BELARUS: this year the Belarusian Transport Insurance Bureau celebrated its 22nd anniversary

4 May 2021 —
In February 2021, the Belarusian Transport Insurance Bureau celebrated its 22nd anniversary. The magazine Insurance in Belarus notes that for many years the level of coverage with this type of insurance has been about 98% and according to this indicator in the Green Card system, the Republic of Belarus occupies one of the leading positions.

Practice has shown that satisfaction of vehicle owners with settlement of insurance claims by local insurers after accidents in recent years has significantly increased and a great merit in this largely lies in the successful activities of the Belarusian Transport Insurance Bureau, which acts as a guarantor of the protection of property interests and legal rights of victims of traffic accidents.

2020 was not an easy year for the insurance market, the Bureau and for MTPL: there was a decrease in the number of concluded border insurance contracts, domestic insurance, and Green Card insurance contracts.

"The obvious consequence of the pandemic is accelerated transition to a "digital track". New digital habits have been formed - these are online communications and all kinds of digital services", said Sergei RABETSKY, Deputy Director General of the Bureau. Although, it is worth noting that in 2020 the number of domestic insurance contracts issued online was only 1.6% so far. Currently, a draft Law "On Insurance" is being developed, which contains norms that make it easier for citizens to receive insurance compensation.

Effectiveness of the organization is also demonstrated by the percentage of collection of funds received by way of recourse to the Belarusian Bureau from legal entities and individuals responsible for causing damage as a result of an accident. The collection percentage (the ratio of paid and collected amounts) increased from 61.5% in 2014 to 72.0% in 2020 and is currently one of the highest among the countries - members of the Green Card system, explained Raisa KOROBAN, chief accountant of the Belarusian Bureau of Transport Insurance.

Since the restrictions associated with the pandemic have led to a nearly halving of the number of concluded Green Card insurance contracts and border insurance contracts, in order to cover losses of insurers, it was decided to reduce the amount of monthly contributions from insurers - associate members of the Bureau to the guarantee funds to support their financial condition in the current difficult situation. For the period from April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2021, the size of monthly contributions of organizations to the funds was reduced to 0.05%. As a result, if in 2019 total amount of contributions for internal insurance was BYN 1.56 million, in 2020 it was already BYN 596 thousand (EUR 188 thousand*), i.e. almost three times less. The insurers' contributions from Green Card policies were also reduced: from BYN 471 thousand in 2019 to BYN 150 thousand in 2020.

At the same time, payments from the Bureau's guarantee funds rose sharply, especially for domestic insurance. During 2020, 2,732 victims applied to the Belarusian Bureau for compensation of damage under internal insurance, which is 26.2% more than in 2019, and the amount of payments from the victim protection fund in 2020 exceeded BYN 4,092.7 thousand, which is 51.8% more y-o-y. Although payments under Green Card policies remained at about the same level: around BYN 2 million in 2019 vs BYN 2.3 million in 2020. The magazine "Insurance in Belarus" emphasized that the payments actually decreased, but due to depreciation of the Belarusian ruble, they nominally remained almost at the same level.

* for the following exchange rate:

1 EUR = 3.1680 BYN (as of 01.01.2021)



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