Translated material
Hoping for amnesty
Rosgosstrakh admitted to the FAS of price fixing with banks
The Federal Antimonopoly Service's (FAS) crusade against banks and insurers entering into agreements appears to have been successful. Even before the regulator had time to open cases against the violators, the largest insurer in Russia, the Rosgosstrakh company, or rather its division Rosgosstrakh-Center, admitted to having cooperation agreements with Uralsib Bank, Impexbank and Gazenergoprombank. The agreements related to comprehensive mortgage insurance for borrowers and, according to bank representatives, were not exclusive and did not imply price collusion. But according to the Law “On Protection of Competition”, even the very fact of the existence of such agreements is a violation. Rosgosstrakh, which voluntarily reported violations, will not be subject to claims under the same law by the FAS if it terminates agreements with banks. How the need to terminate agreements with banks will affect insured clients is still unknown.The Rosgosstrakh-Center company voluntarily reported to the antimonopoly authority about the agreements it had concluded that restrict competition and refused to participate in them, FAS head Igor Artemyev said last Friday. “These agreements provided for agreements between the insurance company and the bank on interaction in the field of comprehensive mortgage insurance of borrowers. Such agreements lead or may lead to the establishment or maintenance of prices for insurance services, to the creation of obstacles to access to the market (competitors - Ed. ), which is a direct violation of Article 11 of the Federal Law “On the Protection of Competition,” the press reported. FAS service.
The Antimonopoly Service has long been interested in cooperation between banks and insurance companies, and in mid-July, Deputy Head of the FAS Andrei Kashevarov publicly announced the service’s intention to initiate administrative cases against 51 banks and 70 insurance companies over tariff agreements for lending and compulsory insurance of the borrower. He explained then that agreements between banks and insurers most often entail additional insurance rates not provided for by the rules of Rosstrakhnadzor. On the instructions of Mr. Kashevarov, the territorial departments of the FAS began checking such agreements, one of which was the agreement between banks and Rosgosstrakh-Center.
The Voronezh OFAS decided to conduct an investigation, but Rosgosstrakh-Center was ahead of the regulator, declaring its intention to terminate these agreements. This freed him from administrative liability provided for in part two of Article 14.32 of the Code of Administrative Offences. Without doing this, Rosgosstrakh-Center, based on the results of an investigation by the Voronezh OFAS, could be fined 1-15% of “revenue for a service in the market of which a violation was committed,” that is, the fine could be up to 15% of the amount of the company’s insurance premium .
Rosgosstrakh-Center is the third company in the Rosgosstrakh group in terms of insurance premiums after Rosgosstrakh-Stolitsa and Rosgosstrakh-Povolzhye. According to Rosstrakhnadzor, in the first half of 2007, Rosgosstrakh-Center collected 2.9 billion rubles. insurance premium. Thus, if a possible FAS fine applied to the company’s entire revenue from insurance, in just six months it would amount to at least almost 30 million rubles. It was not possible to find out how long the agreements of Rosgosstrakh-Center with banks were in effect.
On Friday, the head of the public relations department of the Rosgosstrakh group, Andrei Biryukov, told RIA Novosti that the company’s cooperation with banks does not affect insured borrowers. “In accordance with the law, Rosgosstrakh regularly notifies the FAS of all agreements reached with other financial organizations. Since there are certain ambiguities in the legislation, the company has repeatedly contacted the FAS for clarification, but has not yet received a clear answer,” he explained. According to Mr. Biryukov, Rosgosstrakh-Center has agreed with the partner banks on the termination of the controversial agreement, but this does not mean abandoning the practice of cooperation with banks: “We will not only continue, but also expand cooperation with banks in various areas, including including car loans and mortgages.”
According to a representative of one of the banks, the agreement with Rosgosstrakh-Center was not of an exclusive nature, and there were no signs of price collusion. Indeed, the banks with which Rosgosstrakh-Center has signed agreements on mortgage insurance of borrowers have at least one other partner insurer, and Impexbank even has five. “The existence of agreements with insurers is explained by mutual benefit: we give the company the opportunity to get new clients, and the insurer, for example, agrees to open an account with our bank. This does not concern clients of the insurance company, since it works with other banks at the same rates as with ours,” a representative of one of the banks told Vremya Novostey. He does not yet know what consequences the termination of the agreement with the insurer will have for the bank’s clients.
The head of the FAS said that the antimonopoly service will consider the application of Rosgosstrakh-Center within three days. After this, it will become clear to the rest of the market participants whether it is worth turning themselves in in hopes of an amnesty.