Insurance broker is an independent insurance market entity that, for a fee, carries out brokerage activities in insurance or reinsurance on its behalf in the interests of its clients (persons who need insurance or claim rights to the insurer ) [1] .
Content
General Information
An insurance broker is a legal or natural person registered in the prescribed manner as an entrepreneur , carrying out insurance intermediation in the interests of the insured or the insurer. To acquire insurance broker status in Russia, a license is required. The insurance broker, when concluding contracts, is not entitled to act simultaneously in the interests of the insured and the insurer [2] . The insurance broker is more often a representative of the insured, rather than the insurer, and in international practice does not bear legal responsibility to the insurer, which does not exclude moral responsibility. The broker also does not have to guarantee the solvency of the insurer (reinsurer) and is not responsible for the payment of losses and the return of the premium. If the broker in the performance of his duties allowed negligence, as a result of which damage was caused to the policyholder, the latter has the right to demand compensation from the broker. The usual way to guarantee the liability of an insurance broker is a professional liability insurance policy. Payment for the services of an insurance broker until 2007 was made in the form of a commission [3] Now, however, the law prohibits insurance brokers from representing the insurer's interests to clients. In the practice of insurance there are other methods of payment for services, for example, in the form of a solid fee [4] .
Under the brokerage commission understand the remuneration in favor of the broker for services that are paid from the premium intended for the insurer . At the same time, the amount of commission that an insurance company allocates to a broker can reach very significant values, since when calculating the cost of an insurance contract concluded through a broker, the insurer may not take into account its own expenses for finding a client and processing a transaction. European legislation governing the activities of insurance intermediaries, contains the concept of a reasonable remuneration of an insurance intermediary, which is set depending on the type of insurance. The size of the usual remuneration of insurance brokers varies in the range of 10 - 25%, in some cases, up to 30 - 35%. The average size of the brokerage commission in Russia in the first half of 2012 was approximately 20% [5] . The task of the insurance broker is to choose the best option for the policyholder among those offered by insurers. Insurance brokers can help a client formulate tasks for insurance companies and develop an individual insurance product, after which the insurance broker should find insurance companies that could enter into such an insurance contract on individual terms [4] . The broker may contain a staff of experts and experts who track changes in the insurance market. In addition, the task of the insurance broker is to accompany the client in case of insured events. It is in this area that insurance brokers are the most different from agents of insurance companies whose task is exclusively to sell the insurance product [4] . Many insurers conduct special training for insurance brokers in their product line. Insurance brokers can carry out other activities related to insurance, except for activities as an insurance agent, insurer, reinsurer [2] .
Insurance brokers in Russia
According to the Law on the organization of insurance business in the Russian Federation, existing insurance brokers in Russia were to receive licenses before July 1, 2007 [6] .
All brokers licensed to carry out insurance activities in the Russian Federation are listed in the Unified State Register of Insurance Subjects [7] . The number of brokers in the registry increased from 20 (June 2007) to 162 (December 2013), with the maximum number reaching 187 (March 2012) [8] .
In January 2014, amendments to the Law on the Organization of Insurance, came into force, according to which information on whether a given insurance broker works with a certain insurance company should be available on the Internet, either on the website of this insurance company or on the website of the insurance association , to which the insurance company has delegated the function of keeping a register of insurance brokers, with which it has relations. The obligation to provide such information (in fact - to maintain a register of brokers) is assigned to the insurer. In the event that he delegates this function to the insurance association, on the website of this insurer there should be information about such association (link to the association website) [9] .
Notes
- ↑ A.P. Arkhipov, S.B. Bogoyavlensky, Yu.V. Dyuzhev et al. Insurance Broker // Basics of Insurance Activity: Textbook / Ed. ed. prof. T.A. Fedorov. - Moscow: BEK, 1999. - p. 736. - 757 p. - ISBN 5-85639-261-2 .
- ↑ 1 2 Gracheva E.Yu., Boltinova OV, E. Yu. Gracheva, OV V. Boltinova. Legal basis of insurance. - M .: Prospectus, 2011.
- ↑ Fundamentals of insurance activities: Textbook / A. P. Arkhipov, S. B. Bogoyavlensky, Yu. V. Dyuzhev and others; Ed. ed. prof. T. A. Fedorov. - M .: BEK, 1999. - 757 p. - ISBN 5-85639-261-2 .
- ↑ 1 2 3 Laykov A.Yu. The role and place of mediation in the modern Russian insurance market // Insurance Today. - August 15, 2006.
- ↑ In the first half of the year, insurers paid almost 50 billion rubles to insurance intermediaries - FSFM // PRIME. - September 17, 2012
- ↑ RF Law of November 27, 1992 N 4015-I “On the organization of insurance business in the Russian Federation”
- ↑ Register on the Federal Financial Markets Service website
- Change in the number of subjects of the insurance market - insurers, reinsurers, brokers
- ↑ Federal Law of the Russian Federation dated July 23, 2013 N 234-ФЗ “On Amendments to the Law of the Russian Federation“ On the Organization of Insurance Business in the Russian Federation ”” . “ Rossiyskaya Gazeta ” No. 6139 (July 26, 2012). The date of appeal is January 17, 2014.