The Bulgarian insurance sector celebrates 140 years of insurance in Bulgaria and 30 years since establishment of the Association of Bulgarian Insurers (ABZ) in 2022. In honor of these anniversaries, ABZ organized an anniversary conference "140 years of insurance in Bulgaria" on October 5, 2022 at the Hyatt Hotel, the Association said.

The event was attended by Mrs. Petra Hilkema, President of the European Insurance and Pensions Authority (EIOPA), Mrs. Michaela K?hler, Director of the European Federation of Insurers (Insurance Europe), Didier Millereau, Head of the Insurance Section and Pension Insurance", General Directorate "Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union", European Commission, Daniela Dobreva, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Finance, Boyko Atanasov, Chairman of the FSC, Vladimir Savov, Deputy Chairman, FSC, as well as high-level representatives of the Bulgarian and European insurance industry.

The conference had two main discussion panels: the first - dedicated to the expected innovations in the insurance regulatory framework and their impact on the insurance industry, the second - focused on relatively low insurance penetration in Bulgaria, and possibilities of insurance to fully provide or supplement existing public protection mechanisms. An important focus of the discussion was the issue of stimulating consumption of insurance products.

Kiril Boshov, member of the Board of Directors of ABZ, said: "This is an exceptional success for our association and the most significant event in our insurance sector in recent decades". According to him,

Bulgarian insurance has been at a chronic risk for tens of years in terms of not insuring citizens' property - only about 7% of homes in the country are insured. This represents a huge exposure to risks from natural and other disasters, as he emphasized.