The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has included two companies Risk End Life Consulting LLC and Universal Insurance Brokers and Consultants LLC into the State Register of Insurance and Reinsurance Brokers.
According to the NBU website, the decision was made on March 8
Risk End Life Consulting LLC was registered in Kiev in July 2009. The authorized capital is UAH 63 mln.
LLC Insurance Broker “Universal Insurance Brokers and Consultants” was registered in Kiev in March 2010. Authorized capital is UAH 20 th.
According to the NBU data as of March 1, 2024 there were 37 insurance and reinsurance brokers registered in Ukraine.
The U.S. Department of Energy has sharply raised its forecast for the price of Brent crude oil for both 2024 and 2025 due to the extension of production restrictions by OPEC+ countries. According to a new report by the Energy Information Administration (EIA), in 2024, the forecast for the price of Brent crude oil has been raised from $82.42/bbl to $87/bbl.
“As OPEC+ continues to cut oil production, we have lowered our 2024 global oil production growth forecast. The lower growth contributes to a significant reduction in global oil inventories in our forecast for the second quarter of 2024,” the report says.
The oil price forecast for 2025 has been raised from $79.48/bbl to $84.8/bbl.
Insurance company Busin (Kyiv) has collected UAH 293.238 mln of gross premiums in 2023, that is by 10.63% less than a year earlier, the rating agency Standard-Rating reported in the information on updating the credit rating/rating of financial stability of the insurer at the level of “uaAA+” on the national scale on the basis of the analysis of its statements for the specified period.
According to the report, receipts from individuals for this period have grown by 7,19% – to UAH 1,446 mln, and from reinsurers, on the contrary, have decreased by 7,39% – to UAH 43,182 mln.
Insurance payments sent to reinsurers for 2023 decreased by 10.62% compared to 2022 – to UAH 193.951 million. Despite such decrease, the ratio of reinsurers’ participation in insurance premiums remained almost unchanged – at the level of 66.14%.
Net premiums for the year decreased by 10.65% – to UAH 99.287 mln, while earned premiums increased by 30.89% – to UAH 114.479 mln.
For 2023, the company paid UAH 1,317 mln of insurance payments and indemnities to its clients, which is 91,70% more than for 2022. Thus, the level of payments has increased by 0,24 p.p. – to 0,45%.
The financial result from operating activity of IC “Busin” for 2023 has grown to UAH 65,143 mln, and net profit has amounted to UAH 55,218 mln.
Assets of the insurer on January 1, 2024 have decreased by 4,04% – to UAH 586,909 mln, shareholders’ equity has increased by 20,88% – to UAH 243,016 mln, liabilities have decreased by 16,25% – to UAH 343,893 mln, cash and cash equivalents have increased by 25,97% – to UAH 265,873 mln.
According to the information provided by RA IC “Busin”, as of January 1, 2024 has complied with the criteria of liquidity, profitability and quality of insurer assets, solvency and capital adequacy norms, riskiness norms of operations and asset quality norms.
IC Busin was registered in February, 1993. It specializes on risky types of insurance. It is a member of a number of professional and branch associations – League of Insurance Organizations of Ukraine, National Club of Insurance Payouts, International Association of Aviation Insurers (UA), Nuclear Insurance Pool, American Chamber in Ukraine, British Business Club.
Payment system NovaPay remained the leader in transfers of funds within the country by system in 2023, but the share of transfers made through it again decreased – to 32% from 35% at the end of the first half of 2023 and 45% for May-December 2022, according to the data of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU)
Payment system Moneycom LLC “Swift Garant” for the year increased its market share to 17.57% from 2.51% in May-December 2022, jumping from seventh place in the ranking to second place, which was previously occupied by the payment system LEO, whose registration was revoked by the NBU in March last year.
In the second half of 2023, Moneycom also surpassed Financial World Ukrainian Payment System LLC, increasing its market share by 5.2 percentage points.
PrivatBank’s PrivatMoney moved from sixth to third place in the ranking, with its market share increasing from 2.61% in 2022 to 15.98% by the end of 2023. In particular, PrivatMoney’s market share increased by 10.3 p. p. in the second half of last year. This allowed the payment systems City 24 FC Phoenix, Financial World and Postal Transfer of Ukrposhta JSC, whose registration was revoked by the National Bank in the second half of 2023, to be ahead of the payment systems City 24 FC Phoenix, Financial World and Postal Transfer of Ukrposhta JSC.
As a result, “Financial World” for the year fell in the rating from the third place to the fourth, although its share increased from 12.72% to 15.00% (with a slight decrease of 0.6 p.p. in the second half of the year).
Rounding out the top five with 5.35% is Platiservice payment system of the same name LLC, which jumped from eighth place in the ranking in 2022 (1.74%). The company managed to bypass City 24 FC Phoenix, which took the seventh position with a share of 4.16% in 2023, positioned between Postal Transfer (5.34%) and LEO (1.48%).
In terms of participants, the share of NovaPay decreased to 32.23% (from 45.46% in 2022 and 35.58% in the first half of 2023), from fifth to second position went Swift Guarant, whose share increased from 3.79% to 20.66%, from fourth to third – FC Kontraktovy Dom with an increase in share from 9.92% to 13.06%, from sixth to fourth – PrivatBank with an increase in share from 2.61% to 12.36%. Ukrposhta with 5.35% (12.22%), which was second a year earlier, rounds out the top five.
According to the NBU, 844.55 million domestic transfers worth UAH 728.01 billion (or $19.9 billion in equivalent) were made in 2023, the average amount of one transfer within Ukraine amounted to UAH 862. For comparison for May-December 2022 transfers were 446.35 million for 292.6 billion UAH.
It is indicated that as of January 1 of this year, activities in the country were carried out by 35 systems of funds transfer, of which – 26 resident and nine non-resident.
On March 12, the NGO “Life” together with researchers from the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) presented the results of the all-Ukrainian survey “Use of Tobacco and Nicotine Products and Attitudes Towards Anti-Tobacco Measures” conducted in November-December 2023 as part of the regular Omnibus.
According to the survey, 30% of the population in Ukraine currently use tobacco or nicotine products: 43% of men and 20% of women. Daily smokers account for 24.5% of Ukrainians (36% of men, 15% of women).
Surveys show that consumption of tobacco products in Ukraine was actively declining until 2017. However, after the introduction of aggressive advertising of heating tobacco products, e-cigarettes and nicotine products, consumption of tobacco products in Ukraine has not decreased for 7 years. If we look at the structure of smoking, the consumption of tobacco and nicotine products among Ukrainian women has doubled in 7 years. According to the GATS survey, in 2017, 7% of Ukrainian women were daily tobacco users and 1% of e-cigarettes users, and today this figure is 15%. Tobacco and nicotine use is most widespread among young women aged 18-29 years – 37%, of whom 28.4% use it daily and 8.4% use it occasionally. This means that one in three young women is currently addicted to nicotine.
Among daily users, 79% smoke manufactured cigarettes. This is followed by electrically heated tobacco products (18%) and e-cigarettes (14%). The use of HTPs and e-cigarettes is more common among younger respondents: 37% of young people aged 18-29 use electrically heated tobacco products, and 36% use e-cigarettes. Women are more likely than men to use electrically heated tobacco products (27% vs. 13%) and e-cigarettes (25% vs. 11%).
“The survey results demonstrate a clear correlation between the answers of respondents who were most exposed to tobacco and nicotine advertising and the prevalence of use of these products among the youngest population group. Also, for the first time, we observe parity between tobacco and nicotine users among men and women in the 18-29 age group, but while the indicators for men remain stable, there has been a significant increase for the female population,” said Oleksandr Shcherbatiuk, researcher, project coordinator at the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology.
The survey showed that it is the young population that notices tobacco and nicotine advertising the most – 73% of young people aged 18-29. Further, this figure decreases with each age group and falls to 19% among respondents aged 70 and older. This confirms that tobacco and nicotine advertising is aimed at the youngest age group of men and women.
Display of tobacco and nicotine products in points of sale is the main channel for advertising these products – 32% of respondents said they notice it. Banner ads on the Internet (23%) and personal pages on social media (20%) are in second place. Outdoor advertising was seen by 14%. Most often, respondents saw ads for traditional and heated cigarettes (35%), 31% saw ads for tobacco heating devices, 24% saw ads for e-cigarettes, and 10% saw ads for nicotine snus.
“The tobacco industry is bringing back the tobacco epidemic among young people. Tobacco companies’ marketing preys on young women and men. The health of the population and, above all, children and youth is a matter of national security for the restoration of Ukraine’s human capital. Public support for anti-tobacco regulations of up to 80% is a guideline for the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to protect Ukrainians from tobacco and nicotine,” said Dmytro Kupyra, Executive Director of the NGO “Life”.
Most Ukrainians support anti-tobacco measures to prevent young people from starting to use tobacco.
The vast majority of respondents support the ban on advertising of brands of electronic smoking devices and e-cigarettes (79%) and the ban on the visible placement of tobacco packs in retail outlets (77%). Two-thirds of respondents support a ban on flavored tobacco products (67%) and tax increases to reduce the affordability of tobacco products for children (65%). The introduction of standardized packaging is supported by 61% of respondents.
“At the end of 2021, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the Anti-Tobacco Law 1978-IX, which implemented the key provisions of European Integration Directive 2014/40/EU. We can already see the results of the adopted changes with the appearance of updated health warnings on cigarette packs. Despite these efforts, the tobacco industry continues to attract young people. With the absolute support of citizens, we will propose to the Parliament the following package of proposals to protect the health of children and youth from illicit tobacco and nicotine products. First of all, it is necessary to eliminate all forms of advertising, including the visible placement of tobacco and nicotine products in points of sale, and to ban flavoring (fruit) additives that are not typical for tobacco products. Such steps are in line with the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and Ukraine’s European integration commitments,” said Lada Bulakh, MP, member of the Committee on National Health, Medical Assistance and Health Insurance.
The survey results revealed the key reasons for the spread of the tobacco and nicotine epidemic in Ukraine and demonstrated significant public support for the immediate implementation of legislative measures to protect the young population. Smoking in Ukraine is the cause of 130 thousand premature deaths annually from diseases such as heart attack, stroke, cancer and others.
The State Property Fund (SPF) of Ukraine has put up Kholminsky distillery in Chernihiv region for privatization, the press service of the agency reports.
It is specified that the starting price of the lot is UAH 15.35 million. The auction will be held in the Prozorro.Sale system on March 20, with bids accepted until March 19.
Kholma Distillery is an operating enterprise located in the village of Kholma, Koryukiv district, Chernihiv region. Its main activity is distillation, rectification and mixing of alcoholic beverages.
According to the terms of the sale, the buyer of the distillery is obliged to pay off overdue accounts payable for goods, works and services in the amount of UAH 3.5 million and prevent dismissal of employees for six months.
Construction of Kholminsky distillery began in Soviet times. Since 1951, the company has been accepting potatoes for processing. In the 60s of the last century, the plant held a leading position in the industry. Today, it is in need of reconstruction and investment.
The unified property complex includes 101 registered real estate units: production, warehouse, administrative buildings and structures, transformer substations, artesian wells, grain tanks, railroad tracks, etc. The state-owned enterprise has 16 vehicles and special equipment. The distillery also owns 192 items of movable property, including equipment, furniture, inventory, computer and office equipment, etc.
The total area of the six land plots under the complex is 28.36 hectares.
As of October 1, 2023, a part of the company’s real estate with an area of 727.9 sq m was leased. According to the agreement, the lease term is until May 9, 2024.
In addition, the company leased 26 units of technological equipment and a 0.04-hectare land plot in Novhorod-Siverskyi, Chernihiv region, for a period of 30 years.
At the same time, the state-owned enterprise has an object on its balance sheet that is not subject to privatization: a storage facility (radiation shelter – IF-U) with a total area of 93.1 square meters, built in 1974. It is located separately from other buildings.
According to the Fund, distilleries are among the most popular small-scale privatization assets. Since September 2022, the SPF has sold 14 distilleries and raised UAH 965 million to the state budget, with the average price of each property at auction tripling.
The SPF planned to complete the privatization of the alcohol industry in 2023, for which it was planned to hold online auctions for the sale of 26 distilleries across the country. However, some of them did not take place.
