On February 21, CEE Legal Matters reported that Tokushev & Partners and Musseva & Ivanov had helped MFG Ins obtain an insurance license from the Financial Supervision Commission of Bulgaria. CEE In-House Matters spoke with Ivelina Kavurska, Director of Strategic Projects and a member of the Management Board of MFG, to learn more about the matter.
CEEIHM: To start, tell us a bit about the MFG Group and its operations.
Kavurska: MFG is a 100% Bulgarian group of companies whose mission is to provide easy access to finance for everyone regardless of their current social and financial condition. Some of the companies in the group have been operating in the Bulgarian market for over 16 years. MFG is active in six countries: Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, Poland, Spain, and Northern Macedonia, and plans large-scale geo-expansion in key European markets and at least one other continent as early as 2022. The main focus of MFG is to offer financial and credit products for individuals and small and medium-sized businesses. The group’s portfolio includes companies and brands such as Easy Credit, Biala Karta (White Card), Viva Credit, Fintrade, ACOD, the P2P platform iuvo, the BNPL model NewPay, the personal finance management app, the app for mobile payments Settle, etc.
CEEIHM: As reported by CEELM, Tokushev & Partners and Musseva & Ivanov recently assisted you in obtaining an insurance license. What gave rise to the need for this license and what can we expect next, now that it was received?
Kavurska: MFG is holding numerous licenses for the provision of loans in the EU. We also have obtained an EMI license a few years ago, which allowed us to become issuers of one of the most popular credit cards in Bulgaria, Romania, Poland, and Spain. An insurance company license was a logical step to upgrade the financial services ecosystem which we aim to complete.
CEEIHM: How did the process run from your side as a client – what did you find to be the most complicated aspect of it all?
Kavurska: The insurance company license is a complex and strictly regulated achievement we managed to accomplish with the help of our partners. The whole preparation process included a lot of sync meetings, accurate actuary calculations, governance system refinement, and policy drafting.
CEEIHM: Why did you turn to two firms in the end and what was each of their mandates specifically?
Kavurska: We are very satisfied the two law firms worked in healthy balance and harmony while managing to distribute properly the legal tasks and responsibilities in the prep process. They both assisted us in the necessary meetings with representatives of the regulator within the licensing procedure, which we believe contributed to the good results, as well. Specifically, Musseva & Ivanov prepared for us most of the needed documentation, organigrams, and policies, while Tokushev & Partners advised us mostly on some strategic parameters in our business plan and market approach. At MFG, we definitely consider our partnering with these law firms as the best decision and correct approach to obtaining the insurance license.
CEEIHM: And why did you pick Tokushev & Partners and Musseva & Ivanov in particular?
Kavurska: MFG has already used the legal services of Musseva & Ivanov for obtaining our EMI license and we are already assured of their excellence. For the insurance company license, however, we needed a bit more detailed expertise in the insurance regulation and practice, which we knew Tokushev & Partners had. So, we decided to join efforts in this project that led us to the successful resolution of our regulator – the Financial Supervision Commission. We are very satisfied with the results of our collaboration and do recommend Tokushev & Partners and Musseva & Ivanov legal services and professional attitude.
