Special administrator of Romania’s insurer Astra: Continuation of payments to clients is a top priority

KPMG, the special administrator of Romania’s largest insurer Astra, is currently analyzing the company’s situation and taking urgent measures to set the priorities, by consulting and informing Romania’s Financial Surveillance Authority ASF. “Continuation of payments to clients and business partners was the main concern of the special administrator, the first operations being already done during the day of Thursday, February 20,” according to KPMG representatives. Astra was placed earlier this month under special administration by the country’s Financial Surveillance Authority ASF. According to KPMG, “the financial recovery measure through special administrator doesn’t have implications for the company’s business - the insurance contracts in effect will go on normally - but is meant to help re-balance the financial parameters of the company, so that all policyholders’ rights to be adequately protected”. With respect to the existing policies, ASF informed that all the insurance policies issued by Astra stay valid from the moment they’ve been issued until they expire, and the company will have to honor, from its own current financial availabilities or resulted from the special administration, all the claims under the insurance policies, according to KPMG’s statement. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com