Priorities of investment activity of insurance companies in Ukraine

Financial resources of insurance companies in developed countries are a powerful source of investment in the economy due to the nature of insurance and the availability of a large amount of insurance funds at the disposal of insurance companies. Whereas in Ukraine the profit from investment activity occupies only a small percentage of the total profit of the insurers. This confirms the relevance of research of the directions and mechanisms of involvement of insurance companies in the process of investing the economy. Theoretical principles are investigated and the importance of investment activity of insurance companies in the economy is substantiated at the article. The main directions of domestic insurers' investments are analyzed. It is determined that in the implementation of investment activities, domestic insurers choose less risky areas of investment that generate a guaranteed income. It is substantiated that the sphere of investment activity of insurers is rather monopolized. It is substantiated that one of the directions of activation and increase of efficiency of investment activity of insurance companies is the development of new insurance products, in particular such insurance product as investment "stock insurance" or Unit-Linked, which involves the combination of classic cumulative life insurance with investment activity in the form of unit investments and ETF funds. It is determined that while the development of this type of insurance is still constrained by certain factors (legislative restrictions on the provisioning, timeframes for determining the amount of insurance, the absence of developed Unit-Linked insurance rules and rules for working with this insurance product), this type of insurance is quite promising and needs more costly attention from domestic regulators and insurers