The Polish Insurance Association, in cooperation with the Insurance Guarantee Fund (UFG) are launching the project of the implementation of the Base of Events and Damages (BSZ). The Base will include data on property insurance (excluding motor insurance, the base of which already exists in UFG) and life insurance.
The General Meeting of PIU voted for the development of the base on 16 January 2014. The main purpose of BZS is to identify cases of multiple claims concerning potentially the same insurance event. It concerns the situations when money are wrongfully obtained by reporting the same damage a few times in different insurance companies.
The base will include both property insurance and life insurance, and its various functions will be started gradually. Firstly, the base will include data related to:
• Two groups of property insurance:
insurance against fire and other natural disasters (e.g. of a flat, building)
insurance against other material damage (e.g. thefts)
• Two groups of life insurance:
o Individual protective insurance (against all risks) including endowment insurance
o Group insurance within the scope of: death, serious illness, permanent bodily harm, hospitalization (without surgery)
BZS will be operating on the basis of voluntary actions and reciprocity (if you add = you receive) Only insurance companies and branches of insurance companies that will join the project will be able to make inquiries regarding data in the base.
PIU will perform the function of data administrator (pursuant to the Regulation of the Minister of Finance of 16 August 2007). Insurance companies have chosen UFG to perform processing functions (of the so-called data processor). – The market have suggested that we are a trustworthy institution with great practical experience in the development and supervision of database operation. Therefore, it is worth remembering that using the existing infrastructure of UFG will be much cheaper than developing a new one – says Elżbieta Wanat-Połeć, President of the Management Board of UFG. – Our experience tells us that development of the base is a really hard work requiring great commitment of all participants – she adds.
The cost of development and start-up of the base amounts to about PLN 6.8 million. Nevertheless, an increase in the detection rate of swindles thanks to the BZS base is estimated at PLN 5.7 million in the case of life insurance and at about PLN 11.1 million in the case of property insurance (excluding motor insurance) in the first three years of the base operation. – Of course, these are only estimates. I have no doubts that insurance companies will be actively using this new tool, which will help to decrease the amount of money obtained wrongfully and eliminate any illegal actions – says Jan Grzegorz Prądzyński, President of the Management Board of PIU. The first trial BSZ run is to take place in the first half of this year.
Several days ago PIU received a copy of the letter from Andrzej Jakubiak, Chairman of the Polish Financial Supervision Authority (KNF) addressed to Wojciech Wiewiórkowski, PhD, Inspector General for the Protection of Personal Data (GIODO). In this letter the Chairman of KNF is expressing his support for the development of BZS, pointing to the fact that this project is coincident with the statutory activity of the supervision authority.
For the whole period of base development, PIU was in constant touch with GIODO. The base development plan was submitted to the Inspector General with a written assurance that the BZS project meets all legal requirements, in particular:
1. UFG performs the function of outsourcer in this project and provides only services (actual activities) related to providing data to the base and base hosting, data processing and providing data to insurance companies. UFG does not have the right to use the data entrusted for its own purposes.
2. A current database of UFG concerning motor insurance will not be combined or compared with BSZ at any stage of the process.
3. Activities performed by UFG are only auxiliary or related to technical issues. They do not constitute statutory activities of PIU.
4. Data included in BZS is confidential insurance information under the Insurance Activity Law and cannot be made available entities other than insurance companies, PIU and UFG, being service providers in this process.
