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” href=”https://www.law360.com/articles/1471648/#”>Irene Madongo Law360, London (March 8, 2022, 4:04 p.m. GMT) — The professional body for European insurers has terminated the membership of a Russian partner, and pledged to support the sector in Ukraine and to respect Western sanctions against Moscow.
The block industry is also already going much further than the sanctions imposed by the European Union, as several companies with operations in Russia are “completely withdrawing from this market”, Insurance Europe told industry representatives in Ukraine.
The trade body said in a letter dated Monday that it was responding to a request for support from Ukraine’s insurance industry. He said his board had agreed to end the All-Russian Insurance Association’s membership in the trade body.
“Companies across the European market are signing on to the sanctions, and many are already going much further: for example, several insurers with operations in Russia are pulling out of that market altogether,” he added.
Insurance Europe has 36 member associations, representing 3,900 insurance and reinsurance companies. This makes the group the leading institutional investor in Europe.
On February 25, the European Union banned insurers in the bloc from providing direct or indirect insurance for aircraft and aerospace parts or equipment. The EU measures were introduced alongside a broad ban on the export to Russia of aerospace and energy market equipment and other “dual-use” products, which could be used for military and civilian purposes.
The United Kingdom followed, announce a ban on Russian aviation and aerospace industries taking out insurance in Britain, part of a new round of sanctions after Russia invaded Ukraine late last month.
The measures came as sanctions are tightened after an initial round of restrictions on Russian banks and financial assets by Western governments and global financial institutions.
The invasion of Ukraine and the sanctions against Russia have also drawn the attention of regulators wary of the effect of these developments on the financial services industry.
Britain’s pension watchdog has aware of the impact of the invasion and called on pension funds to comply with British sanctions against Russia. The pensions regulator said on Monday that trustees of retirement savings schemes should also look at other risks to schemes related to the conflict.
–Additional reporting by Martin Croucher and Najiyya Budaly. Editing by Joe Millis.
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