Six Turkish insurers and pension fund companies will form the country's largest insurance and pensions company, wrote Middle East Insurance Review here.

On September 5, 2020, a new regulation of the Bank of Russia came into force, defining the procedure for applying new MTPL tariffs and allowing insurers to apply tariff factors that characterize likelihood of an insured event, The Russian Association of Motor Insurers (RAMI) informed.

Insurance Europe has today published its response to a consultation by the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) on the impact of COVID-19 on insurers.

The Vienna Insurance Group is now starting a new pilot project and will introduce a motor insurance offer with fully digital distribution and claims settlement on the Polish market by the end of year 2020. The heart of the project is an IT platform that allows rapid and flexible adaptations to meet changing customer needs and market conditions. If the pilot project is successful, an expansion to other VIG countries is planned.

RENOMIA has become the owner of a 100% business share in the specialised brokerage company RISKON.

On October 1^st, 2020, the magazine "Bankovskoe obozrenie" and "BusinessDrom" analytical center will hold a conference dedicated to partnership between insurers and banks as well as intermediaries and marketplaces.

"At this point we do not see a strong effect yet on the financial figures of the insurance companies, but this is mainly due to the long-term nature of the business", Iwona SZCZESNA, the Head of the PIU (Polish Chamber of Insurance) Brussels Office stated at the microphone of the XTB show aired on 2 September. She added that "usually people buy insurance for the whole year, so we will see the impact on the financial figures in three to six months from now."

From January to July 2020, the volume of claims paid by the TOP-5 insurers of Azerbaijan reached AZN 190 million (~EUR 95 million*), which represent 85% of all market paid claims, Trend reports referring to a report from the Central Bank of Azerbaijan.

UNIQA Ukraine insurance group, which includes UNIQA and UNIQA Life, received net profit before tax in the amount of UAH 324.5 million (~EUR 29.86 million*) in the first half of 2020, more y-o-y, as Forinsurer reports.

Financial Supervision Authority of Poland announced that motor third party liability insurance contracts concluded or renewed until March 24, 2020 remain valid, and Gefion is obliged to consider reported claims and pay due compensation.

Recent months have been dominated by the COVID-19 pandemic, and Insurance Europe has been heavily involved both in the response to the crisis and in discussing solutions for insuring the risks of possible future pandemics. Work has nevertheless continued on the many other issues that affect European insurers.

The Turkish insurance market generated total premium of TRY 40.2 billion (~EUR 5.2 bilion*) in the first half of this year, an increase of 21.0% compared to the corresponding period in 2019, according to data released by the Insurance Association of Turkey (TSB).

For the first half of 2020, the insurance sector of Georgia grew by 9.14%, to GEL 376.9 million (~EUR 109.4 million*). At the same time, the paid claims during the period dropped sharply - by more than 24% y-o-y, according to the data published by the insurance supervision authority.

As for most companies, Covid-19 has left a mark on Claims Corporation Network's (CCN's) results as well. The COVID-19 crisis caused one of the most severe economic and financial market turmoil's and while financial markets have rallied in the second quarter of 2020, the economic recovery remains fragile. However, the fact that CCN's performance remained stable in a challenging first half year reinforces our resilience.

AM Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of A (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Ratings of "a" of Gulf Insurance Group K.S.C.P. (GIG) and its subsidiary, Gulf Insurance and Reinsurance Company K.S.C. (Closed) (gig-Kuwait) (both domiciled in Kuwait). The outlook of these Credit Ratings (ratings) is negative.

Zurich Insurance Group (Zurich) announced changes in its regional leadership. New CEOs have been appointed in Latin America (LatAm) effective Oct. 1, 2020, and in the North America and APAC regions, effective Jan. 1, 2021.

Zurich Insurance Group (Zurich) is ramping up the transformation of its global business to meet the rapidly changing needs of consumers, launching a new unit to expand digital services worldwide and create a more intimate connection with its customers and partners.

Insurance Europe has published its response to a consultation by the European Central Bank (ECB) on its ongoing strategy review. Interest rates are very significant for the insurance industry: they impact product offering, as well as the measurement of insurers' balance sheet positions and, more broadly, their solvency ratios.

The United Agricultural Insurance company has been registered by the State Tax Service under the Azerbaijani Ministry of Economy, as Trend reports citing the Ministry.

By the beginning of August 2020, the share of e-MTPL policies in the total number of MTPL contracts in Armenia has tripled and reached 13% (vs 4% a year ago), ArmInfo reports.