Sogaz, a Russian insurer, obtained a license to do business in Serbia, together with the country's gas monopoly Srbijagas, the central bank said in a statement today.

The citizens of Serbia who travel to Montenegro by car will not need a Green card nor from 1st January 2012. It is envisaged by the Agreement which is signed on 12th December 2012 by the representatives of the Serbian Association of Insurers and Montenegrin National Bureau of Insurers. The same principle, traveling without the Green card, will apply for drivers from Montenegro.

The Serbian Government, at the session held on December 1st 2011., adopted the Law on Amendments to Insurance Law. It is envisaged to extend a deadline for the separation of insurance companies to those concerned with life insurance and non-life insurance to December 31st 2012. It is explained that new Law on Insurance should be adopted at the beginning of the year. To prevent legal uncertainty for non-compliance deadlines, it is proposed that the deadline for the separation of business of the composite insurance companies should be moved at the end of 2012. The Law on Amendments to Insurance Law has been forwarded to the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, for urgent adoption.

Starting from January 01, 2012, the drivers from Serbia will be able to travel by car to 32 countries throughout Europe without a Green Card policy, according to a recent decision of the European Commission.

UNIQA Group Austria announced this week its entrance on the private health care insurance market in Serbia with the MedUNIQA product. Since November 1st, 2011, the insurer is offering diversified product packages that are custom-tailored to the needs of customers "and that optimally expand the product portfolio in Serbia", according to the press release.

Russian company SOGAZ plans to open by the end of this year an insurance company, SOGAZ-Serbia, with a share-capital of EUR 6 million, according to Alexey SMERTIN, group's marketing director of insurance.

According to the financial indicators published by the National Bank, the total gross written premiums of the 23 insurance companies operating in Serbia rose by an annual pace of 3.0%, to RSD 44.48 billion (EUR 440 million) in the third quarter of 2011.

Serbia's government is preparing a law that would require farm insurance from all agriculture producers who receive subsidies, Vecernje Novosti newspaper reported, without naming its source.Mandatory insurance may take effect next year and it would cover farm equipment, animals, crops and other assets obtained with state subsidies, the report said.

Serbian government is preparing an act on mandatory agricultural insurance. The act may come into effect in 2012. According to the act, farmers who want subsidies from the state will be obliged to take out insurance for animals, crops and equipment that are grown, produced or purchased with the state's assistance. In order for farmers to use the state subsidies, they have to be registered. Serbia has 450,000 registered farms at the moment.

In the first five months of 2011, written premiums in the market of Federation increased annually by 2.2 per cent, the entity insurance agency has announced.

Life insurance company AXA, which will open its first office in July in Belgrade, plans to use Serbia as a springboard for regional expansion. AXA entered Serbian insurance market in September 2010 when it took over insurance company Credit Agricole Life. "Serbia will be the center of expansion of our insurance business in the region, namely in Bulgaria, Albania and the countries of former Yugoslavia," said Antonio Marchiteli, director of AXA life insurance in Serbia.

Serbian insurance company UNIQA Osiguranje recorded in 2010 the highest growth of the gross written premiums volume of the top 5 insurers on the market. Thus, according to preliminary results, the total value of underwritings registered an advance of 19.66%, reaching RSD 3.47 billion (approximately EUR 33.56 million).

DUNAV Osiguranje, the biggest insurance company in Serbia, sold to ERSTE Bank, in mid-January, 1% of the shares it owned in KOMECIJALNA Banka.

Only 3 years after entering the Serbian insurance market, BASLER, member of the BALOISE Swiss group, is now first place on the professional liability insurance for physicians segment.

26.10.2010 (Limun.hr)
Serbia's life insurance industry is very close to reaching an agreement with the Serbian Government on the purchase of long-term State bonds denoted in Euros, worth EUR 200m in total. The State bonds come with a 15-year maturity date and a fixed interest rate of 5.9 pct.

In the second quarter of 2009, on Serbian insurance market, total premiums came to RSD 28.5 billion (EUR 305 million or USD 430 million), recording its first year-on-year drop (0.7%) as the global financial crisis fallout and the sector's exposure to market risk dampened demand for insurance products.

The National Bank of Serbia granted an operating license to the Belgrade-based joint-stock insurance company SOCIETE GENERALE Osiguranje, whose core activity is providing life insurance services (life insurance, annuity insurance, supplementary life insurance and other types of life insurance envisaged by the law).

The National Bank of Serbia granted recently an operating license to the Belgrade-based Reinsurance Company WIENER Re, the fourth reinsurance company to be registered in the Republic of Serbia.