The National Bank granted permission to Veles Insurance Company (PrAT) to exit the market by fulfilling its insurance portfolio and approved the corresponding plan. This means: the company is not simply closing down — it is obliged to first pay out or transfer all active insurance obligations to clients, and only after that apply to the NBU for license cancellation.
"Veles" has been operating in the market since 1998. Its statutory capital is 15 million hryvnias, with the Sardaryan family as the ultimate beneficial owners. The company is not a member of MTCBU and did not sell MTPL insurance, so its disappearance will go unnoticed by most drivers. However, the exit mechanism is indicative.
Why "voluntary" exit is not quite voluntary
Formally, the decision to liquidate is made by shareholders at a general meeting. But the context is different: since 2022, the NBU has been systematically raising capital requirements, ownership structure transparency, and technical reserve formation standards. Companies that do not comply either leave on their own or receive forced license cancellation.
The cleanup of the insurance market in its significance and scale is comparable to fundamental reforms of the banking system in 2014–2017.
Andriy Pyshnyy, NBU Governor
The parallel with banking reform is not rhetorical. At that time, over 90 banks left the market. In insurance, the process is slower, but the direction is the same.
Numbers that explain the scale
- 55 companies of non-life insurance were operating at the beginning of 2025.
- 48 companies remained by the end of 2025 — seven fewer in a year.
- ~38 insurers left the market during 2025 in total, 36 of them from the non-life segment.
- The 5 largest players now control 42% of premiums versus 39% a year earlier — concentration is increasing.
What Veles clients receive
The portfolio execution procedure is a protection for the insured: a company cannot simply "disappear" with unpaid policies. The NBU controls the exit plan and deadlines. If the insurer does not fulfill obligations within the established timeframe, the regulator forcibly cancels the license, which can complicate receiving payments.
In the case of "Veles," the portfolio scale is small — the company was in the lower segment of the market. But the precedent is important: this is not the first such exit in 2025. In February, a similar permit was granted to "Industrial Insurance Alliance."
What's next
The market is consolidating: small players either sell to larger ones or execute their portfolio and leave. The share of the top ten leaders by premiums increased from 65% to 71% in a year — and this is just the beginning of the cycle. The next test for small companies is compliance with new prudential standards that the NBU is gradually introducing by 2026.
The question is not whether anyone else will leave the market — they will. The question is whether medium-sized companies with capital of 50–100 million hryvnias will have time to attract an investor or complete a merger before the regulator transitions requirements from advisory to mandatory.
