The winners of the ninth edition of the "Insurers for Society 2023" competition received their awards at a solemn ceremony on October 3, 2023, ABZ (Association of Bulgarian Insurers) wrote.

Bulgarian insurance market totaled BGN 1.13 billion (EUR 580 million) at the end of March 2023, up by 28.2% y-o-y, according to the official quarterly figures from the Financial Supervision Commission - FSC.

The Bulgarian insurance broker SDI becomes part of the American fintech company Acrisure. The transaction is expected to be finalized by the end of September.

Fitch Ratings, one of the largest rating agencies worldwide, has affirmed its assessment to Eurohold Bulgaria AD's Long Term Issuer Default Rating at 'B' with a stable outlook. In a statement, the agency has also pointed out it had removed it from its watch list for a possible negative outlook on the rating (Rating Watch Negative, RWN).

The insurance penetration rate in Bulgaria is only 2.4%, while the European average is about 7.4%, which means Bulgarians insure three times less than other Europeans. The problem with the low share of insured property is especially serious, as there will be more and more natural disasters going forward, as Yuri Kopach, Chairman of the Board of Directors of ABZ said.

The market recent results show success, and the insurance industry continues to move forward with serious growth rates, especially compared to other areas of the economy, as was emphasized by Konstantin Velev, executive director of Armeets company, during the specialized edition "Insurance - reality and opportunities" broadcast on May 20, ABZ reports.

A new composition and chairman of the ABZ (Association of Bulgarian Insurers) Board were elected at the Association's annual meeting on May 17, 2023, ABZ announced on its website.

On May 17, 2023, the next edition of the annual award ceremony in the insurance sector and the pension insurance - "Insurer of the Year", "Pension Insurance Company of the Year", "Insurer broker of the Year" 2022 took place in Bulgaria, ABZ (Association of Bulgarian Insurers) reports. The best performing companies from the insurance and pension insurance sector in 2022 were honored.

Bulgarian commercial banks UBB - United Bulgarian Bank and KBC Bank Bulgaria, - both of them owned by Belgian financial group KBC- have legally formalised their merger, creating the country's largest lender by assets, according to a press release posted on UBB website.

Bulgarian insurance market ended 2022 with a total GWP of BGN 3.61 billion (EUR 1.85 billion), up by 10.87% y-o-y, according to the market figures from the Bulgarian Financial Supervision Commission (FSC). Per business lines, 82.69% represented non-life GWP (EUR 1.53 billion, 12.69% more y-o-y), the remaining 17.31% being accounted by life GWP (EUR 319.76 million, up by 2.95% y-o-y).

By the end of December 2022, the assets managed by Bulgarian insurance companies amounted to about BGN 9.64 billion (EUR 4.9 billion), which represents a decrease of 4.8% y-o-y, SeeNews wrote with reference to the Central Bank.

Bulgaria-based holding company Management Financial Group (MFG) said on Friday that it is entering the market of general insurance to expand its portfolio of services, SEE News reported.

Bulgarian insurance market reported January-September 2022 net profits worth BGN 245.78 million (EUR 125.67 million), up by 1.47% y-o-y as compared with the snapshot on 30 September 2021 (BGN 242.22 million), according to the market statistics published on Financial Supervisory Commission website.

Euroins Insurance Group (EIG), part of Eurohold Bulgaria, announced it has signed an agreement to sell its subsidiary in Belarus and the group's stake in a company in Russia. The new owner of the two insurers is a Russian company.

International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, takes a stake of around 10% in Doverie, the pension fund in Bulgaria in which the Vienna Insurance Group (VIG) holds a majority stake. The cooperation aims to strengthen and jointly further expand the Bulgarian pension insurance market.

Eurohold Bulgaria AD, a leading energy and financial group in Southeast Europe, reported strong results in the third quarter of 2022 consolidating its very positive performance since the beginning of the year, according to the company's consolidated interim financial statement for the period.

According to the market regulator, in the first six months the insurance market maintained stability and a positive direction of development, which is a good result in view of the serious challenges such as political instability, economic difficulties and inflation, problems with the entire chain of supplies caused by the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, Association of Bulgarian Insurers (ABZ) wrote.

The Bulgarian insurance sector celebrates 140 years of insurance in Bulgaria and 30 years since establishment of the Association of Bulgarian Insurers (ABZ) in 2022. In honor of these anniversaries, ABZ organized an anniversary conference "140 years of insurance in Bulgaria" on October 5, 2022 at the Hyatt Hotel, the Association said.

Bulgarian insurance market totaled almost BGN 1.8 billion (EUR 918 million) at the end of June 2022, up by 9.8% y-o-y, according to the official data provided by Financial Supervision Commission - FSC. The number of insurance companies active in Bulgaria decreased to 44 at the end of June from 51 a year earlier.

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.