XPRIMM: What key events on the market in 2024 would you note? What would you call the main trend of the year and why?
Irina Merzlyakova: The past year turned out to be the most "fruitful" in the history of Belarusian insurance, GWP exceeded USD 800 million for the first time. The following products were in the green zone of "explosive growth" at the end of the year:
• Accident insurance for borrowers +168.4%
• Comprehensive insurance for tourists, air passengers +144.4%
• Insurance of supplementary funded pension +94.2%
However, it is worth noting that these products occupy a relatively small share to significantly influence the portfolio structure. But the share of life insurance in the total volume decreased. The segment began the conditional five-year period with a share of 13.2% in 2020, but in 2024 it was at 10.8%.
The systemically important factor, as in previous years, are insurance organizations with state or predominant state capital. In the life insurance segment, the share of state organizations is 74.5%.
Voluntary types traditionally prevail over mandatory ones. The undisputed leader in voluntary personal insurance is health insurance with a share of 44%.
The dynamics of insurance premiums received through banks is encouraging. In 2024, BYN 93.9 million were received through this channel, vs BYN 60.4 million in 2020. This sales channel turned out to be the most effective for promoting products for insuring property of citizens, life and medical expenses.
Online insurance turnover is still rather modest – around BYN 31.8 million, but if compared to 2020, we can see more than threefold growth! In the total amount of 10,930,600 contracts, 328,908 contracts were concluded electronically.
If we briefly talk about the general trend of 2024, this is the growth of the non-life market in almost all LoBs.
XPRIMM: Which insurance segments saw the best dynamics and became growth drivers in 2024?
Irina Merzlyakova: There are two key drivers on the market, thanks to which it shows double-digit growth rates - motor insurance and voluntary health insurance.
Since the volume of cars sold increased significantly in 2023 and 2024, premiums collected by insurers also increased accordingly. Over the past year, Motor Hull for individuals grew by 32.4%, for legal entities - by 25.3%.
Voluntary health insurance rose by 16.5%. An increase in the average premium, average compensation and the number of requests under one contract is also recorded. This product is in demand among citizens. The number of persons insured under voluntary health insurance contracts reached 740 thousand people and last year insured persons visited medical institutions more than three million times. On average, there were about 5 requests for medical care per one voluntary health insurance contract in 2024.
The Motor Hull segment has a brighter picture. It is very pleasing that the frequency of paid claims per contract has decreased – in case of individuals, probably, to the lowest level since records began and amounted to 0.46 claims per 1 contract. As for the structure of paid claims, 50-60% share is related to damages of vehicles because of accidents.
BAS analysts reasonably assume that the situation in the motor segment indicates not only a mathematical growth of the portfolio, but also a positive profitability.
For the first time, statistics on electric vehicles have been collected. According to rough estimates, 7,200 such vehicles are insured today - this is approximately 27% of the total number registered in the republic (an increase in contracts in 2024 was about 300%).
XPRIMM: Were there particularly large losses in 2024 and how did this affect the insurers' loss ratio? What innovations on the insurance market would you highlight?
Irina Merzlyakova: The largest loss was a hurricane that swept through several regions of the country in July 2024. As a result, about 15,000 claims were filed simultaneously with insurance companies and millions in damages were paid. However, despite the hurricane, the year was successful for insurers. The market worked "on a growing portfolio": against the background of a large influx of new contracts, losses from the hurricane were not visible. And speaking about types of insurance, the loss ratio was low. Therefore, we can say that 2024 was one of the best in the history of the industry in terms of financial results.
The main innovation that insurers were preparing for in 2024 is the charter capital replenishment as new requirements for the size of charter capital came into force on January 1, 2025, and many insurers needed to increase it.
XPRIMM: What challenges do insurers face in 2025? How do you think the launch of a unified MTPL system will affect the market?
Irina Merzlyakova: Insurers are increasingly integrating into the system of social and economic institutions of the Belarusian society, interacting both at the level of state programs and support for citizens who find themselves in a difficult situation. Today, the forms of this interaction are being fundamentally revised, a new scenario for the development of the industry is being formed based on a common paradigm: "In the interests of a policyholder - for the benefit of the Republic of Belarus".
Within the framework of this message, for the convenience of citizens living in border areas, a union insurance contract was introduced, which can be concluded as early as April 23, 2025.
A union insurance contract is concluded in relation to a vehicle registered in Belarus. The union insurance contract applies simultaneously to the territory of Belarus and the territory of the Russian Federation. Union insurance contracts are concluded exclusively in electronic form.
XPRIMM: Could you briefly tell us about the goals and plans of the Belarusian Association of Insurers (BAS) for 2025? What innovations are expected in the insurance industry this year?
Irina Merzlyakova: There are hopes that motor insurance and voluntary health insurance will continue to grow, as in previous years. At the same time, of course, the dynamics of motor insurance largely depends on the pace of new car sales. We also expect an increase in the share of e-policies in 2025. For comparison: in 2020, their number was 100,000, and by the end of 2024 it reached almost 330,000. Also, commenting on expectations for the current year, it should be noted that there have been changes in the legislation regarding the work of insurance intermediaries. Therefore, now insurance market participants are reformatting their sales channels.
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