Bulgarian insurers refuse to pay 250 international claims for EUR509,000 thousand (anbout B GN1 million) worth of damages caused by drivers with Bulgarian Green Cards abroad. Data are for the first two months of the year and although our national office of Green Card has paid for the insurers, the matter remains pending. By letter dated April 6, Marius Vishtovski, President of the Council of Bureaux of the International Green Card System, refered the matter to the Chairman of the Financial Supervision Commission Stoyan Mavrodiev. According to Vishtovski the problem which creates a risk to financial stability of the system as a whole. Vishtovski recalls that this is not an isolated case, but the continuation of the trend from 2011 when the Bulgarian office received 500 requests for compensation to a record volume of EUR2.6 million or BGN5 million.
The letter listed the Bulgarian insurance companies who refuse to pay: BULINS, Euroins, OZK and Bulgarian Properties. They are accused by Mr. Vishtovski of delaya or deniala of payments to contractors and their refusal to reimburse payments made for them by the Bulgarian office of Green Card.
Mr. Vishtovski invites Mr. Mavrodiev to take the necessary measures and steps to prevent further deterioration of the situation and tighten discipline in the Bulgarian insurance market. Finally Vishtovski believes that they could prevent referral of the matter to the European Commission, which can lead to serious sanctions. The letter was copied to Atanas Tabov, President of the National Bureau of Bulgarian Motor Insurers (NBBAZ).
Two weeks later the FSC in the face of its Vice-President in charge of the Insurance supervision Borislav Bogoev, sent a letter to the Association of Bulgarian Car Insureres with a copy to all insurers, which requires the organisation within one day to provide complete statistics on the amount of arrears, date and company. The letter has threatened that FSC may implement administrative measures against the Association.
In A response letter the Association said that the bank guarantees of BULINS and Euroiins have been activated. Representatives of the companies explain that when their correspondent partner in a foreign country refuses to pay, the local Green Card office sends a claim to its Bulgarian counterpart, which on its turn automatically asks the Bulgarian company to pay, which businesses claim to be an inappropriate and automated way of handling claims.
