A general administrative act was issued – Decision No. 107-ОЗ of 02.03.2021 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, Decisions, 2021, March.

The Financial Supervision Commission notifies all insurance intermediaries that with a decision of a meeting of the FSC held on 23.02.2021, the following have been adopted:

1. Guidelines regarding the interpretation and application of Art. 292, para. 2 and 3, Art. 304, para. 2 and 3, Art. 316, para. 1, Art. 317, para. 3 and Art. 321b, para. 2 of the Insurance Code in connection with the provision, documentation and reporting of continuing professional training and development of distributors of insurance products, which were accepted in connection with numerous inquiries received by the Insurance Supervision Department from distributors of insurance products regarding documentation and reporting of continuing professional training and development of distributors of insurance products in accordance with the Insurance Code and with a view to unifying the procedure and manner of provision, documentation and reporting of continuing training.

2. Guidelines regarding the interpretation and application of Art. 290, para. 2 and 3 of the Insurance Code in relation to the handling of complaints from users of insurance services by insurance intermediaries, in accordance with the Guidelines on complaints handling by insurance intermediaries (EIOPA-BoS-13/164 EN) issued by the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA). The Financial Supervision Commission (FSC) has adopted a decision of 14.07.2014 that it intends to comply with the above guidelines. At the time of the decision, the repealed Insurance Code does not contain provisions that would allow the FSC to take action to implement the guidelines. The current IC contains the provision of Art. 290, which regulates complaints handling by insurance intermediaries. This provision contains general regulations, and the provision of Art. 9, para. 4 of the IC allows the FSC to adopt guidelines in connection with the application of the requirements of the EIOPA guidelines.

3. Practice regarding the establishment of facts and circumstances during on-site inspections of insurance intermediaries, adopted in view of the need to disclose the checklists used by the FSC to establish circumstances during on-site inspections of intermediaries; these lists will be publicly available to the supervised entities – insurance brokers, insurance agents and intermediaries offering insurance products as an ancillary activity.

 The Social Insurance Supervision Department of the FSC announced the preliminary results of the supplementary pension insurance activity for 2020. 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 as of 31.12.2020 have also been published.

 The total number of insured persons in the four types of pension funds as of 31.12.2020 is 4,819,139 people, increasing compared to 31.12.2019 by 1.18 per cent.

 In the system of the supplementary pension insurance as of 31.12.2020, BGN 17,294,294 thousand of net assets have been accumulated. Compared to the end of 2019, the net assets of pension funds increased by 10.67 percent.

 The total revenues of the pension insurance companies for 2020 amount to BGN 217,020 thousand and increased by 8.88 per cent compared to the reported revenues for 2019. The net financial result of the companies as of 31.12.2020 amounts to BGN 58,432 thousand

 Detailed information on the preliminary results of the supplementary pension insurance activity for 2020 and on the insured persons and the accumulated funds as of 31.12.2020 by sex and age are available in the section: Social Insurance activity/ Statistics / Statistics and analysis / 2020.

ESMA launches Common Supervisory Action with national competent authorities on the supervision of the costs and fees of Undertakings for the Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS) throughout the European Union

The joint supervisory action will take place in 2021. The purpose of this action is to establish whether the rules and legal framework regarding the obligation for investors not to be charged illegitimate costs are being complied with. Supervision of costs and fees is a key factor in ensuring investor confidence in the financial markets.

The full ESMA communication can be found at: ESMA launches a Common Supervisory Action with NCAs on the supervision of costs and fees of UCITS (europa.eu)