On 19 May 2021 AIDA Europe is holding the second in a series of webinars addressing topical issues of concern to insurers and lawyers across all sectors. XPRIMM Publications supports the event series as Media Partner!

In the life insurance market of Ukraine, MetLife was again the leader in 2020 in terms of key indicators and ended 2020 with a record GWP amount of UAH 1.555 billion (EUR 44.76 million*), which is 26% more y-o-y, Forinshurer informed.

According to the poll, conducted by AIA (the Azerbaijan Insurers Association), citizens and business entities in Azerbaijan believe that insurance services have become more affordable, as Trend reports with reference to the AIA.

"The insurance sector successfully withstood the challenges caused by the pandemic and operated profitably last year", as the Lithuanian Central Bank reported in a statement published on its website. Thus, the net profit earned by Lithuanian insurers amounted to EUR 50 million, whereas that of insurance brokers totaled almost EUR 7 million.

Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS) - the corporate insurance carrier of ALLIANZ Group - announced that Maria Grace was appointed as Global Head of Property succeeding Thierry Portevin who leads AGCS's global risk consulting team since March.

French insurance group AXA announced its BoD decided to appointed Clotilde Delbos as member of AXA's Board of Directors to replace Irene Dorner.

Insurer TALANX announced it starts the current year with strong results: GWP was up by 9.4% to EUR 13.6 billion, combined ratio for P&C primary insurance and reinsurance improves to 96.1% vs. (99.8%) percent, operating profit increased by 11.8% to EUR 625 million, while the net income climbed by 24.5% to EUR 277 million.

CROATIA osiguranje d.d., one of the largest insurance company in Adriatic region, reported unaudited Q1 2021 gross profit of HRK 140.6 million (EUR 18.57 million) vs HRK 120.4 million a year before while its net profit increased from HRK 98.3 million in March 2020 to HRK 117.3 million (EUR 15.5 million) representing an increase of 19.4 % y-o-y.

SCOR Corporate Foundation for Science has a new partnership with the Museum national d'Histoire Naturelle (MNHN) in order to conduct a pioneering large-scale study on the risks related to biodiversity loss, under the aegis of the SCOR-MNHN Biodiversity and (Re)insurance Chair, created in 2019.

The Global Federation of Insurance Associations (GFIA) has published a position paper that outlines why policymakers should follow the risk-based approach promoted by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) when developing any new rules regarding anti-money laundering (AML) and combatting the financing of terrorism (CFT).

The European Commission has launched the initiative on Sustainable Corporate Governance in order to reconcile economic growth, social progress, corporate governance and environmental protection, which is a vital and very urgent necessity. The new generation of EU citizens are encouraged to save for sustainable and adequate pensions.

Last September, S&P downgraded Aviva's French subsidiaries from the group level of 'AA-' to 'A+' with a negative 'CreditWatch', and at the end of February from 'A+' to 'A' (and still on negative watch). While 'A' is still a healthy rating, for policyholders it represents a material change.

The virtual Annual General Meeting of Hannover RE adopted all proposed resolutions by a large majority. During the meeting, the Executive Board and Supervisory Board approved to pay an increased ordinary dividend of EUR 4.50 (EUR 4.00) per share for the 2020 financial year.

Hannover Re posted a double-digit growth in premium income for 1T2021 and showed a modestly improved Group net income by 1.7% to EUR 305.9 million. Hannover Re's capital adequacy ratio at the end of March was 252% and hence continues to be comfortably above the limit of 180% and threshold of 200%.

Zurich announced that it intends to exercise its option to redeem CHF 225 million of subordinated debt on June 2, 2021, according to a press release.

The Slovenian insurance market totaled EUR 2.57 billion at the end of 2020, a 2.07% increase y-o-y, according to the Slovenian Insurance Association's year-end figures.

The gross written premiums of Montenegrin insurers decreased by 3.85% y-o-y in the first quarter of 2021, reaching EUR 23.84 million, as preliminary official figures showed.

The gross written premiums of Croatian insurers rose by 6.29% year-on-year in Q1 2021, to HRK 3.25 billion (~EUR 430 million), according to the quarterly figures published on the website of the Croatian Insurance Bureau.

Albanian insurers' Q1 2021 GWP amounted to over ALL 4.03 billion (EUR 32.80 million), or 12.52% more compared to January-March 2020, according to the quarterly market figures published on the AFSA's website (Albanian Financial Supervisory Authority).

Sabine USATY was appointed President of the Management Board of UNIQA Osiguranje on May 1. She has more than 20 years of experience in management positions, part of them within the UNIQA Group.