
The Parliament approved in final reading the draft law on insurance and reinsurance activities.
This draft law, adopted by the Parliament in the first reading back in December 2020, relays the provisions of the European insurance directive and, in particular, the requirements of Solvency II. The document partially repeats the current rules of regulation and supervision, and contains new requirements for capital adequacy, corporate governance and risk management in insurance, as well as obliges insurance/reinsurance companies to ensure transparency of their activities by providing the public with necessary information about their solvency and financial condition. The draft law regulates rules of registration, authorization, licensing, as well as insurance/reinsurance activity and intermediary activity in this area in Moldova. Also it determines prudential requirements for insurance market participants and rules for supervision of insurance/reinsurance groups, order of creation, reorganization and liquidation of insurance companies and insurance/reinsurance intermediaries. Regimes for troubled companies, including the procedure for their reorganization and liquidation are stipulated, the competence and authority of the National Commission for the Financial Market (CNPF) and the order of interaction of the regulator with other institutions are defined. The draft law provides the increase of the license cost for insurance companies (up to 50 thousand lei) and gradual increase of their authorized capital. Insurance/reinsurance companies must provide the minimum capital from 2.2 million to 6.4 million euros (equivalent in MDL), depending on the category and class of insurance, while for some categories of insurance will be applied a higher coefficient. The companies will be able to comply with the minimum capital requirements in stages: in the first year after the entry into force of the document - 50%, in the second year - 75%, in the third - 100%. For intermediary activity in insurance the license fee will be of 7 thousand lei, the brokers also will have to increase the authorized capital up to 400 thousand lei. Also, the competence of the CNPF as a supervisory body will be expanded. Thus, there were regulated measures/sanctions which the regulator will be able to apply if market participants do not comply with requirements for technical reserves, capital and solvency. The draft law shall take effect 12 months after its publication in Monitorul Oficial (the Official Journal of Moldova) and for certain provisions a transitional period of entry into force is provided. // 08.04.2022 - InfoMarket