Playing fair: a single standard has been proposed for life credit insurance

The Bank of Russia expects to create a draft unified standard for insurance products by the end of this year. This was stated at a press conference on October 24 by the head of the Central Bank, Elvira Nabiullina. According to her, the standard is designed to protect customers from overpayments and reduce the reasons for refusal of payments from insurers. According to the Central Bank's report, the level of payments in relation to credit insurance contributions is minimal for almost half of the market players, and every third customer faces refusals to reimburse. To provide borrowers with reliable protection, a number of banks have already begun to increase the requirements for life insurance products. Izvestia has learned the opinion of experts on the need to introduce a single standard.

Why a standard is needed: the opinion of the regulator and experts

The regulator told Izvestia that it supports these initiatives and is ready to discuss the details with the market. "We will also prepare our proposals on the structure and content of the standard," said Mikhail Mamuta, head of the Bank of Russia's Consumer Protection and Financial Services Accessibility Service.

Despite the current requirements for contracts and information on credit life insurance (CSH), problems with its customer value remain, Mamuta emphasized. This is also of concern to market participants, who propose to consolidate uniform requirements for CSR in the form of a standard as a more flexible and effective tool. As the head of the Central Bank stated earlier, the regulator expects to see the draft standard by the end of 2025.

In turn, Gleb Yakovlev, vice-president of the All-Russian Union of Insurers (VSS), told Interfax that the union "has begun to develop its own internal standard of the VSS for insurance of risks of damage to the life and health of borrowers, which will be discussed with the regulator and adopted in accordance with the procedures established by the union." According to him, discussions and consultations on the BCC's internal standard for borrower insurance with the Bank of Russia have already begun.

The need to introduce a standard for credit life insurance was also supported by the expert community. Alexey Yanin, Managing Director for ratings of insurance and investment companies at Expert RA, explained that credit life insurance protects the borrower, his family and the bank in case of events such as death or disability, allowing them to repay the balance of the loan at the expense of the policy. Without this product, a family faces a double financial burden in the event of a tragedy. Due to the lack of uniform standards, insurance companies offer different conditions and exclusions, which is why the borrower's real protection may be minimal.

Due to the social importance of credit life insurance, it is important to establish uniform standards so that all market participants equally understand what risks the policy covers and that the product has real value for the customer, Alexey Yanin added. In the meantime, the share of refusals to pay remains high, including due to the complex requirements for medical documents, which in practice are very difficult or impossible for the borrower to obtain.

The Central Bank could have independently tightened the requirements for CSR, however, the more correct way for the market is self—regulation through the creation and implementation of standards, said Pavel Samiev, a member of the presidium of Opora Russia. This will make it possible to form a civilized market without strict restrictions and sanctions.

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Can the customer return such products if they were issued together with the loan?

There are indeed problems with the customer value of credit life insurance policies in the market. Thus, according to the ranking of insurance companies based on the results of the first half of 2025 from Expert RA, 6 out of 13 market participants have a level of payments to contributions received below 10%, and for individual players it is only 0.7–2.6%. This means that in the vast majority of cases, clients do not receive payments under these policies.

As previously noted by the deputy chairman of the Central Bank Philip Gabunia, the Bank of Russia is not satisfied with the current statistics on insurance payments and refusals in the field of bank insurance. The payout rate for the market is 28%, but excluding one major player, it is only 6%.

Izvestia previously reported that a third of insurance companies have extremely low levels of payments: 40 out of 131 market participants (27 insurers and 13 mutual insurance companies) had less than 10% of reimbursements for fees in the first quarter of 2025. In total, they collected 22.8 billion rubles, but paid only 0.6 billion. At the same time, 16 market participants who collected 37.4 million rubles did not make a single payment.

How can the CSJ standard change the situation?

The main challenge for the industry is to reduce the number of disputed payment refusals and eliminate the disparity between the agent's fees and the product premium, Mikhail Mamuta noted. An important indicator of the usefulness of insurance is the reduction in the proportion of contracts that customers terminate during the cooling—off period, when they can still opt out of the product.

The market needs a single standard of credit life insurance, which will ensure the unification of parameters, transparency of conditions and protection of customers, said Pavel Samiev. A single standard, where the rights and interests of policyholders will become a priority, will help to form correct sales principles and product parameters so that insurance really fulfills its function of protection, and does not turn into an additional financial burden.

Sberbank has developed and since September 1 has already introduced requirements for life insurance for mortgage borrowers, which, in particular, include a minimum list of exclusions from coverage, payments upon death within five days, and payments of up to 5 million rubles under a reduced package of documents. "Life insurance should not be a formality when applying for a loan, but a real support tool. Therefore, we have developed transparent requirements for borrowers' life insurance programs. These requirements have already been supported by more than 20 insurance companies. We believe that such requirements should become an industry standard, and we are ready to share with the market both the requirements themselves and the practice of their implementation," Ruslan Westerovsky, Senior Vice President and head of the Welfare Management unit at Sbera, told Izvestia.

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The fund's draft budget includes 104.7 billion rubles for these needs.

The new consumer-oriented rules will make the market more transparent and fairer, says Khoja Kava, senior lecturer at the Department of Economic Theory at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics.

The initiative to introduce such a standard deserves support, as it unites market participants and, in principle, makes it more transparent, Pavel Samiev added. It is expected that after its implementation, CSG products will become more useful to customers, the level of payments will increase, and the focus will shift from marginality and commissions to real value for the consumer.

As Alexey Yanin noted, the introduction of a single standard will eventually increase citizens' confidence in insurance and improve the perception of credit insurance due to its increased value. However, the process of market change will be long and progressive — it is important to work daily to increase the value of insurance products and improve their perception by citizens.