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27th of June, 1948
27 June is considered to be the birthday of DZI. On this day, back in 1948, a Nationalization of Insurance Companies and State Monopoly on Insurance Act was adopted. Pursuant thereunder, all assets and liabilities of the existing joint-stock and co-operative insurance companies, institutional funds, insurance departments with banks, etc. were taken over by the State Insurance Institute (DZI).
All valid insurance policies, portfolios, obligations, as well as reinsurance agreements remained in force and were passed on ex lege to DZI. In essence, this act merged the operating insurance undertakings into a single large company. The State Insurance Supervision body ceased operations since insurance oversight function was passed on to DZI as well.
DZI was the only insurance undertaking in Bulgaria until 1961, Read more... when a Government Decree established Bulstrad – the Bulgarian Foreign Insurance and Reinsurance Company – built on a DZI department, existing at the time. The Ministry of Finance was Bulstrad’s major shareholder, while DZI itself – one the main shareholders. Bulstrad concluded all insurance policies, associated with commitments outside Bulgaria’s territory, such as maritime, aviation, travel, etc. while DZI kept the monopoly over domestic insurance activities.
Along with monopoly over insurance, the State introduced gradually a relatively large share of mandatory (legal) insurance after 1946. The Property Insurance Act was adopted in 1958 and the 1969 amendments thereto enlarged substantially the coverage of mandatory property insurance.
Legal monopoly over insurance was observed strictly up to 1989 when competition emerged in the field of insurance. It should be noted that regardless of some coinciding names, emerging insurance companies had nothing in common with those operating before 1946, and were neither their legal successors, nor continuators.
In parallel to its business development, DZI contributed proactively to drafting adequate insurance regulations and in 1992 the company became one of the co-founders of the Association of Bulgarian Insurers.
In October 1998, DZI was transformed into a sole-owner joint stock company with a 100% participation of the State. On 7 December 1999, the State Gazette (issue 107) promulgated a Decision of the Privatization Agency on launching a privatization procedure for the State Insurance Institute – DZI EAD, which was finalized on 27 August 2002 with the company’s sale to Contract Sofia OOD, a company owned by Emil Kyulev.
On 10 October 2002, the General Meeting of Shareholders made a decision to rename на State Insurance Institute – DZI EAD (sole-owner joint stock company) into DZI AD (joint stock company).
On 3 August 2007, KBC obtained the relevant approval of the regulatory authorities and successfully finalized the acquisition of DZI Insurance and Reinsurance Joint –Stock Company. Thereby, becoming part of Belgian banking and insurance group KBC, DZI gained support at international level.
