 2015, including in regions where agricultural insurance is most in demand due to difficult agro-climatic conditions. The Altai Territory (about 102,000 ha) became the leader in insurance coverage of sown areas in 2015.
Let's get back to auto insurance. Has the reduction in the market for new cars, the decline in consumer solvency somehow affected the cost of comprehensive insurance?
— In general, the insurance market shows a trend towards lowering Casco tariffs. One of the reasons is the relative stabilization of the exchange rate, as a result of which insurance companies have revised down the level of the risk premium in the tariff. Big role Improvement in the quality of claims handling and continuous optimization of business processes of companies play in this process.
In addition, insurance companies, given the reduction in consumer solvency and the fall in demand for new cars, began to revise their auto insurance product lines. If we talk about the insurance company "Consent", then in our lineup appeared economic products and products with various variations of franchises, allowing the client to highlight the risks that are really relevant to him, without overpaying for excess coverage. For example, including a franchise in the amount of 30 thousand rubles in the Casco product. for inexpensive vehicles, the client can save up to 50% of the cost of the contract. I will describe how it works specific example. Let's say for a car Kia Ceed worth 640 thousand rubles, provided that the insured is a 35-year-old driver whose driving experience is ten years, a one-time payment under a hull insurance agreement with a franchise in the amount of 30 thousand rubles. will be 38.5 thousand rubles. Without a franchise, the cost of a basic hull would have cost him about 62 thousand rubles.
And besides the franchise, does the car owner have any other opportunity to minimize their car insurance costs?
We offer three different options Casco cost optimization. Car owners, taking into account their needs, can choose one of the best ones to protect their car. I'll start with the "freshest" product that we have just put into operation - "Kaskonomiya". It includes a set of risks such as "Theft" and "Damage" (including total loss) as a result of an accident with two or more participants. This product has a very attractive price - lower than the basic hull - and it is possible to save up to 40%. That is, for a two-year Kia Ceed, insurance, taking into account the parameters considered above, will amount to 39 thousand rubles.
The essence of another product - "100 for 50" - is that the size of the first payment is almost 50% of the cost of the Casco policy. If during the year the driver does not get into an accident and does not report any damage to his car, he does not need to make a second payment. In this case, the driver of Kia Ceed will pay 36 thousand rubles for insurance. But if nevertheless an insured event occurs, it will be settled after the client pays the hull insurance or with the deduction of the second payment from the insurance indemnity. It is important to note that the product includes basic casco options without deductible and risk exclusion.
For those car owners who are not ready to pay the annual hull cost at a time, we offer to use a policy with a validity of one month, while the insurance period can be up to several years. Basically, it's a monthly installment plan. AT this product all conditions and options of full hull insurance with automatic monthly debiting of payment from bank card. The client does not need to worry that he will miss the deadline for the next installment, he does not need to look for and call an agent or go to the company's office to draw up an insurance contract. And for accident-free drivers, a discount of 1% of the previous payment is provided. If we speak on the same example with Kia Ceed and with the same parameters, then for the first month the policyholder will pay 5.5 thousand rubles. And then everything will depend on how carefully he will drive the car.
What services can insurers offer in competition for a client?
— The main tool in the fight for the client is coming to the fore today — high quality claims settlement service. It is this indicator that makes it possible to increase the confidence of customers in insurance, and, therefore, to develop the industry. The client today, first of all, chooses a reliable insurance company with a high level of service, fast claims settlement, the one he trusts.
Insurance company "Consent" is constantly looking for new ways to best meet the growing needs of customers in the settlement of losses. In particular, in March we launched the BystroService project. Now the client, who got into an accident, does not need to come to "Consent" for inspection. It is enough to call and describe the situation. During the conversation, the call center specialist will generate an application and, together with other documents, send it to the vehicle service station (STOA) agreed with the client. As a rule, service station employees quickly contact the insured and immediately agree on when the car can be repaired.
For those who want to simultaneously protect their home and car, within the framework of the "13th month as a gift" service, the term of insurance under both contracts will be 13 months. In this case, the cost of insurance will not increase.
Most of the insurers legal entities, corporate clients who want to secure their financial stability. Did the system for calculating the cost of a product change during the crisis for them?
— The policy of the insurance company "Consent" in cooperation with corporate clients is built primarily on an individual approach to each. Insurance of any business is a very complex underwriting process, in which it is important to take into account many factors and risks, including specific ones related to the activity specific enterprise. Therefore, for one enterprise - these are one tariffs, for another - others. In the process of billing IC "Consent" Special attention pays precisely to the quality of the risks taken for insurance: we are not chasing momentary profit, filling the portfolio indiscriminately. And if we understand that the object of insurance is high-risk, then we recommend that insurers take measures to improve the risk protection of the object and, if they are observed, we give attractive rates. Self-locating in Western markets allows us to receive lower reinsurance costs in original conditions and provide customers with favorable rates for them. If the client wants to reduce the cost of insurance, we are always ready to go for it and offer necessary cost through the application of franchises and changes in insurance conditions.
Thanks to this strategy, as well as many other tools used by IC Soglasie, in the first quarter of 2016, the total amount of insurance premiums increased by more than 6%. Net profit under RAS exceeded 1 billion rubles. Agree that in a stagnating economy, this is a very good result.
What is your forecast for the insurance market for the next year: how many insurance companies can leave the market if the crisis drags on?
- If in 2015 the insurance market grew mainly due to the increase in OSAGO tariffs, then in the second quarter of 2016 the effect of the tariff increase will be exhausted, and the growth rate of fees for compulsory motor insurance will slow down. The dynamics at the end of 2016 is likely to be insignificant - at the level of 1.5-2%.
Almost every day, the regulator announces the revocation of licenses from one or three insurers, so we can assume that in 2016 several dozen more unreliable insurance companies will leave the market. Among them will be those small companies who will not be able to meet the requirements of the Central Bank to increase the minimum capital. The industry expects even greater concentration in favor of reliable and stable companies that meet their obligations. Gradually, a comfortable environment is being formed to create an effective insurance industry, which the consumer will trust to protect their financial interests.
When can we expect the market to recover?
- The situation is gradually changing: the exchange rate has stabilized, the credit market is growing, I hope that soon - in a year or two - we will witness positive changes in the insurance market.
Soglasie Insurance Company is one of the leaders in the Russian insurance market (one of the top 10 largest insurers in the Russian Federation), has been successfully operating for over 22 years. An extensive regional sales network includes about 370 offices.
Authorized capital IC "Consent" is 5.4 billion rubles. High business reputation confirmed international rating financial stability of S&P at the level of BB- and the highest rating reliability of the reputable Russian rating agency "Expert RA" at the level of A ++ ("Exclusively high level reliability", rating outlook "stable"). Strict fulfillment of its obligations to more than 1.5 million partners and customers provides the company with an impeccable reputation in the Russian and global reinsurance markets.
Maya Tikhonova headed the Soglasie insurance company in 2014, and before that she worked in financial and credit organizations for almost 15 years. Soglasie is now in the top 10 Russian insurers
Maya Tikhonova (Photo: Arseniy Neskhodimov for RBC)
Tikhonova recalls that her parents raised her from childhood in a very ambitious manner: gold medal at school, prestigious institute, required successful career. “But it seems to me that if a woman is against it, she says: I will not work, I will take care of my family, this is also very cool,” she says. The General Director of "Consent" (participant) has three children, but she got a job in her first bank for practice while still studying at MGIMO. “I had an uncharacteristic desire to work for a young girl,” laughs Maya Tikhonova.
The first was VTB Bank, in whose credit department Maya worked for only a couple of months: to combine full-time education work was difficult, but she "really wanted to." Already in her fifth year, in 1997, Tikhonova joined the International Moscow Bank (now UniCredit Bank), dealing with liquidity issues in the treasury. Then she worked in the banks "Granit", Rosselkhozbank, "Russian Capital".
The financial industry in Russia is one of the most “female”: the share of women in total number employees in it exceeds 70%, but the higher the positions in banks, the more often they are occupied by men. According to studies on gender inequality in the top management of companies, this is not only a matter of discrimination from the outside: women are much less likely to demand a promotion or offer their candidacies for leadership positions. Tikhonova also says that she did not use such methods: “I don’t even remember that I once came to someone and said: either you promote me, or I leave.” But she has her own effective strategy, which she recommends to her employees.
“If you are ready to take on one, another, third task and successfully solve them, then you will be assigned more and more, and you will grow, and not just sit, do the same job and say:“ I have been here for ten years I’m in jail, why don’t they raise me?” - says Maya Tikhonova. She recalls hitting that ceiling herself for the first time, having meticulously studied all the issues related to her area of responsibility, and exhausted all options to do something new. I came to the boss with the question: “Do I have room to grow?” After some time, she was appointed head of the department, and then offered to head the department of technological development.
“For me it was a shock, since then I have not been so worried about any of my appointments,” says Tikhonova. The proposal came before the New Year holidays, and all weekend she tormented seven questions about whether to agree or not: “They supported me at first, and then they said:“ Do what you want, just leave us alone, we can no longer listen to this. In the end, she agreed to the proposal.
“Information technologies at that moment in the bank required development, and Maya Alexandrovna was at the head of the changes that took place there,” says the director of the department information technologies SK "Consent" Sergey Klochkov, who worked with Tikhonova at the Russian Agricultural Bank. Under Tikhonova, the bank introduced a customer relationship management system (CRM), an analytical data warehouse, and many processes were automated. Tikhonova has no IT education, but she studied specialized literature and was able to apply new knowledge, adds Klochkov.
“I love to study, but at my age it’s more of a disadvantage,” Tikhonova laughs. In 2007, she received the prestigious international Financial Risk Manager (FRM) certification. In order to pass it, she studied for six months with a mathematics teacher for three hours twice a week: “By that time I already had three children, and many acquaintances twisted their fingers at the temple.” Getting this certificate did not affect my career in any way, but the process became " big step and overcoming yourself.
“I'm not lazy at all, I'm an enthusiast. I just light up, and that's all - I need it. It’s not even always associated with a promotion, with money - I’m just interested, I want it to work out, I want to convince people that this is how it should be done, ”says Maya Tikhonova.
Maya Tikhonova (Photo: Alena Kondyurina for RBC)
Clear business
In 2010, Valda Dyakova, Director of the Treasury of Rossiyskiy Kapital Bank, discussed with the newly appointed Chairman of the Board, Dmitry Yeropkin, the bank's development strategy. “We need to set up the work of the treasury, so we need a person like Maya Tikhonova, but pulling her away from another leader is not good,” Dyakova recalls her words. She worked with Tikhonova at Rosselkhozbank and “waited in absentia” for her at Russian Capital.
In 2010, the team changed at Rosselkhozbank, Tikhonova agreed to move to Russian Capital, worked there for about a year, after which she became the executive director of the ONEXIM group, owned by Mikhail Prokhorov. On the board of directors, Tikhonova was responsible for several assets, including IC Soglasie, Renaissance Capital investment bank, Renaissance Credit bank and IFC bank.
Insurance is also a financial sector, says Maya Tikhonova. Banks, according to her, are interesting because they have a lot of various operations: lending, deposits, securities, trust management, etc. “A huge range of operations, but they are all quite simple. In insurance, there is only one operation, but there are many pitfalls: degrees of probability, loss adjustment, tariff setting, ”she lists.
How the Soglasiya business works, Tikhonova figured it out quickly. “But it’s one thing when you sit on the board of directors and say: this project is unsuccessful for you, let’s break it down into its component parts, understand why this happened and how to save it. Another thing is when you sit in a company and you need to fix it yourself, ”she says.
Tikhonova was appointed General Director of IC "Consent" in March 2014, before that, three leaders were replaced in the company within three years. The company ended the year with a loss under IFRS of 6 billion rubles, in 2015 the loss decreased to 3.77 billion rubles, in 2016 - to 32 million rubles. Ultimately, all this time the company was saved by ONEXIM, which only in 2014 provided it with financial assistance in the amount of 7.4 billion rubles, in 2015 - 9.79 billion rubles, in the first quarter of 2016 - 2 billion rubles.
After the transition to the position of general director Tikhonova, "as if opened whole life”: she had to come up with a strategy for working with certain projects herself, to follow how other companies work. Tikhonova is involved in the selection of all top managers and sometimes their deputies. "Consent" is looking for employees in two ways. The first is that recruitment agencies collect resumes of suitable candidates, Tikhonova reviews them and decides who to meet with.
"I need to meet large quantity candidates, because according to the resume it seems that the person is not suitable, but when they meet, it turns out that he is a star, ”Tikhonova throws up her hands. The second way to search is to interview acquaintances and find people who can recommend a good candidate. “When interviewing, I rely a lot on intuition,” admits the head of the IC “Consent”. Each head of the direction selects a team on his own, she continues: it is right to give freedom to the person whom he trusted.
In three years, the company has gained stability, which it lacked five years ago, says Yulia Shumilova, financial director of IC Soglasie. Before the arrival of Tikhonova, employees were constantly changing, and now the team has stabilized - the turnover among top managers has stopped, she added.
Satisfied shareholder
Maya Tikhonova has just returned from vacation, and every day she has several meetings and meetings. Her working day begins at nine in the morning and does not end until late in the evening: “I’m driving in the car and I’m already starting to work, during lunch I discuss work issues and until I finish everything I can’t stop.” All daily work in "Consent" at Tikhonova is based on meetings: "I like to communicate with people personally."
Once a month, Tikhonova holds meetings with the heads of committees - divisions responsible for various areas in Soglasiya (committee for personnel, receivables, etc.). For each meeting, there must be an agenda and regulations, which everyone must meet with a speech, Klochkov describes such meetings. Everyone prepares for their speeches - this is a compressed, organized work, the director of the department adds.
Tikhonova calls the protocol service an element without which "it is impossible to manage a company." Its employees make sure that all the instructions of the CEO are carried out and that subordinates do not send replies. If the service suspects that the employee performed the task poorly, then they ask Tikhonova to sort it out personally. “I have the opportunity to de-bonuse an employee if he did not complete the assignment on time,” she says.
The head of the insurance company is “fanatical” about literacy and the Russian language, Klochkov says. All documents and office notes she rewrites in her own style, even correcting punctuation, though many executives don't care, he adds. Six months after Tikhonova joined the team, her subordinates learned how to draw up documents in her style.
In July 2016, it became known that the owner of the ONEXIM group, Mikhail Prokhorov, was going to sell all his assets, the Vedomosti newspaper wrote. Since then ONEXIM has sold a 20% stake in Uralkali, a development company OPIN, a 65% stake in RBC media holding and a 7% stake in UC Rusal. The information that Prokhorov wants to sell IC Soglasie appeared back in 2015: Vedomosti sources named the beneficiary of the Russian Funds investment group Sergey Vasiliev and the ex-governor among the main contenders Kaliningrad region George Boos. In the first case, the Central Bank did not approve the deal due to fear of further withdrawal of assets from the company, in the second case, the parties did not agree on the terms of the deal. ONEXIM denied the intention to sell the insurer.
“Consent Insurance Company is not for sale,” says Tikhonova. But she adds that if this ever happens, she will take the news calmly: "The main thing is that the shareholder is satisfied."
