As Armenian Prime minister Nikol PASHINYAN announced, agricultural insurance is about to start in the country, and its mechanism will be operated in a test mode at the first stage to determine all possible weak points, ArmInfo reports.

Due to increasing spending on tourists, who visit the country without insurance policies, within the Georgian healthcare system, Georgia plans to start discussions on mandatory insurance for tourists, according to Devi KHECHINASHVILI, Head of Insurance Association of Georgia, as Georgia Today reports.

The Albanian market reached over ALL 11.36 million (~EUR 0.09 million) from January to August 2019, 2.33% more y-o-y. The total number of insurance contracts amounted to 885,298 (+4.72%). Paid claims reached about ALL 3.94 million (+9.99% y-o-y), as data from the Financial Supervisory Authority of Albania show.

The Serbian branch of OTP Group acquired Societe Generale Srbija, taking over the banking, insurance and leasing activities of the French group in Serbia.

On September 25^th, 2019, A.M. Best affirmed the Financial Strength Rating (FSR) of "A+ (Superior)" and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Ratings (Long-Term ICR) of "aa-" of SCOR SE and its main operating subsidiaries.

The 2019 edition of "Croatian Insurance Days", the traditional meeting point of local and European insurance professionals, will be held in Opatija, Croatia, between 6^th - 8^th November 2019.

September 16-18, 2019 at the Swissotel Sochi Kamelia 5 * (Sochi), the VI Annual Insurance Business Forum "Challenges of the Year 2019" was held.

Lloyd's profit before tax for the period was GBP 2.3 billion, almost four times more y-o-y, underpinned by a combined ratio of 98.8% and investment income of GBP 2.3 billion.

Climate change seems to be THE century's threat, even if many are not aware yet about the real impact and the dramatic consequences that this phenomenon may have for the future. Patrick DELALLEAU, Chief business Development Officer, CCR Re, France will talk at ICAR 2019 about the necessity to address the climate risk threat, showing what measures are currently taken in France for NatCat prevention.

Estonian insurers reported end-June GWP of EUR 250 million, almost 3% more compared with H1 2018, according to the market figures published by the Estonian National Statistics Board.

The Lithuanian insurance market totaled EUR 469 million at the end of June 2019 with an 6.7% increase y-o-y. At the same time, insurance companies paid EUR 245 million in claims (8.7% more y-o-y).

Market GWP in 1H2019 increased by 16.5% y-o-y and amounted to UAH 27.3 billion (~EUR 918 million), according to the statistical data, published by the regulator.

For the first six months GWP of the Georgian insurance market reached GEL 345.32 million (EUR 105.74 million), which in local currency is almost 17% more y-o-y, as the data, published by the regulator, shows.

VTB Life Insurance will transfer its voluntary life insurance and personal insurance contracts to SOGAZ-Life in 2019, ASN reports, with reference to the information published on September 20 by the Bank of Russia.

From January to August 2019 GWP of 26 Kazakh insurers reached KZT 342.6 billion (~EUR 0.8 billion), which is 30% more y-o-y, Allinsurance.kz reports.

Hungarian branch of UNIQA was fined with HUF 108 million (~ EUR 320,000) by the Central Bank of Hungary (MNB), following an investigation from the regulator who found several problems regarding internal control, insurance portfolio management and customer service.

The Council of the Insurance Guarantee Fund of Poland (UFG) unanimously adopted on 19 September 2019 a resolution on the appointment of Malgorzata SLEPOWRONSKA, currently member of the board, as the President of UFG.

September 2019 results of SAM Corporate Sustainability Assessment (CSA) have placed the German Allianz insurer on the first place, based on its overall measured score.

Zurich Insurance Group announced that Peter GIGER will join the Group on October 1, 2019, as Group Chief Risk Officer and a member of Zurich's Executive Committee. The appointment is subject to regulatory approval.

Sirius Group appointed Florian BOECKER in the newly created role of Head of Life Reinsurance, a natural extension of Sirius Group's existing Global Accident & Health ("A&H") business.