And we have decided to make today’s post a bit less business-oriented than usually… Turns out, it’s not so easy to do. (Re)insurance and finance may well be sexy, but they are rarely funny. So we have made a two-part post.
Those of you who want to have a laugh, scroll down to Part 2 right away
Part 1. Solvency
For the more dilligent rest, here is fresh news from the Russian (re)insurance community. The fast approaching introduction of Solvency II doesnt’ bother the market, since Russia is not an EU member state. However, numerous insurance bancruptcies have forced the country’s ministry of finance to toughen capital adequacy and asset allocation standards. The new requirements are expected to be introduced starting from June 30, 2011.
Currently, the ministry is holding discussions with the insurance community. At yesterday’s negotiations Russian players complained the 1.3-1.6 solvency margin ratio (depending on the insurance segment) set forth in the draft is too high, suggesting to keep it at 1, as now. The parties met half-way: the ratio figure may be reduced to just 1.3.
“The increase to 1.6 bothered players because it basically increased 60% the volume of supervised investments”, Oleg Pilipets, deputy head of the Russian insurance regulator FSIS, stated, as quoted by RBC daily publication. Meanwhile, most insurance insolvency cases in Russia are a result of “investments” in non-existing assets, he pointed out. As a result of such fradulent practice up to 50 insurers may lose their licences by the end of the year, according to the FSIS.
Part 2. Fun
I can’t believe we have missed this news! But it’s so good it’s worth repeating. A couple of weeks ago, Romanian lawmakers considered imposing a tax on witches and fortune-tellers. Too bad, the excellent idea didn’t pass in the country’s Senate (here are the details). According to a sponsor of the draft , senators were too afraid of being cursed by the potential taxpayers. We at The Insurer suggest another explanation: maybe some Romanian senators keep crystal balls at home?
No comments:
Post a Comment