Information centre

The Association of Serbian Insurers is vested with public powers to manage the Information Centre. The Information Centre of the Association of Serbian Insurers was established to facilitate efficient compensation of damage claims resulting from the use of motor vehicles and for the purpose of application of the bonus/malus system in the Republic of Serbia, in accordance with the Law on Compulsory Traffic Insurance (“Official Gazette of RS”, Nos. 51/2009 and 78/2011).

The Information Centre of the Association of Serbian Insurers (IC ASI) represents a modern and centralized system with single databases such as those for MTPL insurance data on all vehicles registered in the Republic of Serbia, claims, police reports, strict record-keeping for assigning and monitoring of groups of MTPL policy numbers, Green Card records, etc.

All insurance companies carrying on Motor Third-Party Liability Insurance are connected with the IC ASI through their information systems and submit different types of data which are processed and stored in databases according to their purpose. Insurance companies can access and use these data, depending on data purpose and business needs of a company.

The development of single central databases has created the conditions for numerous improvements in MTPL insurance, notably as regards centralized issue of policies, fast access to information relating to loss events, application of the bonus/malus system, central data storage and the possibilities to uncover insurance frauds. This promotes the efficiency of insurance companies’ operations, faster claim settlement, better provision of services to the public, strict adherence to statutory regulations and development of new, modern services which assist not only the activities of the public and insurers but also the institutions of the Republic of Serbia. In addition, the issue of false or forged policies is prevented by the procedure of central issue i.e. generation of numbers from the IC ASI, while data are stored in individual databases containing information about all vehicles registered in the Republic of Serbia.

The application of the bоnus/mаlus system began on 1 September 2011 whereby the IC ASI ensured compliance with the Law governing the field of compulsory motor third-party liability insurance and thus, brought the insurance market of the Republic of Serbia closer to the more-developed European markets and their business principles.

The bonus/malus system represents a model for determining of the level of MTPL insurance premium for vehicles by applying an appropriate premium scale which depends on the possible history of claims for which the policyholder was liable in the previous period. In the event that the driver did not cause any damage in the previous year, he/she will be awarded a premium discount or, otherwise, penalised by malus i.e. an increase in the price of his insurance policy.

The public can access and search databases through web portals on the website of the Association, which facilitates the collection of data necessary for exercising entitlement to compensation of claims arising from losses sustained in traffic accidents.

According to development plans for the IC ASI, in order to improve service functions and under the Road Traffic Safety Act, a project was designed to allow citizens to renew their vehicle registrations with authorised entities without having to visit police stations.

In order for these powers to be transferred from the Ministry of the Interior to insurance companies and authorised vehicle inspection services, the development of a comprehensive e-government solution was initiated in the Republic of Serbia to connect state administration authorities, economic entities and the public. By participating in this project and developing new functionalities of the IC ASI, administrative and technical departments of the Association have created a technical basis for companies to take on the activities of registration renewal and issue of registration stickers. As part of this project, technical and legal preconditions are being met for selling insurance policies online.

Promoting cooperation between the Ministry of the Interior and the Association will result in the integration of the IC ASI and the Information System of the Ministry and data exchange, which will facilitate the development of a system for elimination of insurance fraud by means of a computer-aided analysis of information relating to traffic accidents and thus caused damage.

In addition, detailed analyses of exchanged data will help identify high-risk groups of road users, which will undoubtedly produce a significant favourable effect on improving traffic safety in the Republic of Serbia.