RENOMIA purchased a majority stake in R&D APDROSINASANAS BROKERS (R&D Insurance Brokers Ltd.), a local company based in Riga and strengthened its position within Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) as Latvia became the eighth European country in which RENOMIA has direct representation.

The Latvian insurance market totaled EUR 597 million at the end of September 2020, about 1.4% more y-o-y, according to data published by the Financial and Capital Market Commission (FKTK).

Vienna Insurance Group AG (VIG), has become 100% owner of BTA Baltic Insurance Company AAS (BTA) shares, the insurance market leader of Latvia.

Latvian insurance companies generated EUR 13.53 million in aggregate H1 net profit, 12% less than a year ago (EUR 15.37 million), the end-June figures published by FKTK (Financial and Capital Market Commission) showed.

Real estate intermediaries in Latvia will be required to purchase professional indemnity insurance, according to the regulations of the Cabinet of Ministers (CM), which entered into force on 2 October. The professional liability of real estate agents must be insured to cover damage caused to a third party as a result of the agent's acts or omissions.

According to the data of the Latvian Motor Insurers' Bureau (LTAB), the recalculation of the annual insurance risk assessment of Bonus-Malus system (B/M) classes, which takes place every year on September 15, this year the BM class has increased for 348,226 vehicles, decreased for 197,540 vehicles and remained the same for 550,662 vehicles.

On the evening of June 11, a high-risk fire broke out in the meat processing and production workshop of the company "Lido", located in Riga. The flames had affected a two-story production building - a hangar-type warehouse, an administrative room and a smoking workshop. During the fire, a total of 600 square meters of premises were damaged.

Latvian insurers reported EUR -3.52 million net loss at the end of March vs. EUR 4.87 million net profit in Q12019, according to figures released by the Financial and Capital Market Commission (FKTK). Non-life insurers closed Q12020 with a net profit of EUR 7.85 million (vs. EUR 3.64 million a year ago), while the life insurers reported a negative result of EUR -11.37 million vs. a net profit of EUR 1.22 million at the end of March 2019.

From 2015 to 2019, about EUR 9.6 million was paid in MTPL indemnities for the damage done to roads, road structures and buildings. In the first quarter of 2020 alone, EUR 663 thousand have already been paid for damage to infrastructure objects or their destruction.

At the end of May 2020, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) from Latvia has submitted to the Cabinet of Ministers an assessment prepared in co-operation with the Central Bank of Latvia and the Financial and Capital Market Commission (FCMC) regarding a possible merge between the Central Bank and FCMC, planned to start in 2022 - 2023.

During 2019, insurance companies in Latvia grossed EUR 856.73 million in premiums, up by 13.36% against 2018, while the amount paid in indemnities grew 35.40 % y-o-y to EUR 549.42 million, according to the figures published by The Financial and Capital Market Commission of Latvia (FKTK).

The Latvian Financial and Capital Market Commission (FKTK) announced in the light of the position expressed by the European Central Bank (ECB), the European Banking Authority (EBA) and the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), ensuring the supervision of financial sector participants will implement an individual and flexible approach, based on the assessment of actual situation and the effects of COVID-19 and making use of options provided by the regulatory framework.

The Financial and Capital Market Commission (FKTK) announced Saeima - the parliament of the Republic of Latvia approved the nomination of Girts RUDA as Member of the FKTK Board.

As of January 1^st, 2020, Latvian legislation imposed mandatory smoke detectors for all residential buildings. Similarly, fire extinguishers became mandatory for every Latvian dwelling.

The insurance market has been growing over the past couple of years, recently showing a double-digit increase, despite a smaller growth rate at the end of 2019, according to Uldis DZINTARS, member of the board of BALTA (leader of Latvian non-life sector, which belongs to the PZU group), LETA news agency writes.

The Latvian insurance market totaled EUR 588.70 million at the end of September 2019, or 3.69% more y-o-y, according to data published by the Financial and Capital Market Commission (FKTK). At the same time, the insurance companies paid EUR 384.20 million in claims (28.81% more y-o-y).

On November 1, 2019, the Latvian Association of Insurers (LAA) held a meeting during which two members of the Association management board were re-elected for a term of two years, as well as future priorities of LAA activities agreed, as LAA announced on its website.

Latvian insurance companies generated EUR 15.37 million in aggregate H1 net profit, more than double than a year ago (EUR 7.22 million), the end-June figures published by FKTK (Financial and Capital Market Commission) showed.

According to The Motor Insurers' Bureau of Latvia (LTAB), for the first half of 2019, the average MTPL indemnity was EUR 1,068, about 29% higher than the average MTPL claim from the first half of year 2016 (1H2016: EUR 826).

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