OREANDA-NEWS  On 03 October was announced, that Ingosstrakh launches office in Uzbekistan.

As Ingosstrakh informed earlier, in April 2008 IJSC Ingosstrakh completed acquisition of 76% equity capital of SP LLC Standard Insurance Group, an Uzbek insurance company. The deal was entered as part of Ingosstrakh’s strategy aimed at expanding presence in the priority insurance markets of the CIS countries.

Standard Insurance Group was established in January 2005. The size of gross written premium in 2007 amounted to SUM 9297 bn, or 12.86% of the total premium in the Uzbek insurance market (4th in terms of the size). The key contributors to the aggregate size of premiums are corporate clients with long standing relations and large size of insured assets.

The company’s registered capital currently amounts to USD 1mln. Besides IJSC Ingosstrakh, the other shareholders of the Company are Uzbekiston Havo Yullari national airline, Bukhara Oil Refinery and other legal entities and physical persons.

In August 2008, in order to improve corporate governance and to protect the interests of the insurants the shareholders resolved to reorganized into a closed joint company. On September 3 the Closed Joint Stock Insurance Company INGO UZBEKISTAN was registered by the Ministry of Justice. On September 16 the State Insurance Surveillance Inspection of the Ministry of Finance issued INGO UZBEKISTAN a license for 16 classes of insurance services.

The priority area of business of INGO UZBEKISTAN will be general insurance (private insurance, property insurance, liability insurance and other types of insurance other than life insurance). In the nearest future the company is planning to focus on retail insurance services and will offer new and updated insurance products. Today, the Company has branches in Fergana, Samarkand and Gulistan. Till the end of the year the Company expects to launch branch offices in other parts of Uzbekistan.

To revitalize the activity of the insurance company and to cement its positions as one of the leaders in the insurance market of Uzbekistan, IJSC Ingosstrakh will provide INGO UZBEKISTAN with its efficient insurance methodologies, newest insurance programs and technologies. This factor, as well as the availability of a stable base of corporate clients and a comprehensive retail and branch network are expected to enable the Company to take up to 1/5 of the national insurance market.

Rutam Turaev has been appointed General Director of the Company. He has impressive experience both in the republican insurance sector and with IJSC Ingosstrakh as head of the insurer’s representative office in Uzbekistan.

According to Tatyana Kaygorodova, Head of the Direct Investments Administration of IJSC Ingosstrakh, ‘we are already focusing on the development of the insurance business on the rapidly developing and perspective market of Uzbekistan. Given the economic potential of the country, INGO UZBEKISTAN will pick up the dynamics to become one of the most notable members of our subsidiaries operating outside Russia.’

The arrival of Russia’s leading insurer, according to financial and economic analysts and experts, will contribute to international integration of the Uzbek insurance market and will stimulate Russian-Uzbek relations in trade and economy.