‘Our regional insurers tend to merge and consolidate lately, partly because of increased and stricter demands imposed on an insurance company’s authorized capital. It is expected that about 20% of insurers based in Ural Federal District will disappear after a series of mergers. The greatest number of mergers will probably be recorded with medical insurers,’ head of Federal Insurance Authority in Ural Federal District Vladimir Ostrovskiy says.

‘A merger makes it possible for an insurance company to meet the requirements in terms of capital quality. Four companies have already left Sverdlovsk Region market as a result of mergers, but this cannot be seen as a good trend. Estimates have shown that a small medical insurer is capable of protecting its customers’ rights much more efficiently. This is particularly true of companies that see obligatory medical insurance as their core business activity,’ President of Territoria (the association of medical insurers) Maxim Starodubtsev said to UrBC.