Non-insurance pool. The obvious need for national reinsurance

An insurance pool is understood as a voluntary association of insurers, which in essence is not a legal entity, but is created on the basis of a pre-concluded agreement recorded in in writing. Such an association is created on the basis of the joint responsibility of its participants for the fulfillment of the obligations that they collectively bear to their clients. The main goals pursued when concluding such contracts are to ensure financial stability, guarantees of payments to policyholders, as well as meeting the current needs of clients for services.

Legislative regulation

The formation of insurance pools within the Russian Federation and their functioning is carried out in accordance with the Law of the Russian Federation No. 4015-1 of November 27, 1992 “On the organization of the insurance business.” This regulatory act establishes the norm for the creation of such societies and regulates the basics of their activities. In accordance with its provisions, immediately after the establishment of a company, it is necessary to additionally notify the insurance supervisory authorities. In addition, the antimonopoly committee may carry out certain supervisory functions to prevent actions that could help push other insurers out of the market for providing such services.

The insurance pool is created for a period specifically specified in the contracts, does not contain any restrictions and exists solely on the basis of a signed agreement, which is drawn up taking into account the rules and regulations of the current legislation. A pool is a form of association that exists for a certain period of time and was created in order to solve certain problems that are either beyond the capabilities of individual insurers or for the purpose of extracting certain benefits (in economic terms) from the existence of such an organization.

Objectives, functions and operating principles

After the creation of such pools, several companies conduct activities aimed at resolving common issues and supporting each individual member of the association. It is worth noting that the law does not limit the number of entities that can be part of such an association. By creating a single insurance mechanism, several companies that are part of it operate at the same rates and the same unified rules, which can only change after the pool ceases to exist. The pools themselves can relate not only to the field of insurance - a similar practice is used in many areas of business activity, but when organizing such an association between insurers, the main goals are:

• Increasing the overall financial capacity, which is unstable for individual members of the association;
• Ensuring financial stability of all ongoing insurance operations;
• Ensuring the ability to accept large risks and obligations to pay compensation to clients in the event of an insured event.

One of the most important operating principles used when creating pools is the establishment of an agreement on uniform standards and principles for the provision of insurance services - all such conditions are prescribed in the concluded agreement, the execution of which necessarily precedes the organization of the company. At the same time, the issue of redistribution of contributions received by insurers on the basis of contracts concluded with clients is carried out on the basis of the agreed share of each individual legal entity, which are accepted for risk insurance.

Each individual insurer is responsible for fulfilling its obligations under the concluded agreement to join the insurance pool. The pool itself can function based on two basic principles. The first principle involves joint insurance, in which insurers enter into an agreement with one policyholder and at the same time the policy immediately states how much of the liability each company will bear separately. In this case, the client can demand payment both from the company that directly issued the policy and from each of the insurers that are members of the pool. The second principle involves the implementation of reinsurance - here the insurer independently enters into an agreement with the client, and when an insured event occurs, it should apply for payments to other pool participants only if the main insurer is not able to pay off all obligations.

Conclusion

So, an insurance pool is a voluntary association of two or more separate legal entities that provide insurance services and are separate business entities. The main purpose of organizing this type of company is to temporarily support insurers replacing each other and partially assume the obligations of other participants in such a company to pay compensation to clients who have an insured event.

PC: Reinsurance is a necessary condition for ensuring the financial and normal activity of the insurance market, regardless of the size of its capital, funds and other assets. In many cases, the insured values ​​of the objects to be insured are so large or dangerous that the capacity of individual national insurance risks with all the insurance organizations located in them is insufficient to ensure their insurance in in full. Through reinsurance channels, such risks are transferred to the insurance markets of other countries, as a result of which it may turn out that the entire or almost the entire international insurance market, hundreds and thousands of insurance companies, participate in the insurance of large risks.

High-quality international reinsurance, of course, provides reliable insurance protection, but it is not always cheap. To optimize the own retention of reinsurance prices and create significant reinsurance capacity for specific or large risks, reinsurance pool technologies are increasingly being used.

What are reinsurance pools

Reinsurance pools are associations of insurers jointly carrying out insurance activities for certain types of insurance or insurance risks on the basis of simple partnership agreements (joint activity agreements).

Reinsurance pools are created to increase financial opportunities pool members by providing reinsurance to the extent that exceeds the pool members’ own retention under the insurance contract. Liabilities for insurance payments exceeding the own funds (capital) of the members of the insurance pool are transferred on behalf of the insurance pool to reinsurance.

Participants in the reinsurance pool may be insurers licensed to provide reinsurance, including foreign reinsurance organizations. The number of participants in the insurance (reinsurance) pool is not limited.

Participants in the reinsurance pool develop uniform principles and approaches to the conditions for reinsurance within the pool, exchange information on reinsurance contracts, assessing insurance risk, determining losses or damages, determine the management bodies of the pool and (or) the reinsurer - the leader of the pool, their powers, procedure participation in other reinsurance pools, the procedure for the withdrawal of reinsurance pool participants from the corresponding pool.

Thus, the goals of organizing reinsurance pools are primarily:

• ensuring the financial stability of reinsurance operations on the terms of joint liability of its participants for the fulfillment of obligations under insurance contracts;
• creation of joint guarantees of insurance payments and more favorable conditions for policyholders;
• more complete insurance coverage of risks;
• concluding insurance contracts on behalf of participants in the reinsurance pool under uniform insurance conditions and insurance rates within the limits of the maximum amount of obligations under the insurance contract established by the contract.

The activities of the insurance pool should be based on the following principles:

• creating the most favorable insurance conditions based on the application of uniform rules and tariffs by reinsurers - participants in the pool;
• concluding insurance contracts within the maximum amount of liabilities established under the reinsurance pool agreement;
• redistribution of insurance premiums received under reinsurance agreements concluded on behalf of pool participants, according to their share in the risk accepted for insurance;
• joint and several liability of pool participants for the fulfillment of obligations under reinsurance contracts concluded on behalf of the insurance pool participants.

Cross-country reinsurance capacity

Today, there are several types of regional reinsurance pools operating in the world, uniting several countries. The legal form of their activities varies from a state regional reinsurance pool to a private regional reinsurance corporation.

In 2007, the world's first state-owned cross-country reinsurance capacity was created in the Caribbean. The state-owned intercountry reinsurance pool of the Caribbean - the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility - was created and operates in the Caribbean region by the governments of the Caribbean countries and is wholly owned by them.

The purpose of the pool is to reduce the financial impact of hurricanes and earthquakes on Caribbean governments by quickly providing liquidity to the pooled countries through an insurance policy. This is the world's first regional parametric insurance fund, giving Caribbean countries a unique opportunity to purchase insurance coverage against risks such as earthquakes and typhoons at the lowest possible price. The Caribbean Disaster Insurance Fund was developed under the leadership of the World Bank.

Sixteen governments are members of CCRIF: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos.

The reinsurance pool strives to develop financial and corporate integration, to better understand and analyze catastrophic risks and develop the right solutions within the organization, to provide insurance products and services that meet the requirements of the region.

In 2014, the Fund's assets increased compared to 2013 and reached US$132 million. In 2013, assets were US$125 million.

Another type of regional reinsurance company operates in the African region. In accordance with the recommendation of the African Development Bank (AfDB), the African Reinsurance Corporation (Africa Re) was created on February 24, 1976 in Cameroon. The international agreement was signed by the plenipotentiaries of the 36 member states of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and the African Development Bank with the aim of reducing the withdrawal of foreign exchange from the continent while maintaining a significant share of the reinsurance premium received.

The agreement concluded was called the Agreement Establishing the African Reinsurance Corporation, and the implementation of the activities was vested in Africa Re, as well as the legal authority for the activities. The company's members include 41 countries, representing 38.75% of the region's capital, in addition to the African Development Bank, which is one of the largest shareholders with 8% of the capital.

The agreement authorizes any member of the corporation to authorize the creation of a national agency, or a bank or insurance company acting on its behalf, to acquire shares for the government. To effectively operate in the regional market, one third of Africa Re's capital was opened in 1992 to insurance companies.

Today, more than 100 insurance and reinsurance companies are shareholders of the Corporation and hold 32.25% of the shares.

In addition, in 2001, it was decided that the Corporation's capital would be increased to US$100 million and would be opened to non-African investors in order to have the necessary strategic partners. As a result, four non-African development finance institutions signed the Agreement and paid a total of 21% of Africa Re's capital in 2010, bringing the number of AAA-rated shareholders to five and representing 29% of the corporation's shareholding. Four shareholders:

IFC (International Finance Corporation, a subsidiary of the World Bank),

DEG (German Investment and Development Corporation, member of the KfW Banking Group),

FMO (Enterprise Development Bank of the Netherlands),

PROPARCO (French Development Financial Institute, member of the Groupe Agence Française de Développement).

In 2010, Africa Re Corporation once again increased its capital intensity. The corporation's total assets reach US$600 million as of 2013.

In 2012, Brazil's largest reinsurance company, IRB-Brasil Re, became a shareholder of Africa Re Corporation.

National pools

In addition, there are not only regional reinsurance capacities in the world; in almost all EU member countries there are national reinsurance pools, which also have different legal forms depending on the risks taken by the reinsurance companies included in a particular pool.

France

In 2002, France created, at the initiative of the regulator, a public-private partnership of insurance companies and professional associations (Fédération Française des Sociétés d’Assurance, Groupement des Entreprises Mutuelles d’Assurances), which also included international reinsurers. The GAREAT partnership provides only insurance coverage for terrorist risks, starting from 6 million euros.

Since 2005, the GAREAT partnership began to provide insurance coverage for risks amounting to less than 6 million euros due to changes in French insurance legislation (Article L 126-2 of the French Insurance Code, according to which mandatory insurance against terrorist risks is required for all contracts property insurance).

After 2010, the amount of risks taken by the partnership increased to 20 million euros, “Large risks”, which amounted to 6 million euros, increased to 20 million euros, and “small” and “medium risks” began to amount to less than 20 million euros .

Members of the professional associations "FFSA" and "GEMA", as well as individual insurance companies, are required to take on “large risks” (more than 20 million euros), so there is a guarantee fund for them in the amount of 2 billion 300 million euros.

Great Britain

Pool Re was established by UK insurance companies in collaboration with the UK Government to enable insurers to continue to cover losses resulting from terrorist attacks on commercial property in the UK.

Insurers who participate in the scheme offer insurance cover as part of the relevant commercial contract when asked to do so by the policyholder. Each insurer must cover losses up to a certain level, which is determined individually for each insurer. When losses exceed this level, the insurer may request a portion of Pool Re's existing accumulated reserves on a cross-company basis. If payments exceed this reserve, the company, in turn, can take funds from the Government to fulfill its obligations in full, regardless of the scale of the damage.

Germany

In 2002, on the initiative of the German Insurance Association and the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany, an insurance pool was created in the form of a public-private partnership for insurance against terrorist risks.

16 insurance and reinsurance companies representing the German insurance market have created a special insurance company - EXTREMUS. The purpose of this company is to insure large property assets exposed to terrorist risks.

In case of terrorist attacks, Extremus insures almost seven thousand objects and 1,300 clients. Among them are two automakers, real estate companies, banks, industrial enterprises and almost all German airports. If significant sporting events take place in Germany, such as the World Football Championship, then stadiums can also be insured. The total insured amount must be more than 25 million euros, including material assets and payments for business downtime. If the amount of payments exceeds 2 billion euros per year, then government guarantees in the amount of 8 billion euros will come to the rescue. Losses that are not yet covered by any insurance include the consequences of war, as well as pollution from chemical and biological substances or from nuclear energy.

Russia

Russian Nuclear Insurance Pool (RYSP) ) - an insurance pool that unites Russian insurers involved in insurance and reinsurance of nuclear risks (insurance risks associated with possible radiation contamination of the environment).

RYASP became the first full-fledged insurance pool in Russia. Currently, RYSP reinsures nuclear risks from 11 countries. The capacity of the RNSP is US$200 million for insurance of civil liability for nuclear damage at Russian nuclear facilities and US$50 million for reinsurance of property risks of foreign nuclear facilities.

Since 2009, the Russian nuclear insurance pool has been a full member of the international pooling system (International Nuclear Insurance Pools), which includes national nuclear pools of all countries. It receives reinsurance risks from foreign partners and, in turn, transfers to them the risks of domestic enterprises for reinsurance.

In general, in the member countries of the European Union, the pool system was created mainly at the initiative of the state; this role is played either by the government of a particular country or by the financial market regulator.

We can say that an insurance or reinsurance pool chooses a public-private partnership or mutual insurance as its form, because it was created primarily to meet the state’s needs for a compulsory type of insurance - risk insurance natural disasters, from terrorist threats, etc., including a mandatory component of any pool - a guarantee fund that can provide any level of payments if one of the pool members cannot pay for the damage in full.

EAEU

In the Eurasian Economic Space, the issue of creating a state-owned national reinsurance company is being widely discussed.

IN Republic of Belarus The Belarusian National Reinsurance Organization has been operating since 2006. The state enterprise was created by Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus dated November 4, 2006 No. 1463 in accordance with Decree of the President of the Republic of Belarus dated August 25, 2006 No. 530 “On insurance activities.”

RUE "Belarusian National Reinsurance Organization" in accordance with the legislation of the Republic of Belarus is determined to be the only enterprise that cooperates with foreign insurance and reinsurance organizations for the reinsurance of risks insured on the territory of the Republic of Belarus. Its goal is to create a national reinsurance system and implement state policy aimed at ensuring reinsurance protection of the economic interests of the state, property interests of domestic and foreign legal entities and individuals.

Thus, in the Concept for the Development of the Financial Sector Republic of Kazakhstan until 2030 (Resolution of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated August 27, 2014 No. 954) already provides for the possibility of creating a state reinsurance organization, which is planned to be created to strengthen the infrastructure of the insurance market.

The company will provide partial or full reinsurance coverage for large risks, as well as for specific risks in which foreign reinsurance companies are not interested, for example, agricultural risks.

The Concept for the Development of the Financial Sector of the Republic of Kazakhstan until 2030 also notes the need to create a legislative framework that takes into account the specifics of the activities of insurance and reinsurance pools in 2016 - 2020, due to the fact that they bear joint liability to the policyholder and the emphasis will be placed primarily on major or little-known and new risks.

IN Russian Federation at the end of last year, Deputy Chairman of the Bank of Russia V.V. Chistyukhin also announced the possibility of creating a state reinsurance company in Russia. This prospect became possible after the introduction of sanctions.

IN Kyrgyz Republic Since 2009, the Chairman of the State Service for Regulation and Supervision of the Financial Market, Yu. Toychubekov, has been advocating the creation of a national reinsurance company. The possibility of creating such a reinsurance company within the state with a special status is being considered. The Kyrgyz Republic has already studied the experience of Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus, and relevant regulations are being developed.

Taking into account the current situation in the space of the Eurasian Economic Union, the issue of creating a regional reinsurance capacity that could deal with property risks and liability insurance becomes relevant.

The material was prepared by the Department of Financial Policy of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission

1. The financial stability of insurance operations is the most important factor guaranteeing the quality of insurance services. To ensure this, according to the commented article, temporary associations of independent insurance companies can be created - insurance pools. Their creation, as a rule, pursues the following goals: a) overcoming the insufficient financial capacity of individual insurers; b) ensuring the financial stability of insurance operations; c) guarantees of insurance payments; d) ensuring the possibility of accepting large risks for insurance, the sole bearing of which is impossible even for reputable insurers.
The first insurance pools appeared in the sixties of the last century due to the increase in large-scale accidents and disasters caused by man-made factors.
Insurance pools may operate on the principles coinsurance and reinsurance. In the first case, participants transfer to the pool all risks of a certain type, for the insurance of which this association was created. Risks are divided in certain proportions between the participants of the pool, and insurance premiums and liability for damages in the event of an insured event are divided in the same proportion. In reinsurance pools, participants independently engage in primary insurance, and excess risks are transferred to the pool for reinsurance.

An insurance pool is created, as a rule, to provide insurance for one type of insurance activity. It is formed on a voluntary basis for a specified period or without a time limit. Insurers - pool participants must have a license to carry out the relevant type of insurance. The number of participants in this association is not limited, and the capabilities of each of them in relation to third parties are also not limited, that is, an insurance company can be a member of several pools.

In most countries, there is no separate legislation regulating the creation and operation of insurance pools. Basically, this process is limited and regulated by the norms of existing antimonopoly legislation. For example, in the European Union, the creation of reinsurance pools is permitted provided that they control no more than 15% of the share of the relevant insurance market.

The Civil Code of the Russian Federation (Article 953) states that participants in joint insurance are jointly and severally liable to the policyholder for the payment of insurance compensation or the insured amount, unless the contract defines the obligations and rights of each insurer.

The concept of joint liability of participants in the obligation to execute a transaction is established in Art. Art. 322, 323, 325, Civil Code of the Russian Federation. In relation to an insurance pool, it means that the policyholder (beneficiary, insured person) can demand the fulfillment of obligations from any participant in the insurance pool.

The activities of the insurance pool should be based on the following principles: a) creation of the most favorable insurance conditions for clients based on the application of uniform rules and tariffs by insurers participating in the pool; b) concluding insurance contracts within the limits of the maximum amount of obligations established by the agreement on the insurance pool; c) accounting for incoming insurance premiums for the relevant types of insurance in separate subaccounts or analytical accounting means in accordance with the established procedure for mutual settlements between pool participants; d) redistribution of insurance premiums received under insurance contracts concluded on behalf of pool participants, according to their share in the risk accepted for insurance; e) joint liability of pool participants for the fulfillment of obligations under insurance contracts concluded on behalf of the insurance pool participants.

2. Federal Law No. 225-FZ of July 27, 2010 “On compulsory insurance of civil liability of the owner of a hazardous facility for damage caused by an accident at a hazardous facility” provides for the creation of a pool of insurers providing compulsory insurance. Thus, in order to ensure the financial stability of insurance operations for compulsory insurance, members of a professional association of insurers form a reinsurance pool to reinsure the risks of civil liability of the owner of a hazardous facility for damage caused by an accident at a hazardous facility.

The agreement on the reinsurance pool must, in particular, establish the rights and obligations of the pool participants, the procedure for distributing risks accepted by the pool among the pool participants, the conditions for joint liability of the pool participants, the conditions for reinsurance in the pool and reinsurance by the pool, the procedure for conducting business by the pool, issues of mutual settlements between participants pool for insurance premiums, insurance payments and other costs, the procedure for resolving disagreements and disputes between pool participants. At the same time, the reinsurance pool is not allowed to accept risks for types of insurance other than compulsory insurance.

Except for cases of reinsurance on behalf of the pool in accordance with the agreement on the reinsurance pool, members of the professional association of insurers are obliged to reinsure in the pool the risk of insurance payment accepted by them under the contract compulsory insurance, and does not have the right to reinsure this risk with other insurers (in other pools).

Participants in the reinsurance pool do not have the right to refuse to accept their share of the risk.

3. Examples of creating insurance pools in Russia include:

1) Russian Anti-Terrorism Insurance Pool (RAITP). It was founded on December 20, 2001 by six of the largest Russian insurance companies. In 2011, the number of participants was 28, and the total capacity of the pool exceeded 1.5 billion rubles. Reinsurance of terrorist risks is carried out on an obligatory basis between all RATSP participants. When reinsuring risks, pool participants use their own automated system management and document flow (ACS RATSP), which allows you to reinsure risks online. The Russian anti-terrorist insurance pool operates in accordance with the constituent documents signed by all pool participants. The highest body of the pool is the Supervisory Board. The working body of the pool is the Executive Committee. The mission of RATSP is to provide enterprises and citizens of the Russian Federation with reliable insurance protection and competitive conditions for insurance and reinsurance against the risks of “terrorism” and “sabotage” (RATSP official website);

2) Russian Nuclear Insurance Pool (RYSP). It was created on November 27, 1997 by twenty-one Russian insurance organizations. The main task of the insurance organizations included in the pool is to insure the liability of operating organizations - nuclear energy facilities for losses and damage caused by radiation exposure to third parties when carrying out activities within the framework of the Federal Law of November 21, 1995 N 170-FZ "On the Use of Nuclear Energy" energy." The governing body of the RNSP is the Supervisory Board, acting on the basis of the relevant regulations on it, which includes the first managers of the pool participants or their authorized persons. The executive body of the pool is the Executive Committee, also acting on the basis of special regulations and consisting of authorized representatives of the pool participants. The quantitative, personal composition and structure of the executive committee of the pool are approved by the decision of the Supervisory Board of the pool (Official website of the RYSP);

3) Sochi insurance pool(originally the Olympic Insurance Pool) was created by a number of major insurers with the aim of insuring risks associated with the 2014 Olympics in Sochi. It included the companies SOGAZ, Alfa-Insurance, Gefest, Ingosstrakh, RESO-Garantiya, Rosgosstrakh and Soglasie. However, this pool, without starting to work, disintegrated at the end of 2010 due to the requirement of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russia not to occupy more than 20% of the market. According to the FAS Russia, the pool participants prescribed discriminatory restrictive requirements in relation to other insurers in their rules.

An insurance pool - a voluntary association of insurers - is not a legal entity; it is created on the basis of an agreement between the pool participants in order to ensure the financial stability of insurance operations on the terms of joint liability of its participants for the fulfillment of obligations.

The pool is created primarily when accepting dangerous, large or little-known risks for insurance. The pool's activities are based on the principle of coinsurance.

Insurance pools are widely used in foreign countries with a developed insurance system.

The creation and operation of insurance pools ensures the following tasks:

overcoming the insufficient financial capacity of individual insurers;

ensuring the financial stability of insurance operations;

guarantees of payment of insurance compensation;

the possibility of accepting for insurance large and unique in its complexity and magnitude probable risks, significantly exceeding the possibility of own retention of the entire risk, no matter how large the insurance organization.

Currently, particularly large risks include aviation and space risks, risks in nuclear energy, risks of maritime transport and shipping, and some others.

The variety of types used in aviation insurance: comprehensive insurance, insurance of passengers and crew against accidents, liability to third parties leads to the accumulation of risks.

Practically no insurance institution is financially capable of covering the total loss of a modern aircraft with the full cumulation of the insurance risk. These circumstances lead to attempts to distribute serious insurance risks in the international aviation insurance market in the form of reinsurance, reinsurance pools, and joint insurance, with a tendency to limit the original insurer's own share of liability retention.

Insurance pools operate on the principles of coinsurance and reinsurance. In joint insurance pools, participants transfer to the pool all risks of a certain type for which the association was created to insure.

All risks transferred to the pool are divided in certain proportions between the participants, along with insurance premiums for them. The share that each pool participant receives is determined as a fixed percentage, the so-called signature share.

The pool serves to jointly insure risks. Often such a community consists of a large number of participants and thus provides better balance and distribution of risks. Each pool participant participates in the risks covered by the pool based on a proportional distribution scheme established at the outset. Such pool shares are expressed either as a percentage of the total pool capacity (for example, 5%), or as absolute shares (for example, 5 out of 100 shares), or, much less often, in fixed amounts.

In reinsurance pools, participants independently undertake primary insurance, and transfer excess risks to the pool for reinsurance.

By accepting his specific share, each pool participant participates not only in the risks that he himself accepted or transferred to the pool, but also in all other risks contributed to the pool by other participants. This concept achieves three important goals:

a) the number of risks accepted by each participant according to his share increases with the desired effect, and from the point of view of insurance, it is a desired increase in risks;

b) the composition of risks in the portfolio of each participant improves;

c) a pool participant cannot incur losses exceeding his share. The danger of risk accumulation is relatively easier to eliminate due to the fact that all risks are summarized and verified by the pool board.

Main pool organs:

a) meeting of pool participants;

b) the supervisory board of the pool;

c) the executive committee of the pool.

The meeting of participants - the highest governing body - usually has broader powers than, for example, a meeting of shareholders of a joint-stock company. In many cases, the meeting of members is authorized to elect the supervisory board, establish management principles, determine the maximum risk limits and the amount of the pool's own retention, approve annual reports, justify the actions of the executive committee and management bodies, amend the pool's charter, etc.

The Supervisory Board consists of members of the board of directors of all companies included in the pool. It not only performs control functions as the supervisory board of a joint stock company, but also resolves issues of reinsurance, tariffs and contract terms.

The task of managing the pool is assigned to a pool participant, a professional reinsurance company or a special secretariat of the pool. One of its main tasks is the technical processing of the distribution of risks transferred to the pool. This company is a collection point for all risks transferred to the pool. The board's job is to allocate such risks, compile and distribute regular (usually quarterly) reports to pool members on matters related to the management of the risks assigned to the pool, assist in adjusting claims (especially in difficult cases), and look after the pool's overall reinsurance policy.

Management costs are usually distributed among participants according to their shares in the pool.

Reinsurance contracts concluded by a pool for a common account free the pool from risks that may exceed its capacity. To achieve and improve balance, reinsurance contracts can be concluded with foreign pools operating in the same business area.

In most countries, insurance pools are limited in their activities by antitrust laws. For example, according to the regulations of the European Community, the creation of reinsurance pools is permitted provided that they control no more than 15% of the capacity of the relevant risk.

In Russia, the formation and functioning of insurance pools is regulated by the Law of the Russian Federation “On the organization of insurance business in the Russian Federation” and regulatory acts of supervisory authorities, in particular the Regulations on the insurance pool, approved by order of Rosstrakhnadzor dated March 31, 1996. No. 08-11р22 “On the activities of insurance pools.” The existing provision on the insurance pool does not imply the formation of reinsurance pools, since reinsurance does not allow joint liability of insurers.

An insurance pool is created for a certain period for a specific type of insurance activity based on an agreement between the participants. The agreement defines the following characteristics of the pool:

the subject of his activity;

types of insurance and property risks accepted by the pool for insurance;

conditions, procedure for concluding and executing insurance contracts concluded on behalf of pool participants;

mutual obligations of the participants and the order of interaction between them.

The agreement determines the financial participation of each pool member, uniform insurance rules and uniform tariffs, establishes the maximum amount of the pool's obligations when concluding contracts on its behalf and the share of responsibility of each pool member for the risks taken.

The agreement defines the procedure and terms of mutual settlements between pool participants, policyholders and insurance intermediaries.

The activities of the insurance pool should be based on the following principles:

creation of the most favorable insurance conditions for clients on the basis of uniform rules and tariffs for insurers participating in the pool;

concluding insurance contracts within the maximum amount of obligations established by the insurance pool agreement;

accounting of incoming insurance premiums for the relevant types of insurance in separate sub-accounts or by means of analytical accounting - in accordance with the established procedure for mutual settlements between pool participants;

redistribution of insurance premiums received under insurance contracts concluded on behalf of pool participants, according to their share in the risk accepted for insurance;

joint liability of pool participants for the fulfillment of obligations under insurance contracts concluded on behalf of the insurance pool participants.

The liability of pool participants for accepted risks should not exceed 10% of their own assets.

If the insured risk exceeds the capabilities of the pool, then the excess must be reinsured by insurance organizations that are not participants in the pool.

When an insured event occurs, the insurer who has received an application from the policyholder is obliged to immediately notify other pool participants about this and provide documents confirming the fact and amount of damage.

The first pool of insurers, created in England in 1919, was called the British Aviation Insurance Group. It united 24 groups of the Lloyd Corporation, as well as several other institutions. A large organization is the Northern Aviation Insurance Pool “Nordishe Pool for Luftfart Fersikring”, covering 137 insurance institutions. In 1920, an aviation insurance pool was created in Germany.

There are two separate committees in the German pool;

for accident and liability insurance (classes A and B);

for aircraft comprehensive insurance (class C).

In the 60s of the last century, due to the increase in the number of large-scale accidents and disasters caused by man-made factors, the construction and operation of nuclear power plants, and the development of astronautics, certain prerequisites appeared for the creation of various insurance pools.

Pool committees determine the type of risks that must be covered in their class. They also determine the premiums, terms of insurance and the amount of commissions due to participating companies to cover their expenses, including commissions to agents and brokers.

Current affairs are decided by the pool board, elected by the meeting. It also represents the pool abroad.

In order to improve work efficiency, as well as to protect your interests and rights, insurance companies can unite into insurance pools.

An insurance pool is a collaboration of insurance companies on a voluntary basis, created for better and higher quality performance of their duties, as well as protection from financial risks and providing financial guarantees for all participants in such a community.

Moreover, all participants in such an association bear total liability for each other's obligations and under all existing contractual obligations and agreements.

Historical reference

Historically, the origins of such associations are in Great Britain: created in 1919, the British Aviation Insurance Group became a pioneer and pioneer of cooperation between insurers. Germany soon followed the example of the British, creating its own community that became a guarantor of obligations in the aviation insurance industry.
Then, with the development of technological progress, such associations began to be widely used in practice: since the 60s of the last century, an increasing number of companies in different countries the world sought to unite into voluntary communities in order to ensure their financial and professional sustainability, as well as to protect their rights.

In our country there is a law “On the organization of insurance business in the Russian Federation,” which is the main legal document regulating the activities of such associations.

Thus, this law spells out the possibilities and options for creating partnerships on the basis of relevant agreements and without the formation of a separate legal entity. However, having decided to conclude such an agreement, all participants in such an association must notify the insurance supervisory authorities, operating on the territory of the Russian Federation.

Activities in Russia

The pioneer of such societies in the last century was the All-Russian Union of Insurers.. The activities of this community were widely known within our country. Created at the very beginning of the 90s of the 20th century, this union was a response to the uncontrollably growing number of new participants in the developing Russian life and property insurance market.

According to the charter, the goals of creating this company were to protect the interests of insurance companies, professional assistance and support in the provision of insurance services, internal settlement of disputes and general development national insurance sector.

By 2005, the need for a different kind of organization arose, and the idea was embodied in the creation of the National Union of Liability Insurers or NSSO. This community united those insurance companies whose activities were closely related to insurance of all forms of civil liability. It is worth noting that this company has been actively developing and is still functioning successfully, being a guarantor of the protection of rights and proper fulfillment of obligations by companies.

In fact, NSSO is a reorganized VSO, which was joined by 26 more leading companies providing services in the field of liability insurance. This association regulates the activities of such areas of insurance as civil liability (with the exception of compulsory motor liability insurance), as well as liability insurance at hazardous production facilities and carrier liability insurance.

Modern tendencies

Also on the territory of the Russian Federation, from 2002 to the present, a pool called RSA has been successfully operating - Russian Union of Motor Insurers. The activities of this company are regulated by regulations on compulsory motor liability insurance.

Russian Union of Auto Insurers designed to resolve issues of payment of compensation instead of mandatory payments under compulsory motor liability insurance, and this happens only when the insurer, for some reason, is unable to fully ensure the fulfillment of its obligations. Also, this organization is a guarantor of the execution of decisions in matters of civil liability, and in the event of a lawsuit it acts as defendants or co-defendants.

In addition to such powerful organizations, on the territory of the Russian Federation there are also smaller pools operate, however, their sphere of influence is often invisible to the average person, but strategically important for the country as a whole.

Examples include:

• aerospace insurance pool. As you can easily guess from the name, this organization deals exclusively with risks associated with the development of the space industry and the development of aviation in the country;
• to protect against risks in the field of nuclear energy development, the Russian Nuclear Insurance Pool was created;
• to protect against threats in domestic and international terrorism - RATSP association- also an insurance pool, but this time Russian Anti-Terrorism.

Experts' forecasts

In addition to achieving global goals, pools can also be created:

• to support local targeted strategic important projects, - this was the Olympics in Sochi;
• a company providing construction insurance was successfully created, but by 2010 it ceased to exist due to numerous violations of the law on monopoly issues.

Perhaps in the foreseeable future our country will have a new society that will become a single powerful organization, freely and independently regulating its activities. At least five serious players in the insurance business declared their intentions to support this project - We are talking about a single pool with the participation of:

• NSSO;
• Union of Health Insurers;
• Union of Agricultural Insurers;
• VSS itself.