NEW NON-LIFE INSURER GAINS LICENCE TO OPERATE IN LATVIA

The Latvian state insurance inspectorate has granted a licence to local non-life insurer Baltijas Apdrosinasanas Nams, which allows the company to operate in six non-life sectors, including mandatory vehicle and real estate insurance. Baltijas has basic capital of 500,000 lats and has two key shareholders — SIA Belokon Holdings and Eriks Teilans — each of which has a stake of more than 40%. At the end of June Latvia had 16 non-life insurers, with preliminary first-half gross premiums totalling 43.5m lats, up about 8% from the year-ago period.