The rating committee of Expert-Rating RA has withdrawn the financial stability rating of the insurer PROSTO-insurance PJSC (Kiev) according to the national scale, according to the website of RA.
The decision has been taken due to revocation of the company’s license for financial services provision by the National Bank of Ukraine on April 27 due to the fact that the insurer’s ownership structure does not meet the requirements of Ukrainian legislation.
The Agency informs that JSC PROSTO-insurance has not provided it with information on non-compliance of its ownership structure with the legislation requirements. The Agency also notes that from April 28, 2023 JSC “PROSTO-insurance” loses the right to: conclude contracts (to prolong the term of the existing agreements), conclude the contracts (to make changes to existing contracts), which will increase the liabilities to the clients. The company continues to fulfill all its obligations under the insurance contracts, which were concluded before the decision of the NBU came into force.
As reported, according to the last submitted accounts for 2022, at the end of the year the amount of insurance premiums of the IC was UAH 204,931 mln, assets – UAH 568,122 mln, insurance reserves – UAH 175,885 mln.
The company’s market share in insurance premiums was 0.6% of the total market (including civil liability insurance of vehicle owners (under internal contracts) – 1,52%).
IC PROSTO-Insurance was registered in 1997. It specializes on provision of services in the field of risk insurance.
According to the NCSSM as of the fourth quarter of 2022, 99,998% of the insurer’s shares belong to the company Lavidia Limited (Cyprus).
The average insurance premium for compulsory motor third party liability insurance (MTPL) in January-March this year amounted to UAH 1.051 thousand, which is by 15.7% more than during the same period last year and by 36.8% more than in the first quarter of 2021, according to the website of Motor (Transport) Insurance Bureau of Ukraine (MTIBU). It is also noted that the average amount of payment has increased to UAH 29.020 thousand, or 30.6% compared with the first quarter of 2022, and by 44% compared with January-March 2021.
As it was reported, in Q1 2023 there were almost 1,6 mln. contracts on MTPL insurance (+14,1% and “minus” 17% respectively).
The amount of insurance payments amounted to 1,7 billion UAH (increase by 32,1% and 13,5%).
The insurance companies settled 31 thousand claims by making insurance payments (decrease by 1,7% and 27% in comparison with the figures of the similar periods of two previous years) and paid almost UAH 0,9 bn. to the victims of traffic accidents (increase by 28,4% and 4,4%).
At that the number of electronic CMTPL insurance contracts in January-March 2023 exceeded 1 mln. The share of electronic contracts in the total number of contracts amounted to 64,4%, in the total sum of premiums – 71,1%. These are the highest indices since the introduction of the electronic policy system.
The number of claims settled according to the simplified system without calling the police – “euro-protocol” increased in comparison with first quarter of 2022 by 2,9%, up to 2,7 thousand pieces. As compared to January-March 2021, the index dropped by 17.8%.
The part of claims settled by means of European prototype in total number of settled insured events continues to grow steadily: from 20,5% in Q1-2022 up to 22,5% for three months of the current year.
The amount of payments on euro-protocols has grown by 40,9% in January-March of the last year and made UAH 202,7mln. The share of claims settled by “Europrotocols” in the total amount of paid claims reached 41,0%, which is a record level.
PJSC “Insurance company “Prestige” (Kiev) has finished January-March this year with net premiums of UAH 11.773 million, which is 3.6% less than during the same period a year earlier, according to the insurer in the information disclosure system of the National Commission on Securities and Stock Market (NKTSBFR).
According to it, the gross premiums of IC for the first quarter decreased by 18%, to 15,5 mln UAH, transferred to reinsurers increased by 4,3% – to 5,6 mln UAH.
The company paid out UAH 2,6 mln (-19,1%) in the Q1 of the current year. Administrative expenses increased to UAH 820 ths (+16.5%), and sales expenses increased to UAH 8.238 mln (+3.2%).
Pre-tax financial result made UAH 476 th. (-15.3%), net profit – UAH 15 th. (-44.5%).
Private JSC “IC “Prestige” has been established in 2012. Shareholders are individuals – citizens of Ukraine. The company has 14 licenses for voluntary insurance and 11 licenses for obligatory insurance.
The number of outlets of Ukrainian banks in the first quarter of 2023 decreased by 2.7%, or by 147, to 5.192 thousand, according to the website of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU).
According to it, in January-March this year, most of all outlets closed Raiffeisen Bank – 27 and A-Bank – 10, then in their networks were 323 and 205 outlets, respectively.
Ukrbudinvestbank reduced the number of outlets by 6 – to 44, Sense Bank and FUIB – by 5, to 138 and 221, respectively, and Ukrsibbank – by 3, to 230.
Among the smaller banks the largest decrease of the network was registered in the bank “Clearing House” – from 5 to 3 branches, Evroprombank – from 6 to 5, and in the bank “Concorde” – from 14 to 12.
Taskombank opened the most number of outlets in the first quarter of this year – 3, increasing their number to 93.
Kredobank and Cominbank added 2 branches to their networks, increasing their number to 67 and 52 correspondingly.
On the whole, the pace of reduction in the number of bank branches in the first quarter of this year slowed down to 2.7%, as in the fourth quarter of the previous year it was 3.3%, in the third – 7.9% and in the second – 8.1%.
This is largely due to the fact that state banks have probably heeded the call of the National Bank, which in February this year suggested that the Finance Ministry, as the owner of state banks, introduce a moratorium on reducing their branch network during the war.
Over the past year, it was reduced in Oshchadbank by 420 business units – to 1.182 thousand, PrivatBank – by 287, to 1.21 thousand, Ukrgazbank – by 51, to 217, and Ukreximbank – by 5, to 48. In the first quarter of this year, Oshchadbank even opened one branch, while PrivatBank closed only one.
According to the NBU, as of April 1 this year in Ukraine, the largest branch networks owned by PrivatBank – 1209, Oschadbank – 1183, Raiffeisen Bank – 323, Ukrsibbank – 230, FUIB – 221, Ukrgasbank – 217, A-Bank – 205, Accordbank – 143, Credit Agricole Bank – 141 and Sense Bank – 138.
State banks at the beginning of April 2023 accounted for 51.2% of all bank branches in Ukraine, which corresponds to the situation before the war, although at the end of last year their share decreased slightly – to 49.8%.
As earlier reported, the number of structural subdivisions of Ukrainian banks in 2022 decreased by 20.2%, or by 1,349 branches, to 5.336 thousand.
Ukraine’s population as of the end of 2022 was about 31.4 million people, of which about 1.15 million live in the temporarily occupied territories, according to experts at the Ukrainian Health Center (UHC).
“The war has resulted in an unprecedented migration crisis and large-scale internal displacements. UCH estimates that at the end of 2022, Ukraine’s population was about 31.4 million people. Of these, 1.15 million people live in the temporarily Russian-occupied territories seized after the start of the invasion,” the center’s report on the health care system after the start of the active invasion states.
The center’s experts also note that in the year after the start of the full-scale invasion, the system of outpatient and specialized medical care has fully recovered, in contrast to the system of primary medical care.
“The consumption of medical services at various levels declined in the first months after the invasion. However, outpatient and specialized medical care gradually recovered to prewar levels during 2022. Primary medical care has not resumed and requires support,” the center’s experts stressed.
Kiev-headquartered investment firm Horizon Capital has raised $254 million in a new Horizon Capital Growth Fund IV (HCGF IV, the “Fund”), exceeding its $250 million target, the company said in a statement Friday evening.
“Today Horizon Capital and our esteemed group of investors made history as the first and largest fund raised since the start of a full-scale invasion,” the statement quoted company founder and CEO Olena Kosharnaya as saying from a private signing ceremony with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and international investors from the United States, EU and international institutions.
In January this year, she told Interfax-Ukraine news agency that after raising $125 million in the first round of HCGF IV formation in September last year, it was planned to increase its size to $200 million by the end of March, and tentatively by mid-summer to completely close the formation of the fund in the originally planned amount of $250 million.
As noted in the message of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), which contributed $30 million to the fund at the initial stage of its formation, it has increased its contribution to $60 million, becoming the largest participant in the fund.
“We urge other investors to follow IFC’s lead and not let the newspaper headlines fool you. Financing sectors that others are hesitant to invest in can create tremendous investment opportunities with equally significant potential returns,” Kosharna said.
Among the new investors in HCGF IV, according to releases by Horizon Capital and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the Société de Promotion et de Participation pour la Coopération Économique (Proparco), the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), Swedfund International AB (Swedfund), the Finnish Industrial Cooperation Fund (Finnfund) and the Danish Investment Fund for Developing Countries (IFU).
“In the context of the war with Ukraine, HCGF IV’s ambitions are unprecedented, and we are encouraged by its fundraising success,” Hassan El Khatib, managing director of equities, said in an EBRD release.
In addition to the EBRD, which contributed $40 million to HCGF IV in the first phase, its investors also included Deutsche Investitions-und Entwicklungsgesellschaft (DEG) and its subsidiary KfW Group, the Dutch Enterprise Development Bank (FMO), the Swiss Investment Fund for Emerging Markets (SIFEM) ), Western NIS Enterprise Fund and Zero Gap Fund, formed in collaboration between The Rockefeller Foundation and John D. and Catherine T MacArthur Foundation.
“The fact of exceeding the original ambitious goal of $250 million demonstrates a high level of investor interest in attractive opportunities in high-growth, high-impact technology and export-oriented companies, including those in the light and food processing, innovative consumer products, fintech, etc. sectors,” noted Horizon Capital.
It is also noted that HCGF IV was the first fund in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and one of about ten funds in the world to achieve 2X Flagship Fund status, including one of only two that are founded and led by women. The 2X Challenge was launched at the 2018 G7 Summit as a bold commitment by companies to invest in women in the world and promote gender equality in finance.
IFC specified that the fund would invest $10-30 million to acquire minority stakes in 10-15 mid-cap and $50-150 million companies in Ukraine and Moldova. HCGF IV is the $200 million successor to EEGF III, which was completed in 2017, and will follow a similar investment strategy focused on IT services and products as well as e-commerce, innovative consumer products and fintech, according to corporate materials.
IFC recalls having invested in EEGF III and EEGF II (2008), while EBRD was an investor in EEGF III and EEGF II as well as HCGF II.
Horizon Capital is a large investment company managing 6 private equity funds (more than 40 institutional investors) with assets of $1.4 billion, among which are WNISEF ($150 million), Emerging Europe Growth Fund (EEGF, $132 million), EEGF II ($370 million) and EEGF III ($200 million), as well as HCGF II ($258.3 million). The funds of these funds were invested in more than 160 companies, which employed more than 77 thousand people, in Ukraine and Moldova.
