The Financial Supervision Commission (FSC) has been notified by the competent authority of Liechtenstein of the merger from the insurance undertaking “Allianz Risk Transfer AG” to “Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty SE”, including insurance contracts on which Bulgaria is a Member State where the risk is located. After reviewing the portfolio documents, the FSC decided to send a letter to the national competent authority of Liechtenstein on granting consent of the merger of “Allianz Risk Transfer AG” to “Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty SE”
FSC Advocates for the Interests of the Bulgarian Market in the Debate on EU Capital Market Integration and Competitiveness
Vasil Golemanski, Chair of the Financial Supervision Commission (FSC), participated in the meeting of the Board of Supervisors of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the independent EU authority playing a central role in the supervision of financial markets across the European Union.
A key focus of the discussions was the Market Integration and Supervision Package and its contribution to advancing the Savings and Investment Union, strengthening the competitiveness of EU capital markets and reducing regulatory burden. Board members also examined forthcoming legislative and regulatory amendments, including measures related to listing rules, market transparency, post-trade infrastructure and supervisory convergence.
During the debate, Mr Golemanski underlined the importance of ensuring that ambition is matched by operational feasibility:
“Deeper integration is essential if we want European savings to be channelled more effectively into investments that remain and generate value within the European Union, while reinforcing the EU’s position as an attractive and predictable place to do business. At the same time, proportionality must remain a guiding principle. Reforms should be sufficiently ambitious, yet workable in day-to-day supervisory practice, without creating unnecessary operational friction or new fault lines between markets.”
The FSC remains committed to ensuring that the Bulgarian non-banking financial sector is kept well informed of European regulatory developments and that the interests of the Bulgarian capital market are consistently and effectively represented in key supervisory discussions and decision-making processes at EU level.
FSC expects applications for licensing of Crypto Companies by 16 February
The Financial Supervision Commission (FSC) expects companies registered as Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) that wish to obtain authorisation under the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) to submit their applications by 16 February 2026. The transitional period outlined in § 3(1) of the Transitional and Final Provisions of the Crypto-Asset Markets Act will conclude on 1 July 2026. The review of submitted documentation is estimated to take between four to five months. Any suspension of the statutory deadlines, or their resumption at the request of, or as a result of actions by, the applicant will substantially prolong the procedure and will make it impossible for the FSC to issue a decision before 1 July 2026.
This is stated in a letter sent by the FSC to the companies entered in the crypto-assets register, so called VASPs.
To date, the FSC has held more than 30 meetings with companies that have expressed an intention to apply for authorisation. The Commission’s experts have provided clarifications on the regulatory requirements and expectations regarding the preparation of the documentation to all interested parties.
After 16 February 2026, preliminary meetings with new companies will be discontinued, and the Commission’s efforts will be focused on the review of applications already submitted. Meetings will be held only exceptionally with companies that have already undergone a preliminary assessment, and solely for the purpose of clarifying additional issues.
Companies that plan to discontinue their crypto-asset activities by 1 July 2026 will be required to submit to the FSC, by 1 March 2026 at the latest, a plan for the orderly and transparent wind-down of their activities, including the arrangements for settling relations with clients. Entities that do not carry out any activity are able to apply for deregistration from the register under § 5(3) of the Transitional and Final Provisions of the Crypto-Asset Markets Act, in accordance with the procedure laid down in § 6 of the same Act.
Additional information, including a “Frequently Asked Questions on Crypto-Assets” section is available in the “Crypto-assets” section of the FSC’s website.
FSC Warns of Crypto Company Hijacking
The Financial Supervision Commission (FSC) warns of a dangerous practice in the crypto sector about so-called “crypto company hijacking.” These cases involve the registration of company managers in the Commercial Register without the knowledge of the actual owners, through the use of forged documents.
This is stated by Desislava Laskova, Director of the “Regulatory Regimes of Investment Activity – Investment Intermediaries and Crypto-Asset Service Providers” Directorate at the FSC, in an interview with Darik Radio. According to her, such fraud schemes pose serious risks both to the licensing of the companies concerned and to unlawful actions carried out in their name, including the taking out of loans.
The interview is conducted at a moment when the period for CASPs applications is ending and is established a significant difference between the regulated financial sector and parts of the crypto business, which until now have operated in a largely unregulated environment. At the same time, we also see growing commitment on the part of companies to bring their activities into line with the new rules, which is an important step towards building a more mature, transparent and sustainable crypto-asset market.
Against this background, the FSC is already applying the European MiCA Regulation, which introduces a single legal framework for crypto-assets in the European Union. A transitional period applies until 1 July 2026, after which providers operating without a license will no longer be allowed to operate on the market.
The FSC is the competent authority for the supervision of crypto-assets in Bulgaria, with the exception of electronic money tokens, which fall under the supervision of the Bulgarian National Bank.
Out of eight license applications submitted:
- one company has already been licensed (investment intermediary);
- three applications are currently under review;
- four companies have been refused at the completeness check stage due to the absence of a substantial portion of the required documentation and communication issues.
“Through a circular letter, we invited companies to meetings, which is an established communication practice of the Financial Supervision Commission. Our aim is to maintain an open dialogue with the sector and to provide concrete guidance to companies on how to prepare their licensing documentation so that it fully complies with the requirements of the MiCA Regulation and the national regulatory framework,” Laskova notes.
The FSC reminds market participants that the licensing procedure takes between 4 and 6 months. Therefore, companies wishing to continue operating legally after the end of the transitional period should submit their documents no later than 16 February.
The full interview is available here.
More information on the crypto-asset market and the regulatory activities of the Financial Supervision Commission can be found in the dedicated crypto-assets section on the FSC’s official website:
https://www.fsc.bg/kriptoaktivi/