Palata Narodne banke, izgrađena u stilu neorenesansnog akademizma, predstavlja jedno od najvećih i najlepših ostvarenja u Beogradu u 19. veku, zbog čega je svrstana u spomenike kulture pod zaštitom države...
06.11.2020.
NBS Vice-Governor Željko Jović spoke today at the opening of the 18th symposium organised by the Belgrade Faculty of Economics and the Serbian Actuarial Association. The symposium was titled “Insurance at the Time of the COVID-19 Pandemic” and was, due to the extraordinary circumstances this year, held online for the first time.
In his speech “Insurance Sector Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic: Supervisor’s Approach”, Mr Jović outlined the activities undertaken by the NBS to mitigate the negative effects of the pandemic on the entire financial sector.
He emphasized the importance of NBS regulatory measures to facilitate the financing of obligations during the pandemic for all financial services users. These measures include the moratorium on the repayment of bank loans, deferral of the payment of lease obligations, measures pertaining to insurance, pre-emptive measures extending the deadline for the repayment of cash and housing loans, and a stimulus for housing lending. In particular, he pointed out that the NBS has cut the key policy rate several times, driving down all main market rates and encouraging further corporate and household lending. During the pandemic, the NBS supported banks on several occasions – through liquidity instruments, repo and swap transactions, and by ensuring smooth functioning of critical functions, such as payment operations, dinar and foreign cash supply, etc.
Vice-Governor Jović underscored that the overall financial market responded to the pandemic in a responsible and efficient manner. Conforming with NBS regulatory requirements, financial institutions already had well-running business continuity plans, with one part of employees shifted to work from home. The changed circumstances forced financial institutions to start providing financial services based on new technologies, which do not require a direct contact between their staff and clients (mobile and electronic banking etc.), but entail an adequate response in terms of the management of risks arising from these technologies.
According to preliminary results, in the first nine months of this year, the insurance sector saw positive movements of the insurance premium, a rise in voluntary health, property and full coverage motor vehicle insurance, preserved quality of the investment portfolio and adequate capitalisation and liquidity. The Vice-Governor said that challenges in the insurance market include further development of the sales channels based on new technologies and adequate management of relating risks, avenues to ensure further market development by raising awareness about the need for insurance, improving the market of motor third party liability, and continued gradual preparations for the introduction of regulatory standards Solvency II and IFRS 17.
Governor’s Office
