"Reinsurance is a necessity, not a cost. I want to point out that, finally, reinsurance is seen as an important element and receives more and more attention from the insurers in their activity. In the past, the stakeholders and the managers of the insurance companies did not perceive a reinsurance budget as a necessity", Denisa DUMITRU, CEO, STELLAR Re, during FIAR 2014.

"The severe floods in Serbia and Bosnia or the sanctions of Russia as a result of the Ukraine situation are just two examples of unforeseen events which prove that, at the moment, it becomes extremely difficult to anticipate what will happen 'tomorrow'", Sinisa LOVRINCEVIC, Branch General Manager, TRUST Re, Cyprus, explained during FIAR 2014.

"When we talk about the reinsurance capacity, we should ask ourselves not necessarily how much it is available, but where it is found", Guy HUDSON, Partner, JLT Towers Re, explained during the Reinsurance Market Conference at FIAR 2014. Guy HUDSON pointed out that the legislation changes in the past years, such as those that affected the insurance against catastrophic risks system in Romania, caused uncertainty and mistrust among the insurance companies.

"The first answer that comes to your mind when someone asks you what insurers are good for is 'capacity and protection'. However, for a market like the Romanian one, the real answer is: know-how. Knowledge. We need capacity and protection, but we also need knowledge," declared Cristi CONSTANTINESCU, Insurance Specialist, at FIAR 2014, within the Reinsurance Conference.

The Directive regarding the solvency of insurance companies, Solvency II, is to be applied starting January 1st, 2016. Sergej SIMONITI, Member of EIOPA's Management Board and Director of the Insurance Supervisory Agency, Slovenia, stated that he does not expect any more change of this date, and at present the companies in the field are passing through a preparation stage for the implementation of this directive.

"The positive evolution of the brokerage market was also influenced by the context, because, we must admit, many things happened to the insurance companies, which in turn destabilized them", Romeo BOCANESCU, General Manager, DESTINE Broker, explained during FIAR 2014.

"We need to enjoy the two digit increase of the brokerage market because it is not easy to have such an increase on a market which is basically slackening. There is, however, a major concern regarding what's next after such an evolution. We, the insurance companies, have adapted more slowly at the beginning, but afterwards, we began to pay more attention to this aspect", Costi STRATNIC, Member of the Board, OMNIASIG VIG, explained during FIAR 2014.

The Romanian brokerage market will continue to grow and in the next three years, it will represent 60-65% of the total market, according to Dragos CALIN, Member of the Board, ASIROM VIG.

The premiums mediated by the Romanian brokerage companies increased continuously in the past years, reaching 53% of the total insurance market in the first quarter of 2014, according to INSURANCE Profile estimates. Thus, Cristian FUGACIU, General Manager, MARSH Romania, explained that the brokers play an increasingly important role, since the clients need a consultant when buying insurance products.

"Many Romanian insurers did not enter the online market, and even if they did, they are not actively promoting their online business because of the legislation, which, at the moment, leads to legislative and operational risks. The development of an online sales distribution channel, with all the costs corresponding to a national promotion, would be much more cost efficient for an insurer than the development of a national sales network. A clear and efficient legislation would give other foreign institutions the possibility to enter this market", Paul SWOBODA, CEO, GRAWE Romania, explained during FIAR 2014.

"The spectacular growth of the mediation market was supported by the implementation and the development of increasingly efficient and customized IT solutions, which knew to answer quickly to the brokers' needs", Octavian PASPARUGA, Administrator, BrokerNet Software, declared during FIAR 2014.

The Romanian insurance market's image was affected by the problems of several insurance companies. Thus, the clients are more worried and more fearful when buying an insurance policy. The insurance companies must focus on the quality of services and products, in order to repair the market's reputation.

Viorel VASILE, CEO, SAFETY Broker, pointed out that the recent problems in the insurance market worry the clients on both the corporate and the retail segments. "At the moment, both local and multinational insurance companies are facing problems. This affects the insurance market as a whole, including us, the brokerage companies", Viorel VASILE explained during FIAR 2014.

For the year 2014-2015, APAPR estimates that the pension funds will provide an availability of about EUR 500 million for new public offers (shares + bonds), according to a presentation held at FIAR 2014.

Sunday, May 25 2014, was the kick-off of the 17th edition of FIAR - The International Insurance-Reinsurance Forum. Well-known leaders and specialists activating in the re/insurance field are taking part, the following days, in specialized conferences and workshops in addition to socializing events that are going to be held in a dynamic interactive format, whose content will be focused on up-to-date topics in the industry.

The Romanian insurance brokerage market grew by 15.5% during the first quarter of the year 2014, with a value of the mediated premiums of EUR 250 million, according to the INSURANCE Profile estimations. This value represents 54% of the total number of premiums underwritten on the local market. At the same time, this is the first time when brokers have sold more than half of the insurance on the Romanian market.

The Austrian Group VIENNA Insurance Group (VIG), which owns the Romanian companies OMNIASIG, ASIROM and BCR Asigurari de Viata, estimates that it will return to profit on the local market in 2014, after 2013 was marked by a negative result of EUR 98.7 million, Peter HAGEN, CEO of VIG, said during a press conference in Bucharest.

Groupama Romania underwrote premiums of RON 718 million in 2013, down 11 percent on the year, as it decided to reduce its exposure on the mandatory car insurance (RCA) segment, the company said Thursday.

Romanian insurer Astra needs to raise around EUR 110 million in new capital to improve its prudential indicators, according to a recovery plan drawn up by its special administrator KPMG Advisory that was approved by the Financial Supervision Authority (ASF) on Monday.
Astra's share capital will have to be hiked by EUR 15.7 million and further increases will have to be carried out over the course of one year.

In 2013, GOTHAER Asigurari Reasigurari achieved an increase of over 75% in GWP (from EUR 8.5 million to EUR 14.8 million), doubled the number of clients (from 25,000 to 52,000) and built a portfolio with an increase of 140% in the number of policies to 98,000, the company's representatives explained during a press conference which took place on the 31st of March, in Bucharest.