Most of the owners in Bulgaria still do not insure their property as either because people hope that nothing terrible will happen, or because they rely on government assistance in the event of a serious damage, said Nina KOLCHAKOVA, ABZ (Association of Bulgarian Insurers) General Secretary.

A the end of June 2022, the assets of the Bulgarian insurance companies reached BGN 9.17 billion (EUR 4.7 billion), which is 3.8% less y-o-y, SeeNews reports according to the quarterly insurance sector report of the Bulgarian National Bank.

In the last 10 years there has been no change in home property insurance - only 6-7% of the properties of individuals are insured in Bulgaria. This is an extremely low percentage, especially considering that the majority of people live in their own homes, said Konstantin VELEV, Chairman of the Board of the Association of Bulgarian Insurers (ABZ) in his interview on September 09.

A torrential rain caused rivers and streams to overflow flooding several villages in Bulgarian Plovdiv Province on 02 September 2022, leaving over 500 people in need of safe housing by damaging several hundred houses, as well as infrastructure.

According to data from the Association of Bulgarian Insurers (ABZ), the share of agricultural insurance in the non-life segment, which is already very small, has dropped four times - from 0.74% in March 2021 to only 0.19 % in March 2022.

The insurance market continued to grow steadily in the first quarter of 2022. Considering that the data also covers the first month of the war in Ukraine (March), it can be said that the market demonstrates its solid foundation and resilience, the Association of Bulgarian Insurers (ABZ) wrote.

Bulgarian insurance market totaled BGN 885.4 million (EUR 452.7 million) at the end of March 2022, up by 9.7% y-o-y, according to the official quarterly figures from the Financial Supervision Commission - FSC.

Belgian financial group KBC announced that KBC Bank and Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) completed the deal announced in November 2021 concerning the acquisition of 100% of the shares of Raiffeisen bank (Bulgaria) EAD, comprising RBI's Bulgarian banking operations.

"Despite the crises, the insurance market is performing steadily. During the pandemic, the sector managed to adapt very quickly to new conditions of doing business in a digital environment, transform processes, maintain and further develop communication with customers", said Nina KOLCHAKOVA, Secretary General of the Association of Bulgarian Insurers (ABZ).

The annual meeting of Balkan Insurance Brokers took place in the city of Nis, Serbia on 3-5 June. Over 100 attendees from Balkan Insurance Brokers network in Bulgaria and Romania attended the reunion, as well as representatives of insurers Euroins and Uniqa from Bulgaria, and Euroins and Grawe from Romania.

Yuri KOPACH, Deputy Chairman of the Management Board of ABZ (Association of Bulgarian Insurers) and Member of the Management Board and Executive Director of Generali Zastrahovane was awarded the national prize "For overall contribution to the development of Bulgarian insurance" of the Foundation "Prof. Dr. Veleslav GAVRIYSKI", ABZ said.

Life insurance in Bulgaria is experiencing an impressive rise. The development and potential of life insurance, its benefits to consumers and mechanisms for managing the funds invested by clients were among the topics commented during the discussion "Life Insurance - Protection and Investment" organized by the Association of Bulgarian Insurers and Bulgaria ON AIR on April 10, 2022.

Bulgarian holding Eurohold announced that its energy subholding - Eastern European Electric Company (EEEC) and majority shareholder in CEZ Distribution Bulgaria and CEZ Electro Bulgaria, has registered with the Financial Supervision Commission (FSC) tender offers for the purchase of the shares of the minority shareholders in both companies.

Bulgarian insurance market ended 2021 with a total GWP of BGN 3.24 billion (EUR 1.66 billion), up by 12.73% y-o-y, according to the market figures from the Bulgarian Financial Supervision Commission (FSC).

The organizers of the debut project "Life Insurance - Protection and Investment" are ABZ (Association of Bulgarian Insurers) and Bulgaria ON AIR, the discussion will be broadcast on April 10 at 17:30, the Association said.

Life insurance is marked by a remarkable rise, the growth rate is ahead of the non-life insurance, which is a relatively rare situation for the Bulgarian market. As of October 2021, GWP in life insurance reached BGN 483 million (+34%) (~EUR 247 million), and paid claims increased by 23% to BGN 181 million, the Association said.

In Bulgaria, the lack of interest in life insurance is due to lack of information, according to the study conducted by the website MoitePari.bg and the Association of Bulgarian Insurers, aimed at establishing consumer attitudes towards life insurance products with a total of 371 participants, the Association said.

Eurohold -the largest public Bulgarian holding and one of the largest financial and energy groups in Southeast Europe announced the rebranding of the group's energy operations in Bulgaria.

According to Konstantin VELEV, chairman of ABZ (Association of Bulgarian Insurers), "a gradual increase in MTPL prices has been observed since the mid-2021 - by about 10% compared to the beginning of last year", ABZ announced on its website.

Bulgarian insurance market posted aggregate 9 months 2021 net profit of BGN 242.2 million (EUR 123.8 million), 37% more as compared with the snapshot on 30 September 2020 (BGN 176.8 million/EUR 90.4 million), according to the market statistics published on FSC website.