The gross written premiums of Bosnian insurer ASA Osiguranje surged 34% to 8.5 million marka in the first six months of 2015, the insurer said on Monday. In the first half of the year, ASA Osiguranje saw a 31% increase in written premiums from mandatory insurance and a 40% growth in premiums from voluntary insurance products, the company said in a press release made available to SeeNews.

Bosnia's Wiener Osiguranje, part of the Vienna Insurance Group, said on Wednesday it is cutting its capital by 4.3 million marka to 11.2 million marka to partially cover accumulated losses and to establish legal reserves. 

Bosnian insurer Mikrofin Osiguranje Banja Luka said on Monday its net profit edged down 2.3% to 419,000 marka in the first half of 2015.

The Bosnian unit of Austrian insurer Merkur Versicherung said on Monday its net profit dropped 11.5% to 1.7 million marka in the first six months of 2015.

The IMF Directors commended the improvements in banking and insurance oversight since the 2006 Financial System Stability Assessment (FSSA), but noted that important shortcomings remain, stated a recent IMF press release after the IMF's Executive Board session on June 29th, where the Financial System Stability Assessment of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) was discussed.

Sarajevo Insurance was declared the best insurance company in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2014 by the expert jury of BiH financial magazine "Prizma" and consulting company "Revicon".

In the first three months of 2015, BiH's insurance market totaled almost EUR 70 million (BAM 136.8 million), 0.4% more y-o-y as a result of an increase of over 5.5% (to EUR 19.8 million) of insurance companies based in the Republic of Srpska (RS), according to the figures published by the two market authorities - Insurance Agency of Republika Srpska (AZORS) and the Insurance Supervisory Agency of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (NADOS). The volume of FBiH insurers' GWP decreased by 1.5% y-o-y, totaling EUR 50.1 million.

Vienna Insurance Group (VIG) said on Tuesday its pre-tax loss from operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina narrowed to 500,000 euro in 2014 from 5.6 million euro a year earlier. VIG's total gross written premiums in Bosnia rose 5.5% to 11.5 million euro in 2014, with property and casualty insurance accounting for 10.8 million euro, up 3.8% on the year, VIG said in a financial report.

At the end of 2014, the 24 insurers activating in the two administrative entities that formed Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH - Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and RS - Republika Srpska) reported gross written premiums of BAM 562 million (EUR 287.4 million), up 6.6% y-o-y, according to the aggregate figures from the two market authorities (NADOS - Insurance Supervisory Agency of FBiH and AZORS - Insurance Agency of RS). At the same time, the aggregate value of paid claims increased by 24.2% to BAM 250 million (EUR 127.6 million).

Bosnian insurer JAHORINA Osiguranje (owned by VIG since October 2011) said it has changed its name to WIENER Osiguranje VIENNA Insurance Group to better reflect its ownership, the insurer announced in a press release. "All contracts issued under the name of JAHORINA will remain in force until their expiration", declared Miroslav MISKIC, General Manager of WIENER Osiguranje VIG.

Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia are now better prepared and have greater capacity to cope with flooding following the response to the devastating floods that affected the countries in May 2014.

Based on the figures released by the insurance agencies in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Srpska Republic (RS), in 3Q2014 the added-up value of gross written premiums by the 24 insurers active in the two administrative entities that formed Bosnia and Herzegovina increased to EUR 218 million, or 7.8% more y-o-y. The insurers from the Federation accounted for EUR 158 million (72.6% of total), while the RS insurance market accounted for the remaining rest of EUR 60 million.

Turkey's state-controlled Ziraat Bank provided a 50 million euro (USD 65 million) loan to Bosnia and announced plans for its local unit to enter the country's insurance and leasing market, Bosnian media said on Monday.

The Bosnian insurance market remained on track during the first half of 2014 and reported GWP of EUR 144.8 million, 9.2% up y-o-y. On the other hand, insurers' balance was significantly affected by the damage caused by catastrophic flooding during this spring as the paid claims volume rose by about 27%, up to EUR 61 million.

According to the 1Q2014 financial figures published by the two market authorities which supervise the Bosnian insurance market (Insurance Supervisory Agency of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina - NADOS, and Insurance Agency of Republika Srpska - AZORS) - the local insurance industry totaled at the end of March 2014 almost EUR 70 million, or 12.5% more y-o-y.

The recent severe flooding in the Balkans has cost Bosnia an estimated EUR 2 billion (USD 2.7 billion) in damage, an international expert group said.

The Vienna Insurance Group (VIG) said on Tuesday pretax profit from its operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina totaled 100,000 euro in the first quarter of 2014, unchanged from a year earlier.

The worst thing that happened to us during these floods is that the people who have lost their homes loved ones, lost their jobs as well. Through their personal earnings, they will not be able to repair the material damage, said the Bosnia Herzegovina Chairman of Foreign trade Chamber, Ahmet Egrlic.

At the end of 2013 the total value of gross written premiums by insurance companies active in the two administrative entities that formed Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH - Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and RS - Republika Srpska) increased 4.4% y-o-y to EUR 270 million. The upward trend was due the double-digit increasing performance in the life insurance segment, while the value of GWP in the non-life insurance segment was up by 2% y-o-y and accounted for 81% of the overall market.

At the end of September 2013, the total value of gross written premiums by insurance companies active in the two administrative entities that formed Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH - Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and RS - Republika Srpska) increased to EUR 202 million, up by 3.5% y-o-y.