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05.02.2016
1782
Eight companies were included in the list of insurers against which the regulator received the most complaints last year. Among them are Ukrainian Transport Insurance Company (Utico), Ukrainian Security Insurance Company, Oranta, Etalon, Providna, Dominanta, Aska, and Nova. This year, the National Commission for Financial Services decided to publish such a list for the first time.
"This data is the result of our work to protect the rights of consumers of insurance services. People will be able to use it as a guide when choosing an insurer," Denis Yastreb, a member of the National Commission for Financial Services Regulation (NCFSR), told Capital. In the future, the commission plans to publish similar lists of life insurance companies, pawnshops, credit unions, financial companies, and other participants in the non-bank financial market. The National Commission for Financial Services intends to update the list of top complaints every six months.
According to Denis Yastreb, the list of companies against which insurance consumers complained most in 2015 included only those insurers for which the number of complaints was twice the average. Last year, the average was 78 complaints. The average was calculated as the total number of complaints divided by the number of insurance companies complained about during the year. Multiplied by two: 4068/106 = 38 * 2 = 78.
"When calculating the average, complaints against companies whose licenses had been revoked were not taken into account. Furthermore, we did not count all complaints, but only those that were substantive," Denys Yastreb explained.
The commission also summarized the reports, orders, and the amount each company paid at the regulator's request.
The new complaints mechanism at the National Commission for Financial Services was launched in April 2015. And by May, according to statistics, the total amount of payments made at the commission's request had increased from UAH 4.4 million to UAH 5 million. In total, insurers paid almost UAH 69 million in 2015, which is 70% more than in 2014 (UAH 40.8 million).
Including companies from the published list, they paid almost UAH 39 million at the regulator's request, while the year before, Less than 20 million UAH.
The National Commission for Financial Services Markets advises consumers not to simply evaluate an insurer by the number of complaints, but to look at the numbers dynamically.
"Companies may experience payment problems for objective reasons (for example, several large payments in a year), but in such cases, the situation gradually evens out: payments begin to increase, and the number of complaints decreases," says Denis Yastreb.
Half of the above-mentioned insurers saw a decrease in the number of complaints in 2015 compared to 2014. These include Oranta, Etalon, Providna, and Aska. "For companies like Dominanta, Etalon, and Nova, the situation improved already in 2016," said Yastreb.
Insurers themselves explain the situation differently. "Complaints were often related to the size of the MTPL payment. In this case, it's not the company's clients who complain, but accident victims who want to receive a larger compensation amount. Sometimes victims are impatient with the procedures and settlement deadlines established by law," says Yutiko Deputy Chairman of the Board. Dmitry Ovdiy.
"Since the summer of 2015, we began restructuring our claims system to ensure that no client is left unattended," explains Dominanta's press service. Providna's marketing department reported that while there have been cases of dissatisfied claimants, their number is negligible compared to the volume of policies sold and the overall number of cases settled.
Aska CEO Andrey Shukatko attributes the increase in complaints in 2014 to payment issues in the ATO zone. "We couldn't pay out without legally executed documents about the insured event," he says.
According to Denis Yastreb, the lion's share (61%) of all claims last year were related to compulsory motor third-party liability insurance. Only about 20% were for voluntary types of insurance.
Many insurers consider the idea of a commission with a complaints list quite dangerous. "A formal approach to handling complaints can lead to negative consequences for the market," says Andrey Shukatko. According to his observations, the number of fraudulent claims against insurers tripled last year.
"For example, recently a premium car worth 1.5 million hryvnias was stolen from an unemployed, impoverished villager. He came to claim his compensation with a lawyer. We launched an investigation because we suspect he is not the victim, but a front man in a fraudulent scheme. But we will need time to clarify the situation, and his lawyer, I am sure, will immediately run to complain to the National Commission for Financial Services," Shukatko said, giving an example. "Therefore, it is important that the commission not simply act as a baton over insurers' heads, but as a market regulator."
According to the CEO of the Insurance Business Association, When handling complaints, the National Commission for Financial Services (NCFS) must also consider the scale of each insurer's operations, according to Lyudmila Beloshitskaya. "If a company, say, settles 200 cases and receives 78 complaints, that's probably a lot. But if it pays out 20,000 and receives 78 complaints, that's a completely different situation," says Lyudmila Beloshitskaya.
Andriy Peretyazhko, President of the Ukrainian Insurance Federation, also believes that the commission must carefully assess individual complaints, otherwise it could not only harm the market but also result in numerous lawsuits from aggrieved participants.
According to the regulator, insurers ranked among the top in terms of complaints are not hopeless, but quite the opposite. "Companies that operate in retail and value their image receive the most complaints," says Yastreb. Therefore, the commission believes that the existence of such a list will encourage insurance sellers to improve their performance.
This opinion is shared by Vasily Darkov, Chairman of the Board of the public organization "Insurance Protection." "We support the commission's innovation. This will help consumers of insurance services choose an insurer not by its advertising, but by the number of complaints against it," he says.
The League of Insurance Organizations of Ukraine also supports the idea. "Unfortunately, the number of insured persons' appeals to our association regarding companies' failure to fulfill their obligations is constantly growing," admits LIOU President Oleksandr Filonyuk. Many companies deliberately avoid communicating with their clients and significantly understate insurance payments." Most of them are closed to the media and are not members of any professional associations, so only the regulator can influence their dishonest practices, according to Filonyuk.
Source: Capital
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