Insurance company Kniazha Life Vienna Insurance Group (Kyiv) in 2020 collected UAH 277.247 million in insurance premiums, which is 5.13% more than a year earlier, according to a posting on the website of the Standard-Rating agency.
The agency has affirmed the financial reliability/credit rating of the insurer at “uaAA +,” guided by the results of 2020.
During the year, insurance payments and compensations by the company amounted to UAH 20.252 million, which is almost twice the amount of payments made in 2019. Thus, the level of payments increased from 13.84% to 26.22%, or by 12.38 percentage points.
The insurer’s acquisition costs amounted to UAH 10.826 million, which is 33.57% less than in 2019.
The net profit of PrJSC Kniazha Life Vienna Insurance Group last year amounted to UAH 13.554 million, which is 2.82 times higher than the figure for the previous year.
The company’s assets as of December 31, 2020 grew by 30.49%, to UAH 582.887 million, equity – by 60.17%, to UAH 95.278 million, liabilities – by 25.92%, to UAH 487.609 million, cash and their equivalents fell by 63.60% to UAH 31.091 million due to reallocation of funds into current financial investments, which expanded by 90.8%
As of the beginning of 2021, the insurer’s equity capital was 19.54% covered by its liabilities, and 6.38% of liabilities were secured by cash and cash equivalents. As of January 1, 2021, it formed noncurrent and current financial investments in the amount of UAH 497.672 million, which consisted of 34.91% of bank deposits (UAH 173.749 million) and 64.83% of government bonds (UAH 322.661 million).
Vienna Insurance Group is represented in Ukraine by Ukrainian Insurance Group, Kniazha Vienna Insurance Group and Kniazha Life Vienna Insurance Group.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Andriy Taran, during his working visit to Japan, held talks with Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of this country Takashi Uto, during which Japan reaffirmed its unwavering support for the territorial integrity of Ukraine and its readiness to continue promoting economic development and reforms.
“The talks between Minister of Defense of Ukraine Andriy Taran and Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of Japan Takashi Uto have just ended. The frank conversation lasted an hour. Japan confirmed its unwavering support for the territorial integrity of Ukraine and its readiness to continue promoting economic development and reforms,” Ukrainian Ambassador to Japan Serhiy Korsunsky wrote on Facebook on Wednesday.
According to him, Taran and Uto discussed security issues in East Asia and Donbas, Japan’s participation in the Crimean Platform summit, and the threats that states face.
Also, Taran will have a meeting with Minister of Defense of Japan Mr. Nobuo Kishi.
As reported, Taran’s working visit to Japan began on March 16.
The Chornomorsk seaport (Odesa region) in January-February 2021 reduced the transshipment of goods by 31.37% compared to the same period in 2020, to 3.125 million tonnes.
According to the data on the website of the state-owned enterprise Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority, during the specified period, Chornomorsk port reduced the transshipment of export cargo by 28.67%, to 2.665 million tonnes, imported cargo by 40.01%, to 363,800 tonnes, transit cargo – by 53.09%, to 95,940 tonnes. At the same time, coastal cargo was not handled.
Transshipment of liquid cargo in the port decreased 17.49%, to 201,960 tonnes, handling of dry bulk cargo fell by 38.63%, to 2.028 million tonnes, and packaged goods – by 10.87%, to 895,110 tonnes.
Transshipment of containers in January-February amounted to 24,179 TEU (a decrease of 10.16%).
Ukrainian IT companies received $571 million in investments by the end of 2020, which is $27 million more than in 2019.
The relevant data was published in the annual study of investments in the Ukrainian IT sector DealBook of Ukraine: 2021 from the investment fund AVentures Capital.
Some 62% of the total amount was attracted by four global companies with Ukrainian roots – GitLab, Creatio, Restream and airSlate.
GitLab became the first multi-billion dollar company established in Ukraine. It was estimated at $6 billion.
According to the study, 2020 was a record year for financing at an early stage – in seed and A-rounds, it was possible to attract $161 million, most of which from international investors, and this is 3.5 times more than in 2019.
The fastest growing startup in 2020 is Reface.ai application, which lets one swap faces in videos. Since its launch in January, the application has been downloaded 70 million times.
The rating of companies with the highest international income includes Jooble, Genesis, Grammarly, airSlate, Creatio and others.
The State Agency for Roads of Ukraine (Ukravtodor), within the framework of a joint anti-corruption project, will reconfigure its management and procurement practices in accordance with the recommendations of the consultants of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
On Tuesday, March 12, a kick-off meeting was held on the development and implementation of the Anti-Corruption Action Plan for the road industry of Ukraine within the framework of the specified joint project, Ukravtodor said on its Telegram channel.
The loan agreement between Ukravtodor and the EBRD worth EUR 450 million, signed in December last year, provides for the implementation of four important reforms for the road industry: procurement reform, improved traffic safety, development of infrastructure for electric transport and anti-corruption reform.
“We highly appreciate the initiative of Ukravtodor to implement this project, because it should result in a completely updated management system for the road industry. In case of a successful launch of an anti-corruption pilot project in Ukravtodor, this experience can be scaled up to other business entities and public sector organizations who are partners of the EBRD in Ukraine,” head of transport projects of the EBRD Andriy Tsokol is quoted as saying in the message.
The Basel Institute on Governance (Switzerland), an international non-profit anti-corruption organization that works in partnership with the Ukrainian law firm Sayenko Kharenko, has been involved in the work on the implementation of anti-corruption reform.
“By May of this year, the consultants will study and analyze the procurement and management processes in Ukravtodor from the point of view of preventing corruption. Based on the study, it is planned to finalize and approve the Anti-Corruption Action Plan in July 2021. Until 2023, the consultant will accompany the implementation of the Plan in Ukravtodor and its subdivisions,” the message reads.
Head of Ukravtodor Oleksandr Kubrakov also noted that over the past year the agency managed to create uniform procurement rules in the industry, introduce independent technical supervision and additional control of design decisions.
“We worked to prevent corruption risks by digitalizing management processes and improving executive and financial discipline. A pilot project with the EBRD gives a chance for these changes to become irreversible,” he stressed.
As reported, Ukravtodor initiated the inclusion of the Anti-Corruption Pilot Project in the loan agreement with the EBRD in the spring of 2020. The terms of the agreement provide for the mandatory implementation of reforms in order to receive credit tranches.
ANTI-CORRUPTION, ANTI-CORRUPTION PROJECT, EBRD, LAUNCHES, LAUNCHES PROJECT, STATE AGENCY FOR ROADS
The volume of revenues from freight traffic in 2020 was affected by the factor of a large share in the transportation of non-class goods, the tariff for the movement of which is much lower than the economically justified one, the press service of UZ said on Tuesday.
Ukrzaliznytsia notes that the company has already initiated the transfer of non-class cargo to the first class in the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine. It is about the liberalization of tariff formation in freight traffic and the need to get rid of the atavisms that have existed since Soviet times, when goods are divided into classes. The classifier determines which coefficient is added to the tariff. The logic of this division was that the tariff for the carriage of goods depended on its value, which is not relevant in a market economy.
This year, UZ plans to transport 314 million tonnes of cargo, which is almost 3% more than in 2020.
As reported with reference to UZ, Ukrzaliznytsia in September-December 2020 increased its revenue from cargo transportation to UAH 22.04 billion. During this period, the average monthly income from cargo transportation amounted to UAH 5.5 billion, which is 4.5% more than in July-August and 7.9% more than in January-June 2020.
