During the fourth quarter of year 2004, a total number of 26,833 insured persons, and throughout the whole year a total number of  97,075  insured persons, availed themselves of their right to change their participation in the supplementary pension insurance funds and to transfer funds from their individual accounts.
During the fourth quarter of year 2004, the funds transferred from one to another respective fund amounted to BGN 9,500 thousand, and for the year these amounted to BGN 39,437 thousand.
Please kindly find the results from the change in participation and the transfer of funds from one pension fund to another for the fourth quarter of year 2004 and for the whole year 2004 under the Statistics Rubric, Insurance Market Statistics for 2004 Section.

1. The Commission approved a prospectus for secondary public offering of a corporate bonds issue to the amount of EUR 1,000,000 (say: one million euro), allocated in one thousand (1,000) pieces of the following type: ordinary, registered, dematerialized, interest – bearing, fully transferable, secured corporate bonds, having a nominal and issue value of EUR 1,000 (say: one thousand euro) each, and original maturity of thirty-six (36) months, having floating interest rate to the amount of the six-month EURIBOR plus 5.5 % on an annual basis, and interest payments every six (6) months, issued by HypoCredit AD, Sofia.
The Commission entered HypoCredit AD as an issuer and the issue specified above into the Public Companies and Other Issuers of Securities Register.
2. The Commission issued a temporary prohibition on the publication of a tender offer submitted by Chimimport AD, Sofia, for the purchase of shares of Prospecting and Extraction of Crude Oil and Gas AD, Sofia, from the company’s other shareholders through the Investment Intermediary Real Finance AD, Varna.
3. The Commission approved amendments to the Articles of Association of BenchMark Fund Estates REIT. 
4. The Commission issued a licence to Elana High Yield Fund AD to perform the following activities as an open-end investment company: investment in securities of funds raised through public offering of shares where observing the risk allocation principle.
5. The Commission adopted at first reading a Draft Ordinance on Introducing Amendments to Ordinance No. 12 on the method and procedure for establishing the minimum yield when managing the assets of supplementary compulsory pension insurance funds in order to cover the difference up to the minimum yield and on formation and utilization of the reserves allocated to guarantee the minimum yield.
The draft shall be forwarded in order to be coordinated with the interested persons and organizations and shall be published on the Commission’s website.

The Financial Supervision Commission adopted the following resolutions at a meeting held on February 15, 2005:
1. The Commission imposed a temporary prohibition on a tender offer submitted by ET Zaara – Yancho Ivanov, Stara Zagora, for the purchase of shares of Parvomai BT AD, Parvomai, from the company’s other shareholders through the Investment Intermediary Aval In AD, Sofia.
2. The Commission imposed a temporary prohibition on a tender offer submitted by Bulgaria – Tex AD, Svilrengrad, and Bulgaria 2000 AD, Kazanlak, for the purchase of shares of Bulgaria – K AD, Kazanlak, from the company’s other shareholders through the Investment Intermediary Bulbrokers AD, Sofia.
3. The Commission imposed a temporary prohibition on a tender offer submitted by Lukoil Europe Holdings B.V., Holland, for the purchase of shares of Lukoil Neftochim Burgas AD, Burgas, from the company’s other shareholders through the Investment Intermediary Raiffeisenbank (Bulgaria) EAD, Sofia.
4. The Commission approved a prospectus for public offering of 7,150,000 pieces of shares, having a nominal value of BGN 1 each, issued by BenchMark Fund Estates REIT as a result of increase in the company’s share capital to the amount of BGN 7,800,000. The capital increase shall be performed through issuance of 650,000 rights, each one entitling the shareholders to the right to subscribe for 11 shares of the capital increase.
5. The Commission adopted a Procedure for holding examinations to gain the right to perform activities as a broker or an investment consultant in year 2005. The Procedure for holding the examinations, as well as the topical synopsis for the examinations, shall be published on the Commission’s website.
The Commission fixed dates for holding the examinations as follows:
May 28, 2005 – Examination to gain the right to perform activities as a broker
May 29, 2005 – Examination to gain the right to perform activities as an investment consultant
6. The Commission adopted Regulations on Introducing Amendments to the Rules Governing the Organization and the Activities of the Guarantee Fund.
By adopting the Law on Introducing Amendments to the Insurance Act in October last year, the status of the Guarantee Fund /GF/ was also amended. The adoption of Rules Governing the Organization and the Activities of the Guarantee Fund, as well as the current supervision on conformity with the law, which is exercised by the Commission over the fund, fall within the scope of the Financial Supervision Commission’s prerogatives. The said fund is managed by a managing board comprising a chairperson and four members, elected by the Management Board of the Association of Bulgarian Insurers /ABI/ among representatives of the insurers who conduct activities on the conclusion of the compulsory Civil Liability insurances with the owners, users, holders and drivers of vehicles, as well as Accident insurance. The new points introduced under the Rules are as follows:
– The GF’s funds, decreased by the reserve for forthcoming payments, may not be less than BGN 3 mln.; when the Fund’s funds drop below this minimum amount for more than a month, the deficit shall be made up for with funds of the insurers who conclude compulsory insurances;
– The timeframe for delivering a judgment on a claim may not be longer than 30 days, where in the case of expiration of the said timeframe, default interest shall be due to the damaged person from the date, on which the timeframe for delivering the judgment on the claim expired.
The new Draft Rules were submitted by the ABI, amended by the experts with the FSC, adopted on today’s session of the Commission, and is to be promulgated in the State Gazette.

The Deputy Chairman of FSC, head of Social Insurance Supervision Division,   approved Requirements for the Content of the Advertising and Written Information Materials of the Pension Funds and Pension Insurance Companies.
These requirements are related to the materials issued and distributed by the company itself, and designed to provide guidance and assistance  to present and future insured persons in their choice of a pension insurance company. The same requirements are applicable in regard to the materials that are provided by the pension insurance company in case of concluding an agreement for supplementary pension insurance, or in case of submitting an application for transfer from one fund to another. The requirements concern also the content of the internet sites of the pension insurance companies, as well the advertising and other information materials of the companies.

The Commission approved the request of  Special Investment Purposes Company “TBI – BAK – Property” for a change of its  serving company. The new company is “TMF Services”.

By 25th May 2016 the participants of the Insurance and Pension funds sector reviews had to inform the FSC about their choice for Indipendent External Reviewer acording to the metodologies published on 13 May 2016.

In that regard, FSC would like to inform all the participants of the reviews of Insurance and Pension funds sector that by 31 May 2016 they shall provide FSC with all the relevant information regarding the selection of Indipendent External Reviewers including details about the teams selected for the review.

The three-day official study visit of the representatives of the Jordanian Securities Commission to the Financial Supervision Commission was carried out under the TAIEX Instrument (Technical Assistance and Information Exchange Instrument) managed by the Directorate-General Enlargement of the European Commission.

The Jordanian institution was established in 1997 as an autonomous administrative body which oversees the capital market in the Kingdom of Jordan. The mission and goals of the Jordanian Securities Commission as well as those of the Financial Supervision Commission of Bulgaria are the creation and maintenance of an effective, fair and transparent capital market. Its main tasks are the protection of the interests of investors, the protection of the capital market from different types of risks, strengthening the confidence in the market, the improvement of local legislation and the Commission’s activities. The supervised entities of the Jordanian Commission are the Amman Stock Exchange, the Securities Depository, mutual funds and investment firms. In 2008, the Securities Commission of Jordan adopted the multilateral Memorandum of Understanding of IOSCO.

Bearing this in mind, the cooperation between the two institutions has solid foundations and the experience of the FSC as an institution within an EU Member-State is extremely important and useful for the Jordanian experts.

During their visit, the guests got acquainted with the experience of our supervisory authority regarding its practice of separating of accounts, content of contracts with customers, separation of client assets in the event of bankruptcy, bank settlement of accounts and the control exercised by the FSC. The Jordanian experts were informed of the relations with investment intermediaries, as well as with the types of statements that they provide the FSC when they have to perform the separation of accounts. The guests were presented with case studies on the topics discussed. This study visit has enabled not only the representatives of the Jordanian Securities Commission, but also their Bulgarian counterparts, to discuss new perspectives, to identify best practices and to be better prepared for the challenges that arise in the global financial world.

The Bulgarian Financial Supervision Commission has gained considerable experience in European projects which deal with training and strengthening the administrative capacity of countries on the Balkans (Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro), but had not yet had the opportunity to meet colleagues from the Kingdom of Jordan. Hence, this visit was seen as an opportunity to expand our international contacts in the Middle East.

The meeting held on July 6th, organized by the Financial Supervision Commission in connection with the working visit of Mr. Patrick Hoedjes, Chair of EIOPA IT & Data Committee, and Mr. Kitzmantel, IT Project Manager, was attended by representatives of insurance companies, members of the Association of Bulgarian Insurers and experts from the FSC. The purpose of the working visit of the representatives of one of the four European Supervisory Authorities was to acquaint the audience with the framework, mandate, organization, subgroups, activities and the results that are being expected of the EIOPA IT and Data Committee, including EIOPA IT and Data Strategy Specifications and Implementation Plan.
In the first part of the meeting, the employees of the Information Departments of the insurance companies, committed to the processing and submission of data to the FSC, who were present were introduced by the European experts to the new format, XBRL, in which the information for supervisory purposes will be presented after the entry into force of Solvency II Directive. The second part of the presentation was aimed at the FSC’s staff exercising supervisory activities in connection with the alignment of EIOPA IT & Data Implementation Plan with the National Supervisory Authority’s objectives and the Bulgarian FSC’s involvement in the works of ITDC.
The one-day visit of the European experts contributed greatly to raising the awareness and the competence of the Bulgarian specialists from the insurance industry and the Financial Supervision Commission in connection with the higher criteria and the forthcoming implementation of Solvency II Directive.

The Commission approved a recovery program of investment intermediary Argo Invest. The program is design to help the investment intermediary to adjust its capital adequacy and liquidity according to the requirements of Ordinance N6 for the  capital adequacy and liquidity of the investment intermediaries.