Interviews


Michael J. MORRISSEY
President and CEO
IIS - International Insurance Society

Young buyers don't care if the insurance company has been in business for a hundred years. They don't care if the company has a multibillion dollar balance sheet or not. They are spoiled by an entirely different level of customer experience. People who buy products from Apple or people who go to Starbucks have a different expectation of what they get for the money they spend. They want something different, they want something better. And it's hard for legacy companies to adjust. It's hard from the change of computer systems, it's hard from the change of their attitudes ... but however, traditional carriers will have to adjust in the future so it is tough for legacy companies.

Assen CHRISTOV
Chairman of the Supervisory Board
EUROHOLD - the majority shareholder of EUROINS Insurance Group

EUROINS Insurance Group operates in 7 European countries and is a well-recognized brand in 4 of them: Bulgaria, Romania, Macedonia and the Ukraine. Our market share in Romania is almost 15%, in Bulgaria - about 7% and in Macedonia - 9%. As part of its international growth, EIG will expand its operations further within the CEE and SEE countries and continue to consolidate its position in the region and to develop itself as the leading independent insurance group in the region.

Valter TREVISANI
Group Chief Insurance Officer & Group Management Committee
GENERALI

We work in a business which is arguably one of the more exciting ones at this moment in time. It really does have everything to play for and is in the midst of some pretty fundamental changes.
Telematics has been and will continue to be a game-changer. This trend is now expanding with demotics, which is capturing the so-called 'Internet of Things' within home connectivity. It's an interesting area in rapid development.

Adrian MARIN
CEO
Generali Romania

Our strategy remains unchanged - we want to focus our efforts on the non-motor segment, which ensures our stability, and we want to increase the retail business in our portfolio. However, in a market dominated by motor insurance, you must also take this segment into account. Generali Romania is growing on motor while carefully monitoring profitability indicators.

Kaan ACUN
Deputy General Manager
MILLI Re

Turkish market remains to be our major operating market and MILLI Re aims to continue its leadership of the market. On the other hand, as part of the strategy of transforming from a local reinsurance leader into an international player, MILLI Re has actively engaged in accepting business from emerging markets including Middle East, Asia, Northern and Continental Africa, CIS and Eastern Europe as well as from some developed markets such as Continental Europe and Lloyd's

Igor YURGENS
President, All-Russian Insurance Association (ARIA)
President, Russian Association of Motor Insurers (RAMI)

Most probably, the Russian insurance market will increase by 5-7% in 2016. The main market drivers for 2016 will be the non-credit life insurance and MTPL. Compared with the results of the 1st quarter of 2016 there was a slight revival of corporate property insurance segments, accident and liability insurance. But in fact all business segments, except for life insurance and MTPL, begin to stagnate and probably soon will move into a phase of recession.

Enkeleda SHEHI
Executive General Director
Albanian FSA

The MTPL market still hasn't reached the equilibrium point as it is expected a rise in the gross premium volume during the next years. This rise can be driven by many factors such as: the number of uninsured cars, which is still high, the difference of average premium between Albania and the region, the collaboration of AFSA with the universities in promoting the insurance sector.

Javier San BASILIO
Regional Manager for Europe
MAPFRE

Client orientation is one of the strategic key elements for us. We have launched a series of internal initiatives that place the interests and needs of the client in the centre of all our activities. In addition, we have to be more flexible in the way we adapt our own organization to special client segments. Operational excellence and efficiency are other key elements in this respect.

Insurance Supervision Department
The National Bank of Serbia

Insurance market has a strong solvency ratio indicating a high level of capital adequacy and stability, which we expect will be the case in the following period. Positive premium dynamics in H1 2016 are an encouraging sign to expect a successful year, especially in the life segment as the more dynamic part of the market.

Tadej COROLI
Member of the Management Board
Zavarovalnica TRIGLAV

It is highly likely that in some markets the insurance sector will have to be further consolidated, since the present structure is too fragmented. As a consequence of the already implemented and the upcoming legislative changes in the medium term, a certain impact can be expected on the ability of the insurance industry as a whole, and especially of some individual players in terms of underwriting.

Nikolay GALUSHIN
President
The National Reinsurance Company (NRC), Russia

The Russian Federation has created its own specialized reinsurer - the National Reinsurance Company (NRC), effectively from October 12th, 2016. The main goals of the company are to offer additional capacity for the Russian market (including sanctioned risks) and also to cover Nat Cat perils for consumers. The law stipulates also that local insurers/reinsurers must offer 10% quota of the risks to the NRC.

Levent SONMEZ
Deputy General Manager
ANADOLU Sigorta

Despite all the cliches saying that the "price should not be the first criteria when buying insurance", the price is one of the most determining factors from a customer's pint of view. I think instead of criticizing this behavior, we must accept and internalize this natural fact. All sales channels are steering their customers for the best price.


Zhanat B. KURMANOV
Director of the Department of Insurance Supervision
The National Bank of Kazakhstan

At the beginning of the 2000's, when the insurance industry was not sufficiently capitalized and could not take its own retention large risks, about 60-70% of premiums were ceded for reinsurance abroad. In recent years, the domestic insurance market has grown, and the total premiums ceded to foreign reinsurers fell to 35-30%. Nevertheless, we cannot say that potential of the insurance market is fully involved in the reinsurance business.

Murat KAYACI
Chairman of the Board
DASK - The Turkish Catastrophe Insurance Pool

DASK has developed a target disaster management model for handling both heavy and minor damage cases. The methodology for assessing earthquake damage to a building is developed in collaboration with universities and it is scientifically proven with similar methods. In order to build an infrastructure that enables DASK to manage claims caused by any kind of catastrophic events including severe earthquake, cooperation with expert business partners was engaged.

Samir OMERHODZIC
Director
Insurance Agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina

It is expected that the adoption of the Law on pension and disability insurance in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina which is now in parliamentary procedure and the announced changes to the health insurance system shall lead to the positive changes in the insurance market, to the development of new products and higher share of voluntary insurance premium in the total portfolio.

The Guarantee Fund in Kazakhstan - the mainstay element of insurance industry

The insurance industry in Kazakhstan is one of the key elements of the national financial system. The existence of such compulsory insurance as MTPL and compulsory insurance of third party liability for tour operators and tour agents imposes on insurance industry a greater social responsibility toward society.Due to this fact the insurance market needs more stability, reliability and transparency in order to further the development.


Ekaterina TROFIMOVA
CEO
Analytical Credit Rating Agency

ACRA's methodology fundamentally differs from the ones used by international peers due to the very fact that it is based on the national scale. This is what distinguishes our approach as a more detailed one allowing for fine tuning, with the local market peculiarities being accounted for. The approaches used by international agencies are intended to rate local companies on the international scale and then map international credit ratings to national scale equivalents.