The Uniqua team won the third indoor football tournament – PIU Cup 2011. The second place was taken by footballers of Ergo Hestia and the third by Link4. The final match was very close and a penalty shootout was decisive. The match ended 2:2 and we needed a penalty shootout, where Uniqua won 3:2. It is the second consecutive win of Uniqua in the PIU Cup.
The third place match was also very interesting – Link4 beat Gras Savoye 4:2.
Individual prizes were awarded to: Paweł Pachar of Ergo Hestia – best goalkeeper, Artur List of Warta – top scorer (8 goals).
PIU Cup 2011 was a record-breaking tournament not only because of the number of teams participating (20 teams took part in the event), but also because of the interest it aroused in fans. The playground was a great place for children who played there all the time. Older fans – having lost their energy on supporting their teams – could refresh themselves during a barbecue. – I am truly happy that our tournament has, above all, become a family event – Jan Grzegorz Prądzyński, president of the board of the Polish Insurance Association said while summing up the event. He thanked all the teams for participation and congratulated the winners during the awarding ceremony.
The Polish Insurance Association would like to encourage you to take part in the fourth edition of PIU Cup 2012. Below, you can find the group rankings and all the results of the knock-out stage.
Team name/points/goals scored/goals lost
Group A
1. Ergo Hestia 12/13/1
2. Cardif 7/9/7
3. Axa Direct 4/6/10
4. MetLife Amplico 3/8/9
5. KUKE 3/6/15
Group B
1. Link4 12/11/1
2. Interrisk 7/4/5
3. Compensa 5/10/9
4. BRE Ubezpieczenia 3/6/9
5. TUW TUZ 1/3/10
Group C
1. Gras Savoye 12/8/3
2. Uniqa 9/10/6
3. Aviva 6/8/6
4. Katedra Ubezpieczeń UE Poznań 3/6/9
5. HDI 0/6/14
Group D
1. Warta 10/13/4
2. Liberty Direct 9/15/5
3. Nordea 7/10/6
4. PTR 3/5/13
5. Biuro Rzecznika Ubezpieczonych 0/3/18
Quarterfinals:
Ergo Hestia – InterRisk 6:0
Gras Savoye – Liberty Direct 1:0
Link4 – Cardif 5:2
Warta – Uniqa 2:2 (penalties 4:5)
Semifinals:
Ergo Hestia – Gras Savoye 2:1
Link4 – Uniqa 0:2
Third-place match
Gras Savoye – Link4 2:4
Final:
Ergo Hestia – Uniqa 2:2 (penalties 2:3)
The European Court of Justice has decided that from 21st December 2012 there will be no possibility to calculate different premiums on account of client gender.
In the opinion of the Polish Insurance Association, the decision of the European Court of Justice violates the chief principle used in insurance for several hundred years: risk must be calculated in accordance with all the information which is essential from the insurance point of view. The entire insurance environment objects to the decision of the ECJ – insurers, reinsurers, brokers and self-government organizations.
Contrary to the justification of the ECJ judgment, calculating different premiums on account of client gender is not an indication of discrimination, but only an expression of insurers’ concern about the best risk evaluation, which allows offering products which are best adjusted to client needs. Insurers calculate different premiums only when the actuarial calculations prove beyond reasonable doubt that there is a relation between an insurance event and the gender or other features.
The ECJ judgment deprives clients of the possibility to purchase insurance products where the risk (and its evaluation) is precisely tailored to their individual needs. One example may be motor vehicle insurance where women pay lower premiums because they are involved in a smaller number of accidents.
In the opinion of the Polish Insurance Association, there is a genuine danger that the ECJ judgment will trigger an increase in average rates of all businesses where the gender criterion is used. Apart from motor vehicle insurance, this will also affect individual life insurance.
According to the official position of the European Insurance and Reinsurance Federation (CEA), gender has statistically been proven as a factor influencing the insurance risk, and the ECJ decision will have a major impact on the increase in insurance prices all over Europe.
The Polish Insurance Association emphasizes that all the insurance contracts concluded so far on the basis of the gender criterion are valid and the clients are guaranteed full insurance protection.
The Polish Insurance Association is patron of the First Insurance Environment Polish Championships within the scope of activity of the Beskid Bridge Association. The championships schedule is presented below. Rules concerning entering teams for the championships can also be found there. We strongly encourage you to take part in the championships.
The position of the Polish Insurance Association on tax on some financial institutions.
The information on works to introduce in Poland a tax on some financial institutions which is also to affect insurance companies has recently been revealed by both the representatives of the parliament and government administration. The Board of the Polish Insurance Association receives this news with great anxiety.
1. The financial situation of insurance companies, especially property insurance companies, is currently very difficult. After three quarters, the technical loss in property insurance exceeds 1.1 billion PLN. The main reason for this situation is high compensations connected mostly with last year’s flood, a severe winter and a very difficult market environment. In 2010, insurers paid 1.6 billion PLN as compensations for over 260 thousand flood losses. The bill which is currently in the Sejm (the lower association of the Polish parliament) spells charging insurance companies with an amount of over half a billion PLN per year, which will contribute to worsening their situation. It will directly affect the safety of the injured and insurance companies will have no other choice but to charge clients with the costs of the possible tax.
2. All legal solutions adopted recently have worsened the profitability of insurers which have to face additional challenges connected with the European model of solvency which is much more restrictive – Solvency II. In the European Union, the works on common insurance guarantee system which will additionally raise the costs of doing insurance business are currently being taken.
3. Insurers have proved that in times of crisis they play a role which stabilizes and protects the economy through careful management of assets and insurance protection which includes, among other things, the risk of losing a job, not repaying a loan or bankruptcy of a contractor.
4. Levying a tax on the entirety of assets also affects the resources which are to cover the obligations towards clients and the injured and, in the case of long-term insurance, the capital gathered for the insured. The tax will make the calculation of risk of paying compensation made while concluding the contract outdated. It will create a system risk for insurers which undertake long-term obligations towards their clients and are obliged by law to exercise all due care in the valuation of these obligations.
5. The insurance market constitutes around 4 percent of the Polish GDP and the insurance sector invests its assets almost exclusively in safe debt securities issued by the Polish state. Introducing the tax will limit the capability of insurance companies to invest their resources in safe securities. As of today, approximately 13 percent of the debt of the State Treasury connected with the State Treasury securities is made up of the assets of insurers.
6. The insurance market is, above all, 130 thousand people creating it. Additional tax charges might trigger the necessity of staff reduction and, at the same time, increase of the national budget charges.
7. Poland is one of the countries in which the tendency for people to voluntarily take out insurance is very low. Greater tax charges and, consequently, higher prices will trigger a situation where fever and fever people will be able to afford to insure their most prized values – life, health and property. Fewer people will also be able to afford to save for their future by buying voluntary pension products.
8. The national budget must be ready and aware of the fact that the fewer people can take out insurance, the greater the state compensations, for example, for natural disaster losses.
9. In times of crisis, the Polish insurance sector did not take advantage of any public help. Meanwhile, in the countries where such a tax has been introduced, it is a consequence of public help given to financial institutions of a given country.
10. The Polish insurance market is one of the most regulated markets, that is why insurers already suffer high costs of operation of such institutions as the Insurance Guarantee Fund, the Polish Financial Supervision Authority, the Insured Ombudsman and the Voluntary and State Fire Services. Insurers are also financing the construction of the Central Register of Vehicles and Drivers for which they have paid over 430 million PLN over the last 7 years.
Given all the afore-mentioned elements, the Board of the Polish Insurance Association appeals to all Parliament and government members to make a decision on not introducing the new tax in Poland which would affect insurance companies and other financial sector companies.
Center for the Blind in Laski has been helping hundreds of blind children for 100 years. The center could not conduct its activity without the support of thousands of people who selflessly supported the center with their money.
I know that my money causes something good and I do not mean the financial area alone, because, for example, it enables the children from Laski to meet their parents more often. The money is also good energy. Right now it is me who conveys it to others, but one day maybe somebody will convey it to me. All in all, it is difficult to express it in words – I just help and that is it!
Paulina
The Center activity does not only consist in everyday care of the blind. It also consists in a number of other projects, among other things, Ośrodek Rehabilitacyjno-Wypoczynkowy in Sobieszewo (Rehabilitation and Rest Centre)
I support the center for blind children in Laski, because it is thanks to those children that I notice things that I could not notice before at all, even though I have excellent eyesight.
Katarzyna
You can support the Center in Laski, too. It will be easier to provide the blind children with care thanks to 1% of your tax. Such a gift does not cost you anything but will be invaluable for a great number of disabled children.
Why do I do this? Because it is good to help others!
Anna
The center contact details, thanks to which you can support it with 1%of your tax, can be found on www.laski.edu.pl.
You can learn more by writing to katarzyna.wojciechowska@laski.edu.pl.
You can watch a movie promoting the campaign 1%of your tax for the center in Laski here.
The Extraordinary General Meeting of the Polish Insurance Association appointed Andrzej Maciążek – previously a member of the management board of the Polish Insurance Association – as vice-president of the management board of the Association.
Andrzej Maciążek has been in the Polish Insurance Association since 2000. Initially he performed a function of the advisor of the president and later on he was Head of the Office of the Polish Insurance Association. In 2008, he was appointed as a member of the management board. The Extraordinary General Meeting appointed, once again, Mr Andrzej Jarczyk, the President of the management board of Uniqua Group, as a member of the Audit Committee.
The General Meeting decided to award those who were especially involved in the work for the insurance market in Poland with the „For the Insurance Service” badges. The badges were awarded to: Mrs Grażyna Golińska, Mrs Magdalena Kaczmarek, Mrs Katarzyna Kasztelan-Przybylska, Mr Piotr Adamczyk, Mr Andrzej Janc, Mr Zbigniew Jęksa, Mr Radosłąw Kamiński, Mr Adam Muzioł, Mr Jakub Nawracała, Mr Piotr Szlenk, Mr Paul Villemagne.
The Supreme Administrative Court, after having heard a cassation of an insurance company on 22 June 2010, reversed the original judgment of the Provincial Administrative Court in Gliwice (judgment of the Provincial Administrative Court dated 20 July 2010, I OSK 465/10).
The proceedings dealt with the motion of the insurance company filed with the District Executive to convey copies of documents of importing a vehicle (VAT 25, customs documents, sales contract, foreign vehicle registration documents and other documents necessary to register a vehicle). The reason for conveying the copies of documents was the theft of the said vehicle and the process of indemnification for that theft. The party filing the motion cited the regulation of Article 25 of the Insurance Activity Act dated 22 May 2003. After the motion had been turned down, the insurance company filed a claim form with the Provincial Administrative Court in Gliwice, which upheld the position unfavorable to the insurance company basing its judgment on its own interpretation of Article 80, Paragraph 1 of the Polish Road Traffic Act and, at the same time, omitting Article 25 of the Insurance Activity Act.
The Supreme Administrative Court stated the following: „Article 25, Paragraph 1 of the Insurance Activity Act constitutes an independent legal basis for insurance companies to demand, after meeting the requirements specified in the said regulation, particular information and materials from other entities such as courts, public prosecutor’s offices, police, authorities and institutions. This case is about the information and materials which are held by entities which are obliged to make them available regardless of the manner in which the entities took possession of the said information and materials. However, it is an essential requirement that the information or materials referred to in Article 25, Paragraph 1 of the Act be indispensable to the insurance company in order to perform tasks specified in the Insurance Activity Act dated 22 May 2003.”
In practice, the above-mentioned judgment shows the possibility of effective obtaining documents by insurance companies which are necessary to register imported vehicles and which are held by a District Executive Office.
This judgment might also turn out vital in possible proceedings in Self-government Appeal Courts, Provincial Administrative Courts or the Supreme Administrative Court.
The entire content of the judgment can be found HERE
The Polish Insurance Association prepared a brochure for insurance companies entitled “The programmes of the audit of chosen processes/areas in insurance companies – part II”. The brochure was prepared by the Audit and Internal Control Subcommittee which operates as part of the Economic and Financial Committee of the Polish Insurance Association. The brochure is a continuation of the publication published in December 2009 and entitled “The programmes of the audit of chosen processes/areas in insurance companies – part I”.
The entire text of the brochure
Banks and insurance companies have once again combined their forces to meet the needs of their clients and to ensure a greater sense of security and an easier access to information to them. The Polish Bank Association (ZBP) and the Polish Insurance Association have developed II Good Bancassurance Practice Recommendation to secure the clients’ legal and economic interests.
The document “Recommendation on Good Practice in the Scope of Financial Insurance Combined with Bank Products Secured by Mortgage” developed by ZBP and PIU is to determine clear principles in the Bank-Client relationship. The Recommendation regulates general principles for the conduct of the bank entering on its own behalf and account into a financial insurance contract. It is a policy ensuring the coverage of the bank’s losses due to events covered by the insurance and connected with a credit (or a loan) secured by mortgage. ZBP shall request the banks to implement the provisions of the Recommendation by July 2011.
“We assume that as a result of implementing this recommendation, the method of constructing financial insurance and the relationship between the bank and the insurer will become consolidated. Information policy standards with respect to the clients will be determined and a proper information contents of contracts and other promotional or information materials given to the clients ensured,” said Krzysztof Pietraszkiewicz, the President of ZBP.
The Recommendation indicates expressly that documents given to the clients ought to be written in a clear and unambiguous manner, whereas any doubts ought to be interpreted for the benefit of the client. “This especially concerns key definitions such as, for example, own contribution which is required. The response we have received indicates that there have been many misunderstandings in the relations between banks and potential debtors due to unclear definitions precisely. The Recommendation solves this problem,” says Jan Grzegorz Prądzyński, the President of PIU.
The Recommendation will cover four types of insurance contracts which have been considered to be the most popular in the context of mortgage loans: bridging insurance, low own contribution insurance (missing own contribution), real estate value insurance and legal title insurance. The key and utmost important part of the Recommendation is to determine the bank’s information obligations towards the client, i.e. to provide the client with information on the concluded financial insurance contract. The documents made accessible to the client ought to contain the following information: subject of insurance, scope of insurance protection, information on the entity authorized to receive insurance money, and information on the insurance company’s entitlement to recourse with respect to the client.
In accordance with the opinion expressed on multiple occasions by, among others, the supervisory body, a provision was included in the Recommendation that the client cannot bear the cost of the insurance fee, especially when the bank as the insurer ought to pay it. By analogy to the principles adopted in the first recommendation regarding group insurance, it was also pointed out that the costs connected with the increased risk of the Bank will be accrued only for the period during which the risk occurred.
After the Recommendation comes into force, ZBP intends to monitor its application and prevalence as well as to communicate progress in its implementation by subsequent banks and insurance companies. ZBP hopes that Good Bancassurance Practice will become a commonly binding standard in the scope of services provided by banks.
In 2009 I Recommendation was implemented which regarded protective insurance combined with bank products, and executed within the group insurance formula. The main part of the recommendation constituted the bank’s obligations in the scope of providing the client with clear and full information regarding insurance protection conditions which he is covered by. After the I Recommendation was announced, ZBP and PIU analyzed the number of complaints which were sent to the Bank Consumer Arbitration (Bankowy Arbitraż Konsumencki) proper for this subject. In 2010 the reported number of complaints substantially decreased. Thus, one can assume that the proposed solutions have been embraced by the market and that they fulfill their role.
PIU and ZBP have begun working on III recommendation for the bancassurance market. It will concern another large and extremely important part of the market – saving and investment insurance. The requests for possible remarks and suggestions regarding III Recommendation have already been sent to the representatives of the Minister of Finance, the Polish Financial Supervision Authority (KNF), the Polish Insurance Ombudsman, the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK), the Human Rights Ombudsman and the Government Representative for Equal Treatment.
Presentation on II Recommendation
The contents of II Recommendation
The Polish Insurance Association gave money to five firefighting schools of the State Fire Service to purchase specialist pumps with fixtures. Such devices are necessary to provide help in areas affected by floods.
The decision to give money to the schools of the State Fire Service to buy equipment was taken in 2010. After the tragic events which, in the period between June and September 2010, affected several hundred people, the Board of PIU asked the authorities of the State Fire Service to specify the equipment which would be most suitable in counteracting flood effects.
– We wanted an opinion of professionals who fight the effects of natural disasters on a daily basis. Thanks to this we have a guarantee that the money PIU gave has really been used to buy necessary and modern equipment. What I want most is for the equipment to remain unnecessary. Unfortunately, recent years have shown that natural disasters will be more and more frequent in Poland – says Jan Grzegorz Prądzyński, the President of the Board of PIU.
The new pumps along with fixtures were given to the schools of the State Fire Service in Warszawa, Kraków, Poznań, Bydgoszcz, and Częstochowa.
– Thanks to the financial resources given as part of the donation by PIU it was possible to buy WT 30X Honda motor-driven pumps as well as Niagara swimming motor-driven pumps. Due to their parameters, the pumps serve to eliminate the effects of floods and inundations, which is why I would like to express my gratitude for supporting the State Fire Service and appreciating its role during activities of such kind and offering help to the people who suffered – says general Wiesław Leśniakiewicz, the Chief of State Fire Service.
The Fire Service College of the State Fire Service in Poznań sends many thanks
