Mr. Boyko Atanasov, Chairman of the Financial Supervision Commission, will take part in a round table organized by the Higher School of Insurance and Finance (VUZF) on “Strategic Management and Regulation of Business Processes in the State” on 31 March 2022.

The first panel of the round table focuses on the need for a strategy for economic development of the country and the necessary steps in this regard. Well-known experts and lecturers from prestigious universities in Bulgaria will take part in it.

The second panel focuses on the regulatory function of the state. In it, Mr. Boyko Atanasov will present the regulatory functions of the FSC and the directions for development of the non-banking financial sector in Bulgaria.

The event is organized by VUZF and the Laboratory for Scientific and Applied Research VUZF Lab and will be broadcast live through their online channels.

The Social Insurance Supervision Department of the FSC announced the preliminary results of the supplementary pension insurance activity for 2021. The information was obtained on the basis of the reports and references submitted by the pension insurance companies to the Financial Supervision Commission. The data on distribution of insured persons by sex and age in the pension funds as of 31.21.2021 have also been published.

The total number of insured persons in the four types of pension funds as of 31.21.2021 is 4,849,754 people, increasing compared to 31.21.2020 by 0.64 per cent.

As of 31.12.2021, the net assets of the pension funds amount to BGN 19,557,121 thousand. Compared to the end of 2020, the net assets of pension funds increased by 13.08 percent.

The total revenues of the pension insurance companies for 2021 amount to BGN 311,101 thousand. The net financial result of the companies for 2021 amounts to BGN 75,219 thousand.

By the end of 2021, 7 lifelong pension payment funds (LPPFs) and 9 deferred payment funds (DPFs) have been established. During the period 01.09.2021 – 31.12.2021 a total of 270 pension contracts were concluded for payment of additional lifelong old-age pension and 1 863 contracts for deferred payment of funds with the first persons insured in the universal pension funds who have reached retirement age. . In order to make payments to these persons during the period 01.09.2021 – 31.12.2021, BGN 4,491 thousand were transferred from their individual accounts to the LPPFs and BGN 8,625 thousand to the DPFs. During the same period, BGN 52,000 was paid for pensions by the LPPF, and BGN 596,000 was paid by the DPFs for deferred payments to insured persons and BGN 8,000 once to heirs of insured persons who received deferred payments.

Funds in the amount of BGN 58,000 were once paid from the universal pension funds to insured persons who have reached retirement age.

Information on the preliminary results of the supplementary pension fund and payment fund activity for 2021 and on the insured persons and the accumulated funds as of 31.12.2021 by sex and age are available in the section: Social Insurance activity / Statistics / Statistics and analysis.

The FSC draws the attention of investors to the fact that Arch Capital OOD is not entered in the public register of the FSC as a national investment fund, nor as an alternative investment fund manager and the alternative investment funds managed by them. ARCH Capital OOD is not entitled to offer potential clients investments in real estate, virtual assets, including cryptocurrencies, NFTs, start-ups and other types of alternative investments.

According to data available in the FSC, Arch Capital LTD operates at its address -. Sofia, 23 Tvardishki Prohod Str., Apt. office 24 and at Sofia, 109 Bulgaria Blvd., Vertigo Business Tower.

The FSC draws the attention of investors to be especially vigilant when transferring funds in connection with the offered financial service.

Before transferring money, each investor must check whether the person proposing a transaction has a license from the FSC or the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB). Information on the activities subject to licensing is available on the websites of both regulators; it can also be obtained by written inquiry or telephone call.

In the event that the provision of the relevant service requires a license or permit, each investor must ensure that the company with which he is negotiating actually has one. Such information is contained on the websites of the FSC and the BNB.

As an additional guarantee for the security of investments, the FSC recommends each investor to request information from the bank who is the holder of the respective bank account provided for transfer. Very often, persons who engage in illegal financial activities or investment fraud provide their potential investors with a bank account for transfer to a person whose name is similar to that of a licensed entity.

Therefore, after receiving information from the bank about the exact name of the account holder, the potential investor should check whether it completely matches the name of the licensed entity.

The Financial Supervision Commission created the campaign #invest safely (https://investsafely.fsc.bg/) to enable consumers to identify legitimate investment schemes, but also to learn the signs by which to identify irregularities.

At its meeting held on 17.02.2022, the Financial Supervision Commission decided under Protocol No. 14 of 17.02.2022 to conduct examinations for acquiring the right to exercise activity as a broker of financial instruments and as an investment adviser and set dates for these examinations on 28.05.2022 (Saturday) and 29.05.2022 (Sunday), respectively, approved the Procedure for conducting examinations for acquiring the right to exercise activity as a broker of financial instruments or as an investment adviser, Thematic syllabus for the examination for acquiring the right to exercise activity as a broker of financial instruments and Thematic syllabus for the examination for acquiring the right to exercise activity as an investment adviser. The syllabi and the procedure for conducting examinations for acquiring the right to exercise activity as a broker of financial instruments or as an investment adviser are published on the official website of the Financial Supervision Commission, in the section “Investment Activity”, “Legal capacity examinations”, “Examinations for broker of financial instruments and investment adviser”.

Templates of applications for admission to the examination and of the required declarations have been prepared as appendices to Ordinance No. 7. The persons who wish to acquire the right to exercise activity as a broker of financial instruments and / or as an investment adviser, according to Art. 10, para. 1 of Ordinance No. 7 shall submit applications for admission to an examination according to a template with the content under Art. 10, para. 2 of Ordinance No. 7 in the office of the Financial Supervision Commission (FSC) or online at delovodstvo@fsc.bg. The documents according to Art. 10, para. 3 of Ordinance № 7, which are explicitly indicated in the template need to be attached to the application.

Templates of applications for admission to examinations and the required declarations are available on the FSC website.

The documents for the examinations, which will be held on 28 May 2022 (Saturday) and 29 May 2022 (Sunday), are submitted in the period from 21 February 2022 (Monday) to 21 April 2022 (Thursday) inclusive.

The application must indicate the e-mail address to which messages on the open procedure for admission to the examination will be sent.

Applications for admission to the examination for acquiring the right to exercise activity as a broker of financial instruments or as an investment adviser, submitted after the announced deadline for submission of applications for admission to the upcoming examinations will not be considered.

A general administrative act was issued – Decision No. 124 of 14.02.2022 for determining the amount of minimum percentages, according to Art. 91, para. 3, item 2 of Ordinance No. 53 of 23.12.2016 on the requirements for reporting, valuation of assets and liabilities and the formation of technical reserves of insurers, reinsurers and the Guarantee Fund (Ordinance No. 53), as well as the period for their application.

The decision is available on the FSC website in the section Administrative Documents (available in BG version).

For January 2022 the FSC received 81 (eighty-one) notifications from the competent authorities of Member States regarding the intention of insurers and insurance intermediaries based in other EU Member States to operate on the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria under the terms of the freedom to provide services, including notifications for extension of the scope of the performed activity or provision of information for the change of addresses, representatives and other circumstances.

During the period no notifications were received from the national competent authorities regarding the intention of insurance companies to operate on the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria under the terms of freedom to provide services or the right of establishment, but 1 (one) notification was received regarding the withdrawal of an insurer based in Hungary to operate on the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria under the conditions of the freedom to provide services.

As of the end of January 2022, the number of insurance companies based in other EU and EEA Member States which have notified the FSC of their intention to operate on the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria under the terms of freedom to provide services, decreased to 417 (four hundred and seventeen).

In January 2022, the FSC received 16 (sixteen) notifications from the competent EU supervisory authorities regarding the intention of insurance intermediaries based in EU Member States to carry out insurance intermediation activities in the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria under the terms of freedom to provide services.

During the same period, 56 (fifty-six) notifications were received regarding the termination of insurance intermediation activities on the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria under the terms of the freedom to provide services. As a result, at then end of January 2022, the number of insurance intermediaries based in EU Member States that have stated their intention to carry out cross-border insurance intermediation activities in Bulgaria decreased to 2,128 (two thousand one hundred and twenty-eight).

In January 2022, the FSC notified the competent authority of the Republic of Portugal the intention of 1 (one) local insurer to extend the classes of insurance it offers in the territory of that Member State. As of the end of January 2022, the total number of local insurance companies which have stated their intention to carry out insurance activities on the territory of other Member States of the EU and the EEA under the terms of freedom to provide services, remains 17.

For the period 01.01.2022 – 31.01.2022 the FSC has not sent notifications to the national competent authorities of the EU Member States regarding the intention or withdrawal of the intention of the insurance intermediaries based in the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria to carry out cross-border activity.

At the end of the period, the total number of insurance intermediaries based in the Republic of Bulgaria which declared their intention to carry out insurance intermediation activities in the territory of EU Member States under the terms of freedom to provide services or the right of establishment, remains 55 (fifty five) intermediaries.

The updated lists of notifications are available on the FSC website in the section “Supervised entities” – “Notifications”.

The Financial Supervision Commission reminds all supervised entities that the deadline for payment in full of the annual fees for general financial supervision – processing of mandatory current and periodic information and for conducting inspections for 2022, as well as the fixed part of the fee under Section II, item I, line 36 of the Tariff for fees collected by the FSC – Annex to Art. 27, para. 1 of the Financial Supervision Commission Act is until January 31 of the current year.

The amount of the annual fees for general financial supervision is determined in Section II of the Tariff for fees collected by the Financial Supervision Commission – Annex to Art. 27, para. 1 of the Financial Supervision Commission Act (FSCA).

Bear in mind that interest for delay is due on the fee not paid within the deadline according to Art. 27, para 5 of FSCA. In case of non-payment of due fees, the Commission and its bodies may refuse to provide administrative services to the supervised entity until the fulfilment of their obligation to pay the fee, together with accrued interest for delay and costs of enforcement proceedings, in cases provided for in Art. 27, para. 5 of the FSCA.

Payments may be made at the cash desk of the Financial Supervision Commission or at the following bank account with the BNB:

IBAN: BG95BNBG96613000141501

BIC: BNBGBGSD

For additional information regarding the due fees and interest, before making the payment, you can contact the Finance and Accounting Department at tel. 02/94 04 691, 02/94 04 646 and /or 02/94 04 695.

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has launched a Common Supervisory Action (CSA) with National Competent Authorities (NCAs) on the valuation of UCITS and open-ended Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs) throughout the European Union.

 The common supervisory action will take place in 2022. The aim is to establish whether the organizational rules and legal framework on the principles and methodologies for valuing financial assets held by UCITS and AIFs are complied with, with a view to carrying out a fair and equitable valuation as in normal and under stressful market conditions, in particular with regard to the valuation of investments in illiquid assets.

 The full ESMA communication can be found at: https://www.esma.europa.eu/press-news/esma-news/esma-launches-common-supervisory-action-ncas-valuation-ucits-and-open-ended

The presented final data on the value and number of paid and filed claims under Motor Third Party Liability Insurance, including by risk groups, as of 31.12.2021 are published on the FSC website – section “Insurance Activity”, “Statistics”, “Non-life Insurance”, “2021”. The data do not include insurance contracts that are concluded by insurers under the right of establishment or under the terms of freedom to provide services.

The Deputy Chairperson of the Financial Supervision Commission, head of the Investment Supervision Department, was a special guest at the XXI award ceremony for investment firms and banks that achieved the highest results in 2021.

The award ceremony was officially opened by Mariya Filipova – Deputy Chairperson of the Financial Supervision Commission, Vasil Golemanski – Deputy Chairperson of the Board of BSE and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Manyu Moravenov – Executive Director of BSE.

In her greeting to the guests of the event, Ms. Filipova noted: “The past 2021 was full of challenges, but since every challenge is an opportunity for development, we have all witnessed the growing interest of investors in products and new opportunities offered on the Bulgarian capital market. The FSC, the BSE and the investment firms are involved in this process and are guided by one goal – to create a sustainable, stable and accessible market for investors.” In conclusion, she stressed that “the basis of balanced and beneficial interactions between the regulator and market participants is respect for the rights and obligations of all those involved in the process” and called for “the establishment of transparent and fair relations between all participants in the capital market.”

Ms. Mariya Filipova presented the award for investment firms with the most significant contribution in 2021 to Carol AD. Carol AD was also distinguished as the investment firm which achieved the highest turnover on the BSE in 2021 and the investment firm that concluded the most transactions on the BSE in 2021.

For the first time on the BSE presented an award for the most active bank-investment firm for 2021 the award went to Central Cooperative Bank AD. The public company Alterco AD, whose shares are traded on a regulated market, was awarded as the issuer with the most significant contribution to the development of the capital market last year. Yuliyan Sofroniev, founder and CEO of Biodit AD, the first company admitted to the market for growth of small and medium enterprises, was awarded as the person with the greatest contribution to the promotion of the capital market in 2021.

The ceremony was held under the motto “Fashion (evolution)” and her special guest was Sibina Grigorova – managing editor of the media “Boulevard Bulgaria” and co-host of the podcast “Life and Other Things”, which outlined the trends for 2022.