Russian banks have begun requiring borrowers to insure mortgaged housing against drone attacks, according to Yevgeny Ufimtsev, head of the All-Russian Union of Insurers, as reported by Kommersant.
The practice is still selective, said Andrei Kreer, general director of the insurance comparison service Polis online. The demands have been made by Sberbank, VTB, PSB, Gazprombank and Dom.RF, as well as some regional banks, primarily in border and other vulnerable regions.
Banks are checking whether a policy covers damage to housing from falling drones and their debris. A separate clause for a drone attack is not required, as such an incident may fall under the categories of falling aircraft, terrorism or sabotage.
An extended-coverage policy costs 10-20 percent more than a standard one. If the policy lacks the required coverage, the mortgage rate may be raised by 0.5-2 percentage points, or the borrower may be refused a mortgage.
SberInsurance said it checks whether policies include coverage for the risk of falling aircraft and their fragments. According to Polis online, over the past 12 months the number of client requests for property insurance covering drone-attack risk has grown more than tenfold.
Yelena Safonova, vice president of Renaissance Insurance, said the cost of policies could rise and some insurers may exclude certain regions from coverage. In regions bordering Ukraine, increasing coefficients are already in effect, and in some cases transactions are banned.
The All-Russian Union of Insurers expects the list of banks requiring drone-attack coverage on mortgaged housing to expand.