04 July 2013, 00:00

All hope is in the ombudsman

The Federal Financial Markets Service proposes to urgently call the financial ombudsman and unify the calculation of losses for car insurance. The reason for the rush is the clarification of the Supreme Court in favor of policyholders Yuri Nekhaychuk

The Federal Service for Financial Markets (FSFM) advocates a “voluntary ombudsman” (see inset) for the insurance market, Deputy Head of the FFMS Igor Zhuk said yesterday, recalling that the law on an ombudsman in the financial market has been discussed for five years and has not yet been adopted . According to Zhuk, the measure would relieve the courts, overwhelmed with insurance disputes. “The situation is complicated by established negative practices, in particular in the MTPL market, when clients are sent to the courts immediately, bypassing insurers,” he notes.

Zhuk was prompted to make such statements by the decision of the plenum of the Supreme Court, adopted last week on disputes over payments in property types of insurance. After almost a year-long discussion, the plenum recommended that the courts interpret all omissions in the contract in favor of the policyholder.

The problem of understatement can be solved by a unified methodology for assessing losses in compulsory motor insurance and motor insurance, which the Ministry of Transport has not been able to develop for several years. According to the head of the FSFM department, Igor Ovchinnikov, “the presence of a methodology would remove questions regarding 60% of claims” (quote from Prime).

There are currently about 10 different methods for determining the amount of loss. According to Zhuk, the Federal Financial Markets Service asked First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov to solve this problem in June. In this letter, the service proposes two solutions: either force the Ministry of Transport to quickly prepare the methodology, or amend the laws by transferring this function to the Russian Union of Auto Insurers (RUA).

The bill on the ombudsman has been circulating between departments for several years; it was developed by Pavel Medvedev, the first financial ombudsman, recalls Alexander Koval, chairman of the expert council on insurance of the State Duma Committee on the Financial Market. According to him, the project is on the State Duma’s legislative agenda for the fall: “I think it will be adopted then.” “It is important that the use of the tool is prescribed at the legislative level, but it is still difficult to say when the law will be adopted,” notes Zhuk.

Market participants doubt that the ombudsman and the methodology will solve all problems at once. A single methodology will not solve all problems, just like the ombudsman, says the president of the All-Russian Union of Insurers, Igor Yurgens, but it’s one thing if an appraiser comes and calculates using three methods, and another thing if there is a single approach. “I am for both, but also for a collective ombudsman for insurers, which is needed to protect the rights of small insurance companies,” explains Jurgens. If we are talking about an ombudsman independent of insurers and clients, this is a fairly popular institution abroad, says Sberbank Insurance CEO Maxim Chernin, but its very appearance “will not solve a lot of problems in the market.” A set of measures is needed - increasing the transparency of companies for clients, clarification of insurance conditions, effective work of courts and insurers, he is sure.