The largest insurer in Romania, Euroins, part of Bulgarian group Eurohold and having the EBRD among its shareholders, claims in a public statement sent to Romania’s lawmakers that it is subject to unfounded rumours that “hurt not only us but the entire market.”

The “unfounded rumours” were circulated by, among others, prime minister Nicolae Ciuca and head of senior ruling party (PSD) Marcel Ciolacu, who were both speaking about an imminent new bankruptcy in the insurance sector.

During consultations on this topic, PM Ciuca reportedly told lawmakers and Government members that either Euroins enters insolvency or the market supervisory body ASF asks it to increase capital [‘provides it space for recapitalisation’].

After the financial market supervisor, ASF failed to prevent the failure of City Insurance despite explicit evidence of fraud received years in advance, the broad expectations for early precautionary measures taken by the same market supervisory body in the case of Euroins are low. As investigative journalist Catalin Tolontan repeatedly explained, there is evidence that ASF knew about the fraud at City Insurance (tens of millions of euros claimed to be in accounts that actually never existed) and did nothing about it.

So far, some EUR 150 mln was paid on behalf of City Insurance from the buffer formed by insurance firms for emergency situations (FGA), which leaves the buffer almost empty (EUR 36 mln).

Euroins claims it’s different in its case, and the lawmakers should better investigate the previous bankruptcy cases first.

ASF will deliver its report on Euroins on March 16 in front of the lawmakers.

COTAR, an association of road transportation companies, most likely based on data leaked from ASF, claims that Euroins is sending large amounts of money abroad.

iulian@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Euroins)