September 30, 2023

The formation of the insurance business in Russia is usually attributed to the mid-19th century, when Russian insurance companies began to be established to insure real estate against fire. Until that time, the need for insurance was met by foreign insurers, which entailed a large outflow of gold reserves from the country.

The first to be established was the "Russian Fire Insurance Society" in 1827, founded by Count N.S. Mordvinov and one of the first Russian bankers, L.I. Stiglitz. In subsequent years, many other insurance companies appeared: "Second Russian Fire Insurance Society" (1835), "Russian Society for Capital and Income Insurance" (1835), "Salamandra" (1846), "Russian Lloyd's" (1870) and others. However, after the revolution of 1917, the activities of all insurance companies were fully transferred to the jurisdiction of councils and sovnarkhozes.

On October 6, 1921 the decree of the SNK "On State Property Insurance" was signed, in the course of implementation of which the Main Department of State Insurance (abbreviated as Gosstrakh) was established within the People's Commissariat of Finance of the USSR. Gosstrakh was given the monopoly right to engage in state insurance on the entire territory of the USSR, to dispose of the property and capital of state insurance, to develop insurance rules and issue insurance policies. While in 1921-1930 the USSR State Insurance Committee collected 1.4 billion rubles of insurance premiums, in 1981-1990 it collected 160.9 billion rubles of insurance premiums.

In 1991, due to the collapse of the USSR, insurance companies were established in the newly independent states on the basis of the former republican boards of Gosstrakh of the USSR. In the Russian Federation, in 1992, the USSR Gosstrakh was reorganized into the Russian State Insurance Company (Rosgosstrakh) under the management of the State Property Committee of the Russian Federation by the Resolution of the Government of the Russian Federation.