Serhiy Tigipko will take over insurance for Italians.

Sergey Tigipko

The TAS Group, whose founder and main shareholder is businessman Serhiy Tigipko, has opened an insurance company in Italy. Three sources in the insurance market told Kapital this. The publication learned that the group acquired a leading Italian online aggregator, which sells most of the country's online insurance policies. The group created the insurance company, which will also sell policies online through this aggregator, from scratch. At the time of publication, Kapital had not received an official comment from the TAS Group.

In Ukraine, TAS operates two insurance companies: TAS Risk Insurance Group and TAS Life Insurer. The former is among the top 10 insurers in Ukraine. In the first half of the year, it earned approximately UAH 204 million in premiums.
Fear in Europe
The name of the insurance company in Italy and the investment amount in the project are unknown. "To start an insurance business from scratch in the EU, you need to contribute at least €2 million to the authorized capital. A well-established online aggregator could also cost several million euros. Office and staff costs would also be required. The investment is estimated to be €5-10 million," says Vyacheslav Chernyakhovsky, Chairman of the Insurance Commission of the Ukrainian Society of Financial Analysts.
"Creating an insurer in an established European market is expensive, and developing such a project is even more so. Monthly expenses can reach €100," estimates Oleksandr Zaletov, President of the League of Insurance Organizations of Ukraine.
TAS Insurance Group received UAH 204 million in premiums in January-July.
Initially, an insurer may not need to invest in a large staff if it uses an online aggregator and sells insurance exclusively online. "Some of the insurance claim handling work can even be outsourced, but there will still be costs, especially initially—specialists are needed to create and promote insurance products," Chernyakhovsky noted.
Diversify or die
Experts are unsure why the Ukrainian investor is entering the Italian insurance market. "It's most likely a matter of business diversification, through which the owner is trying to preserve his capital," suggests Galina Tretyakova, CEO of the Ukrainian Insurance Federation. "Such a project could mark the beginning of Tihipko's business exit from Ukraine," says the chairman of the board, who asked not to be named. He believes that Serhiy Tihipko's wife, Victoria, known for her multi-million dollar investments in IT projects, could have played a key role in this decision. "She has a business partner in Italy, and this is likely a joint project," the insurer suggests.
Second went
Insurers don't yet see much promise in this project. "Starting an insurance business in Europe, where the world's largest players operate, is quite risky, especially in Italy, where insurance fraud is high. So, I don't think anyone in Ukraine will be willing to follow Tigipko's example anytime soon," Zaletov noted.
Tihipko's insurance company in Italy is the third insurance project of Ukrainian investors abroad. The first was Lemma Europe Insurance Company Limited, a Gibraltar-based insurer affiliated with the Ukrainian company Lemma. The second was RuTAS, a subsidiary of the TAS Group in Russia. The first went bankrupt in 2012, and Tihipko sold the second in 2007.

Tatyana Pavlyuchenko, Capital

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