Grup AS goes bankrupt

Grup AS is officially bankrupt now, as ruled by the Bucharest Court of Law. The company, which once ranked sixth among the general insurers in Romania, is the first in this industry to go belly up. This financial sector (i.e. insurance) has been free of bankruptcy until now, unlike the banking and mutual fund sectors. “The Bucharest Court of Law sustained the motion of the Insurance Supervision Commission filed on January 14, 2003 in view of commencing the judicial reorganisation and bankruptcy procedures against Grup AS SA, as debtor. The Court has also set the next trial date for May 13, 2003. All those that have debts to collect from Grup AS insurance company may record their receivables in the file 26/2003, pending ruling by the Court,” the Commission on Wednesday announced. The bankruptcy and liquidation of an insurer is a different procedure from that of a bank or of any company. In the insurers’ case, any company that goes bankrupt does not have only certain obligations, such as the money to be paid to the clients that experienced the peril insured, but it also has to settle the claims that may be made during the insurance contract period. ZF