The Serbian insurance marked ended the first half year with GWP worth RSD 52.18 billion (EUR 442 million), 6,8% up y-o-y. Due to the modest appreciation of the Serbian Dinar against Euro, the market results denominated in European currency show a higher growth rate, of 9.35%.

A.M. Best has assigned a Financial Strength Rating of B (Fair) and a Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of "bb+" to Dunav Re Company a.d.o. Belgrade (Dunav Re) (Serbia), a subsidiary of Dunav Insurance Company j.s.c. Belgrade. (Dunav), a multi-line insurer operating in Serbia.

The Serbian insurance market experienced a 2.4% y-o-y increase in Q1 GWP to RSD 24.7 billion (EUR 208 million), according to the NBS's (National Bank of Serbia) quarterly figures.

Serbian insurance market ended 2017 with FWP worth EUR 785.8 million, 8.8% up y-o-y, a result supported in part also by the Serbian Dinar appreciation against the European currency. In local currency, the GWP growth was of only 4.4%. Most of the market growth came from the non-life insurance side, which saw a 11% increase in premiums, thus raising its weight in the market portfolio by about 1.5 percentage points.

Slovenian re/insurance group SAVA Re has acquired a 92.94% stake in Belgrade-based ENERGOPROJEKT GARANT, a small Serbian insurer specialising in construction and liability insurance.

The "Agricultural Insurance, Reinsurance and Brokerage in the CIS, Europe and Asia" Conference will discuss the technical aspects and characteristic features of drought and livestock disease insurance programs. Representatives of Munich Re and TARSIM will share their own first-hand experience in drought crop insurance.

Serbian insurers' 3Q results show a 6.3% y-o-y increase in GWP (in local currency), to RSD 70.9 billion (EUR 594.1 million), almost half of the additional GWP volume being provided by the motor insurance lines.

Serbian insurers ended 1H2017 with GWP up by 10.3% y-o-y, to EUR 404.2 million, a growth rate slightly helped by the local currency's appreciation. Denominated in Serbian Dinars, the market results show an 8.12% increase in premiums.

The merger between the Vienna Insurance Group (VIG) company Wiener Stadtische Osiguranje and the two AXA companies that were acquired in the previous year was concluded in August 2017.

The GWP value of Serbian insurers totaled RSD 24.1 billion (EUR 195 million) in the first quarter of 2017, a 10% increase y-o-y, according to the National Bank of Serbia's (NBS) most recent report on the sector.

The most important annual meeting of the Croatian insurers, the "Croatian Insurance Days", took place in Opatija, Croatia, on 7 - 9 November.

On November 1st, an Agricultural insurance conference took place in Skopje, Macedonia, organized by the Insurance Supervision Agency in cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Economy. Drawing attention to the necessity of reducing the risks in agriculture by using insurance was the event's main purpose.

Emmanuel DJENGUE, Innovation Director, Europe - RGAX, Spain is the Keynote Speaker at IIF 2018 - Insurance in a DIGITAL WORLD Conference in Bucharest, on November 27.

Becoming a growing threat globally, cyber risks is both a challenge and an opportunity for the insurance industry. MUNICH Re's representatives talked to XPRIMM TV in Baden Baden, about the different approach to this type of risk that the Group, as one of the most active players on the cyber market solutions, proposes.

End investors, Insurance-Linked Securities (ILS) funds, and buyers - the three groups active in ILS - have predominantly weathered 2017 loss activity with a view that reinsurance products backed by 'alternative' capital have become mainstream, according to a new Global ILS Market Survey by Willis Towers Watson.

Swiss Re expects the global reinsurance industry to consolidate as the distinction between insurers and reinsurers become increasingly blurred, an executive from the Swiss Group said in Baden Baden, reports Reuters.

Current market conditions are putting increasing pressure on returns with some companies viewing consolidation as a potential solution, James NASH, CEO of International at Guy Carpenter said in his opening remarks at the Baden-Baden 2018 Reinsurance Meeting hosted by the global risk and reinsurance specialist.

E+S Ruckversicherung AG, the Hannover Re Group's unit handling German business, continues to expect a positive premium development in the German market for the January 2019 renewals, albeit at a somewhat more diminished pace than in 2018.