The Financial Supervision Commission (FSC) informs all interested parties that at a meeting held on 26.10.2021 a decision was made to extend the deadline for submitting applications for admission to the examination for professional qualification of an insurance broker in accordance with Ordinance No. 28 of 10.05.2006 of the FSC, which will be held on 27.11.2021

The deadline for submitting applications has been extended to 01.11.2021, inclusive.

All interested persons should submit an application for admission to the examination according to an approved template, together with the attached documents under Art. 3, para. 2 of Ordinance No. 28 of 10.05.2006, namely: police clearance certificate or other similar document certifying the circumstances under Art. 303, para. 1, item 1 of the IC; a notarized copy of a diploma of higher education obtained in the country, respectively a legalized translation of a diploma of higher education obtained in a higher school outside the Republic of Bulgaria, to certify the circumstances under Art. 303, para. 2 of the IC and a declaration of the circumstances under Art. 303, para. 1, items 2 – 4 of the IC, according to a template.

Applications can be submitted every working day at the FSC office or signed with an electronic signature at the following e-mail address: delovodstvo@fsc.bg. A fee in the amount of BGN 450.00 (four hundred and fifty) shall be paid for taking the exam, based on Section I, item VI, line 15 in connection with Section IV, item IV of the Tariff of Fees Collected by the FSC under the Financial Supervision Commission Act, to the following bank account: IBAN: BG 95 BNBG 9661 3000 1415 01, BIC of BNB -Central office: BNBGBGSD.

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

The topics covered by the examination are published on the FSC’s website, in the section “Supervised entities”, “Qualification examinations”, “Insurance brokers examinations”, where the list of admitted candidates will be announced, as well as all other announcements related to the conduct on this exam.

The examination will be conducted in accordance with all adopted anti-epidemic measures. In connection with Order No. РД-01-856 of 19.10.2021, supplemented on 21.10.2021, of the Minister of Health (MH) and in particular with item 2 and item 31, the admitted candidates should meet the requirement to be vaccinated or have recovered from COVID-19 or have a negative test result, certified by valid documents for vaccination, recovery or testing within the meaning of Order No. РД-01-733 of 27.08.2021 of the Ministry of Health.

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 Financial Supervision Commission (FSC) reminds all supervised entities that the deadline for paying in full the annual fees for general financial supervision, including for processing the mandatory current and periodic information, and for conducting inspections (annual fees) for 2021 is until 31 January 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.

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

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.