"Protection of consumers, investors and policyholders is the top priority for each European Supervisory Authority," pointed out Gabriel BERNARDINO, Chairman of EIOPA and of the Joint Committee of the three European Supervisory Authorities (EBA, ESMA, EIOPA- ESAs) on the occasion of the Steering Committee of the EU - U.S. Insurance Project hosted in Frankfurt on 19 October, a Public Forum to address the challenges of increased globalization of the insurance market and to define the areas of work for the coming year.

Original risk is the only real, genuine way to grow the global insurance and reinsurance industry, according to Tom JOHANSMEYER, ARM AVP - PCS Strategy and Development, Verisk Insurance Solutions.

Climate change and natural catastrophes were among the main aspects debated during the 13th edition of ICAR - The International CAtastrophic Risks Forum. The international event, which was organized on October 11, 2016, in Bucharest, Romania, gathered professionals from the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany, as well as Romania, who talked about the management of Nat Cat risks in the current context.

The Romanian insurance market saw a 9.75% increase in GWP (10.93% in national currency), one of highest dynamics recorded in the last years. Yet, it is worth noting that the positive result is not as much as a result of the Romanian economic growth, but of the complex changes undergone by the MTPL segment.

The Romanian Insurance Association (UNSAR) has elected Adrian MARIN, CEO of GENERALI Romania as President for a three-year period, replacing Remi VRIGNAUD, the former general manager of ALLIANZ-TIRIAC who headed the insurers' professional body in the last four years.

ASF - The Financial Supervisory Authority in Romania has developed three indicators that allows it to determine, after analyzing the petitions registered at ASF, the compliance degree of the conduct of the supervised entities.

As MTPL, the most important insurance line in Romania, will be heavily influenced by the recent regulatory changes, for the VIENNA insurance Group (VIG), Romania remains a core market, among the top 5 within the group, said Roland GROLL, Member of the VIENNA Insurance Group Board, at a press conference organized in Bucharest. "Looking at the overall picture in Romania, from an economic point of view, it is extremely positive, especially if we compare it with other core markets. There are not many European countries which have such favorable environment", he added.

Henning LUDOLPHS, Managing Director, Retrocessions & Capital Markets, Hannover Re will explain the main aspects of the Insurance-Linked Securities (ILS) use in relation to the Nat Cat risks insurance at the forthcoming edition of the ICAR 2016 - International Catastrophic Risks Forum.

The Romanian government recently passed a law that will bring substantial changes to the local MTPL legal framework. It is the first law that was issued specifically for the MTPL sector, which was governed, until now, by the secondary legislation issued by the Financial Supervisory Authority.

ICAR's 2016 edition lines up an exquisite team of speakers who will share their views on the Nat Cat current issues in Bucharest, on October 11th. The effects of the climate change, the available solutions for mitigating the Nat Cat losses and provide for a sustainable growth of the agricultural insurance, as well as the newest strategies for claims handling in the property field insurance and the main issued of the Forum's agenda.

The MTPL market accounted for more than half of the general insurance in Romania, according to the half year results published by the Financial Supervisory Authority (FSA), and expectations are that the growth will continue as prices stabilize and the combined ratio retreats towards the breakeven point.

Grawe Romania Insurance enters the auto insurance market starting September, after it was authorized by the Financial Supervision Authority (ASF) to expand its activity on two insurance classes: 3 (transports means insurance other than train- CASCO) and 10 (Insurance for vehicles civil liability-RCA).

Starting today, the 1st of September, Virgil SONCUTEAN takes over as a General Director of Romanian insurance market's leader, ALLIANZ-TIRIAC Insurance, replacing Remi VRIGNAUD, who will join the ALLIANZ Group's top management, as head of CEO Oliver BATE's chancellery.

Terrorist attacks shifting from large, mostly property damage related, public events towards "lone-wolf" shooter attacks causing limited asset damage, may change the landscape of the terrorism insurance towards a larger prevalence of the business interruption insurance clauses.

Gross underwritten premiums in the insurance market in the first quarter of this year totaled RON 2.43 billion (~EUR 540 million), up 9.16% compared to the same period in 2015, according to the market evolution presented by the Romanian Financial Supervisory Authority (ASF). Growth has been fueled by the non-life insurance segment, which recorded an advance of 9.74%, approaching the threshold of RON 2 billion, as well as the life insurance segment, in which underwritings increased by 6.6%, amounting to RON 438 million.

AXA and VIENNA Insurance Group (VIG) announced that they signed an agreement on August 3, 2016, through which the Austrian insurer would acquire 100% of AXA's Life & Savings insurance operations in Romania (AXA Life Insurance) through its BCR Life and OMNIASIG entities.

On July 27th 2016, the Romanian insurance supervisor withdrew local insurer CARPATICA Asig's operating license and begun bankruptcy procedures.

After selling the majority stake to Czech Group RENOMIA, Romanian insurance broker SRBA started the rebranding process and will continue to work on the local market under the brand RENOMIA SRBA Insurance Broker.

Romanian insurance market went up, in GWP terms, by 5.35% in 1Q2016, as compared with the first quarter of 2015, announced today the supervisory authority's head, Misu NEGRITOIU, at a financial conference held in Bucharest.

Remi VRIGNAUD, CEO of ALLIANZ TIRIAC Asigurari, the Romanian market's leader, will join the Allianz Group's top management, as head of CEO Oliver BATE's chancellery, according to an official announcement of the company. Virgil SONCUTEAN, the company's Chief Sales Officer and deputy general manager, will take over the CEO position starting September 1st.