The overall impact of catastrophe losses on property rates was muted at the January 1, 2019 reinsurance renewals, but the fourth highest annual catastrophe loss year on record did create questions over pricing adequacy, underwriting strategy and the amount of capital available, says Guy Carpenter & Company LLC.

According to the National financial services committee of Ukraine, in order to remove unreliable players from the financial market, 126 organizations, including 13 insurance companies, were removed during January-September, as the member of the Committee, Aleksander ZALETOV informed.

Nationale-Nederlanden Poland announced that Pawel KACPRZYK has been appointed CEO as of 1 February 2019.

Insurance should be accessible to all social classes, regardless of their wealth and income status. Products offered today are conventional insurance products, largely inspired from the developed markets as "one-size-fits-all" solutions, affordable to only middle- and high-income clients in the Eastern Europe's emerging & developing markets. The low insurance penetration rates across the region show the need for another approach.

Sonja ROTTIERS has been appointed as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Lloyd's Brussels. She will also be Lloyd's Regional Director for Europe, Middle East and Africa, and will take up her position in February.

For January-November 2018 MTPL average paid claim amounted to RUB 66,625 (13% less y-o-y). At that MTPL average premium for the same period decreased from RUB 5,809 to RUB 5,703, as the Russian Association of Motor Insurers (RAMI) informed.

The national rating agency Expert RA confirmed the financial rating of INGOSSTRAKH at ruAAA, stable outlook. According to the Bank of Russia, in terms of GWP for 9 months of 2018 the insurer ranked 6^th in the market.

The rating agency Expert RA removed the "under watch" status and confirmed the financial reliability rating of VSK at ru, outlook stable, as ASN wrote.

According to the National Association of Agriculture Insurers (NAAI), 1.13 million hectares of crops (3% more y-o-y) and 83.1 million of livestock (+16%) were insured in Russia from January to November 2018.

The Kazakh insurance sector keeps concentrating. As of December 1, 2018 the share of TOP-5 companies in general insurance GWP increased by 13.9 percentage points y-o-y, reaching 68.3% (vs 54.4% a year ago), as allinsurance.kz informed.

According to the National Bank of Kazakhstan as of December 1, 2018 the Motor Hull market share went up by 12% y-o-y, at the same time total number of the insured vehicles dropped by 4.5 % y-o-y, as allinsurance.kz informed.

For the first time insurers' assets exceeded KZT 1 trillion. As of December 1, 2018 total assets amounted to KZT 1.004 trillion (+7.5% y-o-y), as allinsurance.kz wrote.

Based on 3Q2018 data, Georgian insurer UNISON has improved its positions on the market and entered TOP-5 insurance companies in terms of GWP, according to the regulator's statistics.

NN Group announced that it has completed the acquisition of AEGON's Life Insurance business in the Czech Republic and AEGON's Life Insurance and Pension businesses in Slovakia.

The international rating agencies Standard & Poor's (S&P) and A.M. Best have for the first time awarded TALANX AG a financial strength rating.

The board of directors of MetLife announced that Michel KHALAF, President, U.S. Business and EMEA, will become MetLife's President and Chief Executive Officer on May 1, 2019. Khalaf also has been appointed to the MetLife board effective May 1.

The Slovenian insurance market maintained steady between 2008-2017, the difference from the first year to the last one being summed up in a small growth, in both written premiums and paid indemnities. In this period, the Slovenian insurance sector kept a smooth transition year over year, with no sudden changes in any of the main business lines, reflecting a good stability and steadiness.

For January-November in 2018 GWP of the Belarusian insurers amounted to BYN 1.1 billion, at that y-o-y growth of GWP reached 16.7%, according to the data, published by the Ministry of finance of the Republic.

For 11 months of 2018 Azeri insurers generated GWP of AZN 663.9 million (31.7% more y-o-y) and paid claims amounted to AZN 224.1 million (3% less y-o-y), according to the Financial Markets Supervision Chamber of Azerbaijan (FIMSA).

According to the Chairman of the ASA Mustafa ABBASBEYLI, compulsory real estate insurance in Azerbaijan in 2019 may double its volume, as Trend wrote. He pointed out that as of now the penetration degree of the compulsory real estate insurance in Azerbaijan is about 10-15%.