The Russian National Reinsurance Company will seek to enter international reinsurance markets in order to diversify its book as it gains scale, according to the reinsurers President.
Nikolay Galushin, President of the Russian National Reinsurance Company, said in an interview with Interfax that in future it will be desirable for the company to have access to international reinsurance markets and to secure ratings from recognised rating agencies, in order to ensure it can diversify its underwriting portfolio.
So far the company is very focused on underwriting in its home country, where it benefits from rules which allow it to take a significant share of risk in the marketplace and are designed to see the company support the Russian domestic insurance market.
But clearly Galushin has global ambitions and will seek to enter new markets. Already the reinsurer is discussing the need for reinsurance coordination within countries in the vicinity of Russia, with a working group on reinsurance market cooperation tabled as a possible way to ensure collaboration in the Eurasia region.
“Russian reinsurers are currently developing a concept for the establishment of reinsurance capacity in the Eurasian Economic Commission space and to remove barriers to cross-border reinsurance,” a source told Interfax.
So plans are seemingly afoot to broaden the reach of Russia’s new national reinsurer, which could see it gaining access to much-needed diversification and could be a first step to it gaining access to other international reinsurance markets.
The reinsurer will need this diversity, as its initial operating mandate is to take a percentage of all risks reinsured in Russia, hence its risk concentration in the country will be high and international market access will eventually be key if it is to fulfill its mandate at home as well.
