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Eastern Europe
May 31, 2019 www.intellinews.com I Page 14
Russian business ombudsman Titov complains to Putin about the poor investment climate
Russian presidential ombudsman for business Boris Titov presented the annual report to the President Vladimir Putin, delivering a sharp criticism of the investment and entrepreneurship climate in the country, Vedomosti daily reported on May 28.
This year Russia’s investment community is in furore as the liberal fraction of the Kremlin, that actually runs the macroeconomic and reform processes, called on the president to intercede following the arrest of celebrity US fund manager Michael Calvey.
The Calvey case has exacerbated persistent con- cerns with the business environment in Russia, for domestic and foreign businesses alike.
As bne IntelliNews has argued, Russian business is facing a crisis of confidence and over 80% of the entrepreneurs surveyed by Titov's office believe that doing business in Russia was not safe.
Private businessmen was worried about the in- creasingly predatory nature of the big state-owned enterprises, which are using their government connections and deep pockets to snap up smaller rivals or are simply crushing their privately owned competition. At the same time officials, especially in the tax service, regularly use their administra- tive resources to extract bribes from successful businesses.
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Russian life insurance market shrinks for
the first time in decade on investment products
Life insurance premiums underwritten by Russian insurers went down by 5.5% year-on-year to RUB94.8bn ($1.5bn) in the first quarter of 2019 – the first time that premiums have fallen ten years, Vedomosti daily reported on May 27 citing the data by the Pan-Russian Union of Insurers (VSS).
The sharpest decline was seen in the investment life insurance segment, which plunged by 26% to RUB46bn. The insurance product is positioned by commercial banks as a more profitable alternative to deposits.
The investment-grade insurance products accounted for 48% of all premiums in the first quarter, as compared to credit insurance (22% of RUB21bn) and standard savings life insurance policies (19.2% or RUB18.2bn).
The VSS attributed the decline in investment- grade insurance products to the saturation of premium clients' segments, as well as tougher regulation of underwriting, which was promoted by the union itself to root out speculative players.
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