Albanian insurance market reached over ALL 17.6 billion (EUR 145 million) during year 2019, or 4.11% more y-o-y, according to the market figures published on the AFSA's website.

At the end of 2019, for 12 months ended, UNIQA Group scored a consolidated net income of EUR 232 million, 4.5% lower, driven by higher share of non-controlling interest. Earnings before taxes grew 0.4% to EUR 296 million at the end of 2019.

For year 2019, AXA insurance group reported a net income of EUR 3.9 billion, 80% higher year-on-year on a reported basis.

The Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank developed and submitted to the government a document providing the sale conditions of SBERBANK shares, owned by the Bank of Russia, which will help to avoid a conflict of interests due to combining the roles of the regulator, shareholder and supervisor, the ministry said.

Experts predict a 5% decrease of MTPL GWP in 2020 due to the new regulation and stagnation of the motor insurance market, one of the latest Deloitte study over Russia mentions.

According to the statistics of the Estonian Motor Insurance Bureau (LKF), in 2019, the average annual premium for motor third party liability (MTPL) insurance was EUR 134, decreasing by EUR 8 (-5%) year-on-year.

The Belgium's KBC Group and OTP Bank, the Hungarian parent company of OTP Banka Slovensko (Slovakia), reached agreement for KBC to acquire ownership of 99.44% of the shares in OTP Banka Slovensko, a mid-sized Slovakian bank focusing on retail, micro SME and SME customers. The remaining shares are held by a number of private individuals.

Last year, the Traffic Police sanctioned more than 12 thousand drivers without MTPL insurance, according to the the figures submitted to the portal 1asig.ro by IGPR - The General Inspectorate of the Romanian Police.

Last year, the Romanian insurance market advanced by 8% y-o-y in GWP to about RON 11 billion (EUR 2.25 billion), according to Cristian ROSU, Vice President, Insurance - Reinsurance Sector, ASF.

The Board of the Romanian Financial Supervisory Authority (ASF) decided to amend EUROINS Romania with RON 500,000 (more than EUR 100,000), as a result of violation of some provisions of MTPL Law as the procedures for solving the MTPL claim files, deficiencies regarding the internal control mechanisms at the company level, irregularities regarding the establishment of technical reserves and data quality, as the market authority annunce in a statement.

According to the Motor (Transport) Insurance Bureau of Ukraine (MTIBU), in 2019 over UAH 212 million (~EUR 8 million) were paid to road traffic accidents victims from the MTIBU guarantee funds. The total number of claims paid increased by 20.1%, while their amount went up 30.2%.

NN Group's operating result increased by 24.9% to EUR 428 million in the fourth quarter of 2019, driven by higher operating results at almost all segments and reflecting a total of EUR 20 million of non-recurring benefits.

Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited announced fiscal year 2019 net earnings of USD 2,004 million compared to fiscal year 2018 net earnings of USD 376 million, primarily reflecting net gains on investments.

David BARANYAI, currently CSO NN Hungary, has been appointed CEO NN Insurance Hungary on an ad interim basis, subject to regulatory approval. The appointment is effective as of 17 February 2020.

AIR Worldwide estimates insured losses for winter storm Ciara-Sabine will be between EUR 1.1 Billion and EUR 1.9 Billion, while RMS sets the upper limit to EUR 1.8 billion. Both agree also that Germany, France, and the United Kingdom are the areas most affected.

Zurich Insurance Group (Zurich) announced a net income of USD 4,147 million for the year 2019, 11.6% higher than the level recorded at the end of 2018 (FY2018: USD 3,716 million)

At the end of the second half of 2019, Aegon's net income increased significantly to EUR 910 million (+260%), while full year net income more than doubled to EUR 1,528 million (+105%).

Turkey's sovereign wealth fund announced its TVF Finansal Yatirimlar unit had agreed to purchase France-based Groupama Holding SA's 10% stake in Turkish insurer GUNES Sigorta, Reuters reported, quoting a statement from the sovereign wealth fund. No further details including financial terms of the transaction were available.

About 10,000 claim files were reported by Hungarian insurers following the first week of February's storms, Budapest Business Journal reported quoting MABISZ (the Hungarian Association of Insurers) representatives.

Lloyd's of London announced the appointment of prominent figures as the inaugural members of its Culture Advisory Group.