The introduction of the new 8% tax on non-life insurance premiums in Slovakia was postponed from October 2018, to January 2019, to allow insurance companies prepare for the change, the country's parliament decided on 7 June.

Last year, the growth rate of the local insurance market (+8.56%) was almost double that of the advance of the economy (+4.69%), thus the calculated indicators as the insurance penetration degree (2.51%) and the insurance density (EUR 393 per capita) significantly evolved as compared to FY2016.

A new indirect taxation system for the insurance premium is in preparation in Slovakia, replacing the current special insurance 8% levy with a rate which will vary from 2 to 18% depending on the type of the policy, local press reads.

In the first three quarters of 2017, the Slovak insurance market totaled EUR 1.61 billion, representing an increase of 7.62% y-o-y, according to the quarterly financial figures published by the National Bank of Slovakia (NBS).

In 1H2017, the Slovak insurance market totaled EUR 1.06 billion (11.8% more y-o-y), while the value of paid claims was of EUR 575 million, according to the preliminary financial figures provided by the National Bank of Slovakia.

In 1Q2017 the Slovak insurance market totaled EUR 569.5 million, 4.6% up y-o-y, the statistics published by the National Bank of Slovakia (NBS) indicated.

The Slovak insurance market was down by 1.78% y-o-y in 2016 in terms of GWP - to EUR 1.98 billion, according to data published by the Central Bank.

According to the Slovak Insurance Association data, the Slovak insurers ended 2016 with GWP of EUR 1,987 million, a result which is more or less in line with the previous year's premium production.

The 8% levy on insurance premiums extension from the MTPL class to a;; the facultative non-life insurance lines in Slovakia started to produce effects on the insurance premiums, reports The Slovak Spectator, mentioning especially the vehicle and travel insurance premiums.

The Slovak Government and Parliament made several changes to the tax system with effect from 1 January 2017, some of them affecting also the local insurance companies, as well as their foreign shareholders. The recently adopted amendments concern - among others - corporate and personal income tax, value added tax, special levy in regulated industries, as well as social security and health insurance contributions, reads a Kinstellar report published by the Lexology portal.

The annual and most important insurance event within the Caucasus region - "Insurance in Azerbaijan: New perspectives", started today, in Baku, organized by XPRIMM and Azerbaijan Insurers Association, with the official support of the Financial Market Supervisory Authority of Azerbaijan.

FRISS will host on Wednesday, 20 June a 30 minutes webinar, by Karlyn Carnahan (Celent), looking at the role of fraud analytics tools as an enabler of customer experience. Registrations are opened.

will take place on September 17-21, 2018 in Sochi
The upcoming Forum, supported by the All-Russian Union of Insurers (ARIA), will logically continue a detailed discussion of the most pressing issues previously raised at ARIA events in 2018: Insurance and Reinsurance International Congress in Moscow and Insurance International Conference in St. Petersburg.

Today, at PensionsEurope Conference 2018, Ms. Ana Carla Pereira, Head of Unit for Modernisation of Social Protection Systems at the European Commission, presented the main findings of the 2018 Pension Adequacy Report (2018 PAR) and 2018 Ageing Report (2018 AR).