Gras Savoye wins PIU Cup 2013

Gras Savoye won the 5th PIU Cup 2013 football tournament. It beat Gothaer in the final. After the regular game time, there was a 3:3 draw, and the victory was decided after a series of penalty kicks. The PZU team finished third after defeating Warta with the result 6:3 in the “small final”. Aleksander Kamiński from Gras Savoye was chosen the best goalkeeper of the tournament and Maciej Owczarz from PZU won the title of the top goal scorer.
Thirty one teams took part in this year’s tournament. The event was accompanied by a family picnic which was visited by approx. 850 people. PIU wants to congratulate the medal winners and awarded players and to thank all the teams for their participation in the tournament and the fans for their enthusiastic cheering.

Results of all games

On 22 June 2013, between 10.00 a.m. and 4.00 p.m., insurance football teams will for the 5th time compete in the annual PIU Cup tournament for the 5th time. This time, the indoor tournament of PIU football teams of six will be held in a sports hall situated at ul. Księcia Bolesława 1/3 in Warsaw. The teams on the field will be composed of six players, and the whole team may consist of up to 11 players (6 persons in the first team squad and 5 substitute players).

Football teams wishing to participate in the PIU Cup 2013 and their supporters should register by sending an e-mail to the following e-mail address: turniej@piu.org.pl.
Notice: Due to time and logistics constraints connected with the competition, one financial group may enter only one football team.

The deadline for sending entries of teams is 14 June 2013, at 10.00 a.m. You can download entry forms for teams and fans below.

Regulations of the tournament
Locker rooms plan

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE

Traditionally, the competition will be accompanied by a family picnic with barbecue. Therefore, the organisers invite not only football players but also their families and fans. During the tournament, a large playground with care for the whole duration of the competition will also be open. All PIU members are welcome to take part in the tournament.

On 17 April this year, pupils of general and technical high schools participated in a vocational training session in the Polish Insurance Association (PIU), within the framework of the “Enterprise Day” project.
During meetings and discussions with PIU representatives, the pupils had an opportunity to learn about the organisation of the insurance self-government and the scope of activities of particular departments and committees of the Association. The young people familiarized themselves with how the functioning of the insurance market, they learnt about its multi-layer nature and its impact on everyday life.
We are especially glad that one programme participant, who took part in the Association’s session second year in a row, decided to deepen her knowledge of the insurance sector. As you can see, such meetings and campaigns can be very fruitful. Young people who learn about the specificity of the industry and work find it easier to imagine themselves in this business.
The “Enterprise Day” was organised in Poland for the tenth time by the Youth Enterprise Foundation with the cooperation of the President of the Republic of Poland’s Office. Its purpose is to include entrepreneurs in educating young people, as well as to establish an innovative platform for providing young people with knowledge regarding the labour market.

The Polish Insurance Association has prepared the recommended good information practices related to unit-linked insurance. The core aspect of the recommendation involves the Product Specification. It provides for information duties towards the clients and the form of information to be supplied. It also enables simple comparison of the costs of each insurance versus unit-linked insurance. The recommendation for good information practices is a response of the sector to the needs of clients who find it difficult to obtain comprehensive and clearly phrased information on unit-linked insurance.

“Clients need clear information and easy tools for comparison. When selecting a policy, they naturally choose a service which is quite complex. Now they can be sure to compare the insurance costs and benefits with not much effort and with no need to have the expert knowledge,” says
Jan Grzegorz Prądzyński, President of PIU Board.

The principal section of the recommendation consists of the Product Specification, i.e. a brief and concise document describing the risks, the nature of insurance and all related fees. The Specification will be mandatorily presented to the client before signing the agreement. It standardises the fee-related terminology, which provides the client with a convenient tool for comparison of products of various companies and for selection of the adequate offer. “All fees and risks must be presented in the Specification clearly. Marketing language and insurance slang are forbidden,” emphasises Jan Grzegorz Prądzyński.

It is worth mentioning at this point that currently the European Parliament is working on the regulations called PRIPs. It specifies the information to be provided to clients purchasing any investment products, inclusive of insurance. However, PRIPs is going to become effective in a few months. “Our solution is ready now. We based it on PRIPs to a large extent, but in several aspects we have gone a step further,” says Jan Grzegorz Prądzyński. The Product Specification imposes the obligation to present to the client a simulation of potential profits or losses under the insurance. This solution, just like standardisation of fee-related terminology, is not to be found in PRIPs.

The Product Specification consists of three major sections:

• general – specifying the core information on the product, including its major features, purpose, scope of benefits, duration, manner of premium payment or description of risks;
• fee-related information – fees described in detail and ascribed to each specific category; this section also provides information on potential bonuses and rebates;
• risk simulation – the insurer will have to present to the client a simulation of the course of insurance in three variants: with reduced, regular and increased product return; each simulation will be based on the premium actually paid by the client or on the actual benefits, thus providing useful information.

Unit-linked insurance is one of the major elements of the system of voluntary pension saving in Poland. In the context of the current discussions about the pension system, their importance may be even bigger in the future. “Unit-linked policies are of realistic value for clients. They must not be perceived through the prism of misselling. The Product Specification is definitely intended to radically restrict unethical sales. I believe that the Specification will enhance the confidence in insurance, the role of which for the economy and the capital market growth is hard to be overestimated,” says Jan Grzegorz Prądzyński.

The document was made within 3.5 months. Over this time it was consulted with the entire insurance market and the PIU Council of Good Practices. Also, the opinion of external law firms was obtained. Several days ago the document was submitted for consultation by the Ministry of Finance, the Polish Financial Supervision Authority (KNF), the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) and the Insurance Ombudsman. The time of entry in force of the recommendation depends on the date of completion of the consultations. After official approval, each insurance company to declare the observance of the recommendation will be given the maximum 12 months to fully adapt all its products thereto. PIU is going to apply to KNF for making the list of companies conforming to the recommendation available at its website.

Complete text of the recommendation
Sample Product Specification

In 2012 Polish insurers paid 39.97 billion zlotys to clients and claimants. Nearly two thirds of this amount are benefits connected with life policies. Overall premiums in the insurance market in 2012 reached 62.6 billion zlotys of which 36.4 billion are life insurance products and 26.2 billion – other personal and non-life insurance.

Motor Insurance Market

Major figures:
• Liability motor insurance – 977 thousand indemnities and benefits paid, to the amount of 5.28 billion zlotys
• Casco (comprehensive) insurance – 706 thousand indemnities paid to the overall amount of 3.44 billion zlotys
• Gross premium written under liability insurance was 8.74 billion zlotys (an increase by 3.76 per cent)
• Gross premium written under comprehensive insurance was 5.62 billion zlotys (a decrease by 2.43 per cent)

PIU Comments:
The average indemnities and benefit under motor liability insurance in 2012 amounted to PLN 5,409 zlotys and the figure was 8 per cent higher than a year ago. This happens irrespective of the fact that the number of claims went down in 2012 by over 7 per cent. “We see fewer collisions and accidents reported to insurers, but the average indemnities and benefits are on the increase, and thus the insurers’ obligations resulting from liability insurance continue to rise,” says Grzegorz Prądzyński, President of PIU Board.

The average indemnity under casco insurance has also increased. At the moment it amounts to PLN 4,870 and it is 5.2 per cent higher than a year ago. In 2012 the number of casco insurance policies dropped by 1.5 per cent. At the moment 26 per cent of drivers hold this type of insurance.

Interesting facts:
• Most indemnities and benefits under motor liability insurance were paid in the period of January – March: nearly 279 thousand. But the indemnities and benefits paid for April-June were of the highest value: PLN 1.38 billion.
• Under comprehensive insurance, indemnities of the highest value were paid in the period of January – March (PLN 922 billion) and it was also in this period that the number of occurrences was the highest (in excess of 194 thousand)

Non-life market (exclusive of motor insurance)

Primary figures:
• the number of insurance policies covering damage caused by natural forces went down by 1.4% to 8 million, compared to 2011
• Indemnities for all insurance guarantees increased year to year by as much as 534 per cent, to the amount of 422.8 million zlotys
• The number of claims caused by natural forces in 2012 was 259 thousand. As a consequence, the claimants were paid 1.15 billion zlotys

PIU Comments:
Occurrences caused by natural forces, which we saw in Q3 of 2012, proved to have no major effect on the insurance market. The losses were considerably smaller than e.g. the effects of the flood of 2010. “We experience weather anomalies in Poland each year, but in 2012 these were relatively insignificant when we consider the insurance claims. Yet, the drop in the number of policies covering the effects of natural disasters is disturbing. It may suggest that we are not becoming more cautious, despite an increasing frequency of natural force occurrences,” says Grzegorz Prądzyński.
The market of 2012 was much more affected by the insurance guarantees. Related indemnities increased in 2012 by as much as 534 per cent, to 422 million zlotys. This is mainly connected with the difficult situation of the construction sector, but also with the bankruptcies amongst tour operators, which we saw last year.

Interesting facts:
• In the first half of 2012, indemnities worth 63 million zlotys were paid under guarantees. In the second half of the year, these amounted to as much as 359.5 million zlotys.
• In the class of “other material damage”, which includes, among others, mandatory insurance of crops, as much as 56 per cent of all indemnities were paid in the period of April – June 2012.
• In Q1 of 2012, the average indemnity under the guarantee was 9.6 thousand zlotys. In Q3 – it was as much 383 thousand zlotys.

Life market

Major figures:
• Indemnities and benefits under all life insurance policies amounted to PLN 25.9 billion (a drop by 0.5 per cent)
• Benefits under unit-linked products went up by 15 per cent and reached 6.66 billion zlotys.

PIU Comments:
The premium at the life insurance market increased in 2012 by more than 14 per cent, to 36.4 billion zlotys. The result was affected by two largest insurance classes: the “life insurance”, encompassing also short-term deposit insurance policies, and “unit-linked life insurance”. The premium under unit-linked policies amounted to more than 12 billion zlotys in 2012 and was nearly 17 per cent higher than a year ago. The same increase was seen in the number of agreements.
The premium under “life insurance” class was PLN 19.3 billion, i.e. 15 per cent more than a year ago. This is mainly the result of increased sales of term deposit insurance policies. Several months ago PIU estimated the value of their sale in 2012 to be PLN 6 billion. However, full financial results for 2012 indicate that the value is higher and reaches 7.5 billion zlotys. Single contracts related to the sales of said policies frequently generate substantial written premium, hence each attempt at assessing the market value carries the probability of a significant error.

Net financial result

The net profit of life insurers in 2012 was PLN 3.27 billion and it was 12.4 per cent better than a year ago. Property insurers ended the year with a profit of PLN 3.38 billion, i.e. 9.7 per cent higher year-to-year.
In 2012 an improvement was recorded of the technical result (on core activities) for property insurers. Despite this fact, the largest insurance class of liability motor insurance is still yielding losses (PLN 427 million in 2012). The loss is smaller than in 2011 (PLN 638 million). Comprehensive insurance still remains profitable, and the technical result thereon increased more than twice over the year, from 336 to 725 million zlotys.

Table with results

On 5 February 2013, the Extraordinary General Meeting of the Polish Insurance Association (PIU) appointed Mr Rafał Grodzicki to act as Member of PIU Audit Committee. Mr Rafał Grodzicki is a management board member of PZU Życie SA, and a Group Director in PZU SA. He graduated from the Warsaw School of Economics. He has been employed with the PZU Group since 2004. He has held managerial functions in the banking and insurance sector for more than ten years.

On 7 and 8 May 2013, the 1st Polish Insurance Association Congress Sopot 2013 will be held in the Sheraton Sopot Hotel in Sopot. The congress will be opened by Mr Janusz Piechociński, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy. The main focus of the congress shall be:

“Common Europe ― challenges and perspectives

of insurance market development”

This event is going to be the largest and most significant forum for exchanging views and experiences in the insurance sector. The Polish Insurance Association ― organiser of the congress ― is willing to start a discussion between Polish and foreign representatives of political and financial communities on current topics of paramount social importance.

Agenda:

Instructions on how to register to the congress will soon appear on PIU website. However, we are asking you today to book this date in your appointments books and come to this event important for the entire insurance industry.

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On 14-17.02.2013, Third Polish Championships in Sport Bridge for Insurance Industry were organized in Szczyrk. The event, which first took place three years ago at the initiative of the President of the Association of Insurance and Reinsurance Brokers Jacek Kliszcz, this year was open to everyone who wanted to take part. Patronage of the event was assumed by the Mayor of Bielsko-Biala Mr. Jacek Krywult and the event was organized in co-operation with SBUiR, the Polish Insurance Association, the Polish Chamber of Insurance and Finance Intermediaries and Beskidzkie Sport Bridge Association.
This year’s Championships attracted many fans of the game. The major tournament for couples of the Polish Grand Prix was enjoyed a particularly large audience. 174 couples took part in the tournament, which was also by a special guest, the actress Renata Dancewicz.
The Championships were a great opportunity for integration of people related to insurance business, while attractive trophies and cash and in kind prizes in connection with a ski trip to Skrzyczne and a grill party with highland band gained recognition among the participants, who have collectively announced to arrive next year as long as such event continues to be organized.

Best overall scorers and the Polish Champions and Vice-Champions of the Polish Insurance Industry are:

I-II Stanislaw Gołębiowski, Aviva
I-II Bartosz Chmurski, Coris
III Iwona Czajka, Amplico

Full results and photos from the Championships are available at www.bsbs.pl

13th edition of the “IT in Insurance GigaCon” conference will be held on 21 February. The honorary patronage over the event has been extended by the Polish Insurance Association and the Polish Chamber of Insurance and Finance Intermediaries.

Selected issues from the agenda:

– From an idea to its implementation in one day. eximee — conclusions and processes, Tomasz Framski (CEO, Consdata Sp. z o.o.)
– Does safety of information mean cost or profit for the insurance sector? (Jacek Bajorek, an independent expert)
– Safe backup, co-sharing and distribution of data without spending a fortune. IOMEGA StorCenter and IOMEGA Personal Cloud — Robert Grzyb (Iomega)
– On-line sales and client servicing — how to replace static forms for faster and better effects — Michał Waszkiewicz (e-point SA)
– Issues to consider while buying and implementing the ITSM class system — Dariusz Skierniewski (IT Support Solutions Team Manager, PZU SA and PZU Życie SA)
– Current legal issues of Cloud Computing in insurance — Gerard Karp (Wierzbowski Eversheds law firm)

Website of the event
Free registration

On 31 January, “Rzeczpospolita” daily was supplemented by press materials entitled “Insure yourself”. The list of authors includes representatives of the Polish Insurance Association. Their articles regarded:

• investment insurance
• tourist insurance
• motor insurance
• health insurance

Full contents of the supplement is available here.