Groupama, RCA’s new leader after the bankruptcy of Euroins, reacted on Wednesday to three fines received last month from the ASF, including for delays in the payment of RCA claims, saying they were operational errors that were exceptional in the context of the daily volume of approved claims, to which they treat carefully so as not to repeat themselves.

French insurance company Groupama says that “errors also occur, mostly human, which are exceptional in the context of the volumes we deal with every day (for example, in a typical month we register more than 16,000 claims in general insurance alone), exceptions, which we treat with due consideration and which we consider with priority.”

• “The penalty announced on Monday by the ASF aims to draw our attention to these exceptions (for example: clearly failing to report 2 payments related to external damages within 3 years, or delays in the case of 40 compensation payments out of more than 138,000, analyzed as part of the control) and does not concern a significant problem, but operational errors, which we treat very carefully, in such a way that the risks of their recurrence are significantly reduced,” Groupama representatives told HotNews.ro, who did not say whether they would to appeal received fines in court or not.

The Financial Supervisory Authority (ASF) last month imposed a wave of fines on Groupama Asigurări, the new leader of RCA following the bankruptcy of Euroins.

The authority imposed three fines totaling 340,600 lei for violations in the payment of RCA claims, reporting on external transfers and inventory of the approved claims reserve, namely:

1. A fine of 115,500 lei for:

• failure to comply with the provisions of Art. 23 par. (5) from Law No. 129/2019 on the prevention and fight against money laundering and terrorist financing, as well as for the introduction of changes and additions to some regulatory acts with further changes and additions confirmed by the provisions of Art. 12 para. (4) from ASF Regulation no. 13/2019;
• failure to comply with the provisions of Art. 24 para. (1) from Law No. 129/2019 in combination with the provisions of paragraph 4. (1), Art. 21 par. (1) and par. (6) and Art. 47 par. (3) and par. (7) from ASF Regulation no. 13/2019;
• failure to comply with the provisions of Art. 25 para. (1) from Law No. 129/2019 in combination with the provisions of paragraph 13. (1) and Art. 47 par. (3) and par. (7) from ASF Regulation no. 13/2019;
• failure to comply with the provisions of Art. 7 para. (3) from Law No. 129/2019 in combination with the provisions of Art. 35 par. (1) from ASF Regulation no. 13/2019 regarding the obligation to report to the N.CPSB on external transfers to and from accounts in lei or foreign currency;
• failure to comply with the provisions of Art. 24 of Law No. 129/2019 in combination with the provisions of Art. 11 paragraph (5) of ASF Regulation no. 13/2019.

2. A fine of 100,700 lei for:

• failure to comply with the provisions of Art. 21 par. (4) and (5) of Law No. 132/2017 on compulsory car civil liability insurance (RCA).

These two provisions state that the insurer must pay the compensation within 10 days from the date of acceptance of the offer of compensation or from the date on which it has received a final judgment or consent of the dispute resolution entity regarding the amount of compensation it is obliged to pay.

In the event that the RSA insurer fails to fulfill its obligations within the previously established period or fulfills them with deficiencies, including an unjustified reduction in the amount of compensation or a delay in the payment of compensation, it is obliged to pay a penalty in the amount of 0.2% per day of delay, calculated on the amount the due amount of compensation or the difference in the unpaid amount. Payment of fines is carried out simultaneously with payment of compensation.

3. A fine of 124,400 lei for:

• failure to comply with the provisions of Art. 4 para. (2) lit. d) the last sentence of ASF Regulation no. 2/2016 on the application of the principles of corporate management of entities authorized, regulated and controlled by the Financial Supervisory Authority, with subsequent changes and additions, in the sense that in connection with the requirements provided for in Art. 2 para. (2), Art. 21 par. (3), Art. 25 para. (1), Art. 30 par. (1) and par. (4) and Art. 31 par. (3) from ASF norm no. 32/2015 on organizing and carrying out inventory of assets, liabilities, capital and operations regarding insurance and reinsurance activities of insurers/reinsurers and insurance/reinsurance brokers, internal control mechanisms in the company regarding the process of inventorying the approved damage stock was not sufficient.

The two insurers have more than 45% of RCA’s revenues, despite the bankruptcy of Euroins

The degree of concentration in the RCA market remained at a high level in the first half of last year, with Groupama and Allianz-Țiriac accumulating 45.6% of revenue, while Euroins, which was left without a license in March, had 14.1%, according to ASF data.

In the entire market as a whole, on June 30, 2023, the first average RCA was 1,190 lei, which is 3% more compared to the same semester last year.

On June 30, 2023, there were six insurers authorized by the ASF for RCA insurance activities operating on the insurance market: Allianz-Ţiriac, Asirom VIG, Generali, Grawe, Groupama and Omniasig VIG.

On the RCA market in Romania, there are two branches operating by right of foundation: Axeria IARD and Hellas Direct.

The Axeria Iard branch started operations in the RCA market during the fourth quarter of 2021 and recorded a volume of gross premiums written for RCA of approximately 339 million lei in the first six months of 2023, representing 7.3% of total premiums written. for this segment.

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