Insurance in modern conditions is one of the means of protecting the population, enterprises, public institutions, households from losses that they may suffer as a result of accidents, natural events, traffic accidents. The presence of an insurance document allows to minimize the losses incurred, and the accrued insurance compensation or insurance payment will be aimed at restoring human health, renewing destroyed property.
Is insurance?
With the development of trade, transportation, natural disasters in the minds of people came up with the idea of the need to create some kind of guarantee fund, thanks to which they could cover losses in case of unforeseen events. Storms and hurricanes, accidents, man-made disasters carry a risk that causes a significant loss to the property interests of organizations, enterprises, farms, health and life of people.
Given the articles of the law of the Russian Federation “On the organization of insurance business in the Russian Federation, the insurance system is a special insurance reserve, thanks to which policyholders have the opportunity to receive protection from the contributions that they will pay. This implies that enterprises, organizations, public foundations, private entrepreneurs, individuals have the opportunity to reduce the size of a sudden loss if an event occurs, in case of which an insurance contract has been concluded. In order to take this opportunity, a contractual insurance relationship is drawn up between the insurance company and the buyer of the insurance service, in the confirmation of which a document is signed. According to the rules applicable to the insurer, it defines the objects of insurance, who has insurance coverage, insurance events, in which case the responsibility of the insurance organization occurs, and exclusions from these insurance rules.
Which parties are involved in insurance?
At first glance, two parties are involved in conducting insurance operations: the insurer and the insured. However, this is an erroneous opinion, because they only sign the document. In reality, based on the current legislation, the main participants in insurance relations are:
- insurer - has a license, carries out insurance activities;
- the policyholder is the one who signed the contract;
- the insured person - the object to which the insurance cover applies;
- beneficiary - one who has the right to receive payment;
- insurance agent - the one who issued the insurance policy and received an agency fee for this;
- insurance broker - a person engaged in intermediary insurance activities.
Insurance relations appear only when a potential client and insurance company, that is, the main participants in the insurance relationship, sign an insurance document. After a bilateral agreement on the insurance service, its cost, features of the insurance payment, the insurer employee or insurance broker draw up insurance that carries information about the insured object. The document also indicates the beneficiary.The characteristics of participants in insurance relations helps to understand the nuances of insurance relationships: who is responsible for what in accordance with the clauses of the signed document.
Insurer
In the modern financial market, organizations that take responsibility for property contracts and life insurance policies (not to be confused with pension insurance) are called insurers. As professional participants in insurance relations, they can be represented as a state or private company. In order to legally provide insurance coverage to service buyers, namely, to provide individuals and legal entities with the opportunity to sign an insurance document, the insurer is required to obtain a license. Only this document gives him the legal right to work. An ordinary citizen, as an individual, does not have a legal right to sell his insurance products. Based on these points, an insurance organization is always a legal entity.
Policyholder
In order for the insurer to create insurance reserves for compensation, to receive a positive financial result in the insurance market, he must work with clients who need his services. One of the following main participants in insurance relations includes citizens, enterprises, religious communities, private companies, notaries, government organizations that use the insurance service, having previously signed an insurance contract with the insurer. The second party signing the insurance document is called the policyholder.
If a person has a desire to enter into a contractual insurance relationship with an insurance organization, he is obligated to reach 16 years of age and have a valid document that confirms his identity. A prerequisite is the capacity of a citizen. Companies must prove their right to insurance with legally registered title documents.
Insured person
In each official insurance document, in addition to the main parties to the insurance legal relationship, there is a column about the object to which it applies. According to the regulatory framework, such a person is a person whose responsibility for life and health is transferred to the insurance company when an insurance event occurs. As practice shows, parents insure their children from accidents. Spouses and close people also use insurance products to protect their families from unpleasant situations. If the policyholder is an individual, he has every right to insure himself. Thus, he will act under the insurance contract both by the insured and the insured person.
Very often, the insurer is an enterprise or a private company that wants to cooperate with the insurer on the issue of protecting team members from possible disasters and accidents. In such cases, as a rule, one general contract is concluded, to which is attached a list of employees of the organization for which the owner transfers insurance payments. In this case, the insured persons will be the team members indicated in the list.
Beneficiary
A client of an insurance company, as one of the main participants in insurance relations, often encounters the concept of “beneficiary” when familiarizing himself with his first insurance policy. In the financial sector, and it is with insurance, in this capacity, a person who has the right to legally receive insurance may act if circumstances occur that fall under the responsibility of the insurer.
When signing the policy on life and health insurance of the insured person, only in case of tragic death circumstances that occur with the insurance object, the beneficiary or heirs will be able to count on the amount of insurance that is indicated on the insurance document.
Banking institutions or owners of leased premises are often designated as beneficiaries of legal entities.If property risks are insured, then in unforeseen situations that fall under the responsibility of the insurance company, as a rule, the beneficiary receives insurance compensation for damaged property that is leased or secured. At the same time, banks or other financial institutions are not members of insurance relations. Also, such a contracting party may rely on insurance compensation for the loss incurred if the policyholder does not have official, legal rights to the damaged property. Under vehicle insurance contracts, the client of the insurance company and the owner of the car can be different people.
Additional participants in the insurance relationship
The insurance company and its customers are the main participants in concluding insurance contracts. To attract and service buyers of insurance products, the insurer enters into agreements with participants in the insurance market, which are responsible for working directly with policyholders. Such insurance entities receive a fee, the amount of which directly depends on the amount received in the bank account of the insurance company, insurance premiums.
Presentation of the company, familiarization with insurance rules, signing of documents and their support are considered auxiliary insurance legal relations. Such relations consist in the provision of insurance company services to the client, the insured, in order to satisfy their need for insurance coverage. Participants in auxiliary insurance relations are independent insurance brokers, as well as full-time or contingent insurance agents working in the insurance company.
Insurance agents
Professional participants in insurance relations and the insurance market are insurance agents. Having concluded an agency agreement for the provision of agency services, an insurance agent, an individual must implement voluntary or compulsory insurance agreements, draw them up in accordance with the rules, submit insurance payments to banking institutions and issue a weekly report on the work done with the provision of copies of the concluded agreements. It should be noted that an insurance agent is not only a citizen. Enterprises and organizations may also play this role.
As legal entities, travel companies, notaries or legal consultations can engage in the sale of insurance policies. The type of their activity provides them with the opportunity to increase the amount of their financial income through remuneration from the amount of policies sold.
Insurance brokers
In the non-banking financial market, insurance brokers are also entitled to implement insurance contracts. They are authorized representatives who are the link between the potential client of the insurance company and the insurer. The activities of insurance brokers are limited only to the provision of insurance services. In order to carry out their referral to the insurance market, they are required to obtain a license giving permission for mediation between the insurance organization and the policyholder in order to conclude an insurance document.
Thus, at the conclusion of one insurance contract, participants in insurance relations become not only the insurer and the policyholder, but also other persons and organizations that are directly or secondary to the current insurance document.