Applying the Estonian model for profit taxation (insurance companies will not be subject to income tax on reinvested profits) will boost development and growth, according to the General director of GPI Holding, Paata LOMIDZE, reported Caucasus Business Week.

The development process of the Georgian insurance market will be significantly boosted by the initiation of obligatory Motor Third Party Liability (MTPL) Insurance in Georgia, representatives of ARDI Insurance point out in an official statement.

A bill, providing for mandatory insurance of civil liability of vehicle owners from July, 2019, soon will be submitted to the Parliament, as the international news agency Sputnik informed.

Based on 3Q2018 data, Georgian insurer UNISON has improved its positions on the market and entered TOP-5 insurance companies in terms of GWP, according to the regulator's statistics.

According to Devi KHECHINASHVILI, Chairman of the Board, Georgian Insurance Association, Bank of Georgia is creating its own insurance company. The new insurer already received a permission from the National Bank and is going to apply to the State Insurance Supervision Service.

For 9 months this year Georgian insurers generated GEL 417.19 million of GWP (EUR 137.66 million), which in local currency is 20.67% more y-o-y. Paid claims for the same period increased by 26.71%, as the data published by the Insurance Supervisory Office of Georgia show.

"By global standards, insurance in Georgia is still immature - in the initial stages really - therefore there are many things that are yet to be done and the market has big potential," Giorgi BARATASHVILI, CEO of ALDAGI, told the FINANCIAL in an interview.

On January 1, 2019 in Georgia the article 5 of the law "On work safety" will come into force; based on it employers will be obliged at their expense to provide employees with industrial accident insurance.

The Georgian insurance market generated GWP in the amount of GEL 295.28 million (EUR 103.83 million) in the first half year, a 19.36% increase y-o-y, while the life sector increased by 69.36%, according to data from the Insurance Supervisory Office of Georgia.

Beginning in 2019, Georgia will change the model of financing within the General Health Insurance program. According to the Ministry of health the new system of reimbursement provides for transition to a model of diagnostically related groups (DRG), based on which a patient's diagnosis, age, length of hospitalization, and other criteria will determine the amount of funding, wrote Business Georgia.

10 years after its inception, the Romanian mandatory dwelling insurance system has progressed and PAID, the pool underwriting and managing the mandatory policies is a strong and financially sound institution. "We are currently managing a reinsurance program worth EUR 920 million, with a pool of excellent reinsurers, more than half of them rated AA+, while the company's solvency rate is of 220%," recently stated Nicoleta RADU, CEO, PAID.

The first Georgian International Insurance Conference took place on 14 March 2019. The event put under scrutiny the current status and the future development perspectives of the local market, in an attempt of identifying the main growth opportunities. The forthcoming launch of the mandatory MTPL system was the most important topic on the agenda, as this new line of business has the potential to provide for a significant growth, but also to become a market disruptor.

Climate risks have always produced high impact events, causing material and human losses that often have remained in collective memory as reference points. On the other hand, cyber risks are just emerging, but they are already demonstrating a potentially catastrophic impact which still needs to be better understood and assessed.