Over 500 honorary guests participated in the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Polish Insurance Association. On the first day of the ceremonies, the representatives of the Chancellery of President awarded people who particularly contributed to creating a modern insurance market in Poland with state orders and insignia.
In order to award people who, for years, have been supporting the activity of the insurance self-government, the Polish Insurance Association decorated them with “Meritorius for Insurance” Insignia. The order was awarded to 52 people who particularly have been supporting the Association while realizing its statutory tasks.
The first day of the celebration of the 20th anniversary of PIU ended with an exquisite concert of Leszek Możdżer, a renowned Polish pianist. The concert was organized thanks to the support of one of the PIU member – Polish Re.
The second day of the celebration started with a international academic conference titled “Economic Ideas after the Global Crisis.” Edward Prescott, the winner of the Alfred Nobel Prize of the Bank of Sweden in 2004. He delivered a lecture on the opportunities and threats for Poland from the global economy perspective. Tommy Persson, the President of CEA gave a lecture on the Solvency Directive II and the effects of its implementation in Europe. Prof. Leszek Balcerowicz gave a presentation devoted to the economic crisis and the “crisis of thinking” related to it. He described, in details, the problems which may result from excessive involvement of the state into economy. He also mentioned recent ideas concerning the pension reform and the functioning of OFE. Prof. Witold Orłowski presented the phenomena which lead to crisis. He also underlined that the recent crisis should not be regarded as the past.
The celebration ended with festive ceremony organized in the Matejko Hall in Zachęta Gallery. During the ceremony, Ania Dąbrowska gave a recital.
A Congratulations Letter from the Chancellery of the Prime Minister
A Congratulations Letter from Prof. Barbary Kudryckiej, The Minister of Education
A Congratulations Letter from the Warranty Fund Insurance Board
A Congratulations Letter from the President of the National Economic Association
An account from the conference “Economic ideas after the Global Crisis,” with Prof. Edward Prescott, the winner of the Nobel Prize, Prof. Leszek Balcerowicz, Prof. Witolda Orłowskiego and Tommy Persson, the President of CEA.
State and Industry Orders and Badges for the 20th anniversary of the PIU.
Within the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Polish Insurance Association, the Association organized international academic conference titled “Economic Ideas after the Global Crisis.” We had the honour to host Prof. Edward Prescott, the winner of the Alfred Nobel Prize of the Bank of Sweden in 2004. Other honorary guests included Prof. Leszek Balcerowicz, Prof. Witold Orłowski and Tommy Persson, The President of CEA.
Edward Prescott presented a lecture on the opportunities and threats for Poland from the perspective of the global economy.
Tommy Persson, the President of CEA gave a lecture on the Solvency Directive II and the effects of its implementation in Europe.
Prof. Leszek Balcerowicz gave a presentation devoted to the economic crisis and the “crisis of thinking” related to it. He described in details the problems which may result from excessive involvement of the state into economy. He also mentioned recent ideas concerning the pension reform and the functioning of OFE.
Prof. Witold Orłowski presented the phenomena which lead to crisis. He also underlined that the recent crisis should not be regarded as the past.
The conference attracted almost 100 people. Each of the lecturers after his lecture answered to a series of questions asked by the audience.
The presentation of Prof. Edward Prescott
The presentation of Tommy Persson
Elaboration Prof. Leszk Balcerowicz
The presentation of Prof. Witold Orłowski
On the occasion of the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Polish Insurance Association, President Bronisław Komorowski awarded state orders to people who particularly contributed to the development of the insurance market in Poland. The Officer’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta were awarded to the following individuals;
Pan Paweł Dangel
Pan Jan Rościszewski
Pan Piotr Śliwicki
Krzyżami Kawalerskimi Orderu Odrodzenia Polski odznaczeni zostali:
Pani Beata Balas-Noszczyk
Pan Ryszard Bociong
Pan Andrzej Klesyk
The President also awarded the Cross of Merits to the following representatives of the insurance market:
Pani Małgorzata Makulska
Pani Maria Płachta
Pan Stanisław Rorkowski
Pan Antoni Brański
Pan Marek Czerski
Pan Łukasz Kalinowski
Pan Dariusz Krzewina
Pan Marian Miziołek
Pan Marek Rundo
Pan Leszek Skop
Pani Agnieszka Smoleńska-Miciałkiewicz
Pani Ewa Stachura-Kruszewska
Pan Grzegorz Szatkowski
Silver Cross of Merits were awarded to:
Pan Piotr Dzikiewicz
Pan Witold Jaworski
Pani Ewa Jezierewska
Pan Wacław Lewandowski
Pani Iwona Ochocka
Pan Rafał Stankiewicz
Pani Monika Woźniak-Makarska
Pan Wiesław Zaborowski
Bronze Crosses of Merits were awarded to the following individuals:
Pan Andrzej Gładysz
Pan Maciej Jankowski
Pani Hanna Karczewska-Czysz
Pan Andrzej Kinal
Pan Zygmunt Kostkiewicz
Pan Jarosław Piątkowski
Pan Konrad Rojewski
Pan Adam Uszpolewicz
Pani Anna Włodarczyk-Moczkowska
The Polish Insurance Association also awarded industry order to people who have been cooperating for years with PIU and who socially supported the insurance self-government.
Special medals of the 20th anniversary of PIU were awarded to:
Pani Katarzyna Przewalska
Pan prof. Eugeniusz Kowalewski
Pan prof. Jerzy Handschke
Pan prof. Tadeusz Szumlicz
Pan Mariusz Wichtowski
Pan Leszek Czarnecki
Pan Michał Boni
Pan Józef Zych
Pan Andrzej Maciążek
Pan Marian Miziołek
Pan Stefan Kawalec
Pan Jean François de Vulpillieres
PIU awarded traditional „Meritorious for Insurance” Insignia to people particularly involved in the insurance self-government:
Pan Eric Lombard
Pan Pierre de Villeneuve
Pan Jean Bertrand Laroche
Pan Jacek Nowotarski
Pan Jan Rejdych
Pan Michał Makarczyk
Pani Halina Cieślak
Pan Thierry Jeantet
Pani Elżbieta Wojciechowska
Pan Wacław Drozdowicz
Pani Katarzyna Rubel
Pani Katarzyna Grześkowiak
Pani Elwira Ostrowska-Graczyk
Pan Robert Dąbrowski
Pan Jacek Jurzyk
Pan Dariusz Kwiatkowski
Pan Robert Pusz
Pani Anna Sitek
Pan Marek Łepik
Pani Ryszarda Otto
Pani Krystyna Chodnicka
Pan Jacek Kugacz
Pani Anita Bogusz
Pan Andrzej Czub
Pani Agnieszka Lewandowska
Pan Jacek Ojrzyński
Pani Grażyna Sudzińska-Amroziewicz
Pan Piotr Szczepiórkowski
Pani Agnieszka Wieczorek-Nowak
Pani Ewa Woźniak
Pan Ambroży Wójcik
Pani Elżbieta Wójcik
Pani Elżbieta Szambelan-Bakuła
Pan Tomasz Chełmicki
Pan Bogdan Szymczak
Pan Grzegorz Buczkowski
Pan Zbigniew Mikulski
Pani Joanna Domańska
Pani Katarzyna Rudzka
Pan Janusz Lipiński
Pan Wojciech Żernicki
Pan Marcin Borowiec
Pan Mariusz Kulig
Pan Ryszard Domański
Pan Adam H. Pustelnik
Pani Małgorzata Knut
Pan Paweł Zylm
Pani Ilona Wolszleger-Dunajska
Pan Mario Everardo Zamarripa Gonzalez
Pani Magdalena Kampowska
Pani Sława Cwalińska-Weychert
Pan Stanisław Wlazło
An Extraordinary Meeting of the Polish Insurance Association held yesterday has chosen Marek Czerski, the President of the Board of PTR SA for a member of the Audit Committee of PIU.
Marek Czerski replaced Jarosław Parkot, the President of the Board of TUiR Warta SA.
The first session of the Audit Committee with the new member will be held on the 22th of September.
Moreover, the Extraordinary General Meeting decided to award 56 people, recommended by insurance companies, with “Meritorious for Insurance” Insignia. The orders will be awarded on the 18th of November 2010 during the first day of the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Association.
On the 21 July, during Expo 2010 in Shanghai the representatives of the Polish insurance market met the representatives of the insurance sector in China. The aim of the seminar was the presentation of the Polish market and mutual exchange of experience. The problems and matters are very similar in both countries despite differences between these two rapidly developing markets.
The following people participated in the saminar:
Andrzej Klesyk – President of the Board of PZU, Paweł Dangel – President of the Board of the Allianz Polska Group, Ryszard Bociong – General Directof of Axa Direct, Grzegorz Szatkowski – Vice President of the Ergo Hestia Group and Jan Grzegorz Prądzyński, President of the Board of the Polish Insurance Association. The seminar also gathered 40 representatives of the Chinese insurance companies and associations, e.g. Li Feng, the Deputy of China Insurance Regulatory Commission, Zhang Jun Cai, President of Shanghai Insurance Association (an equivalent of PIU) and the Head of Shanghai Insurance Institute, as well as representatives of fourteen Chinese insurance companies, including the members of the management of such leading unit on the insurance market as
PCIC – Property and Casualty Co. Ltd. Shanghai Branch (the biggest Chinese insurer), China Pacific Life Insurance Co. ltd, Ming An Insurance Co. (China) Ltd., Bank of China – Insurance Operations (Shanghai Branch).
PIU was invited to Shanghai by the Commissioner of the Polish Section at Expo 2010 in Shanghai and the President of the Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency. Expo 2010 in Shanghai has been the biggest World Exposition organized ever. Almost 250 countries and international organization participated in it.
Download the poster of Expo 2010
We would like to present a questionnaire concerning the practice within the mutual relations between an internal auditor and a expert auditor.
The questionnaire is aimed at managers of the internal audit department (or the internal control department, provided that your company did not establish an internal audit team). The questionnaire is voluntary and completely anonymous. In order to ensure its anonymous character, we attach a paper version of the questionnaire, which should be sent back in the attached envelope no later that the 16th August 2010.
Owing to the direct cooperation of PIU and the governmental administration established on the day when flood alarm was raised, on the Friday session, the Parliament had the opportunity to present information concerning the help from insurers to the casualties of the disaster.
Michał Boni, the Head of Donald Tusk Advisors presented “the Information of the Prime Minister on the Situation in the Flooded Areas.” He underlined that insurers associated in PIU should use the standards of simplified liquidation of damages and immediate payment of advances to the casualties that most suffered from the disaster.
The insurance companies take quick actions concerning the accounting of reported damages (27 thousand damages). Most of the companies associated in PIU took special actions which means that in case of damages of low value (3 to 5 thousand PLN), the damages are liquidated by phone without sending experts. In case of damages of higher value, the advances of 5 thousand PLN are paid very quickly, sometimes without expertise, based on a preliminary evaluation of a expert. If a more complex analysis of damages is needed, the process is simplified – Michał Boni said.
He also related to special crisis staffs established by insurers for clients living in the flooded areas. He pointed out that the payment of advances and quick liquidation of damages by insurers will be carried on.
The government also informed about its consistent cooperation with PIU. We forwarded a letter of request for cooperation and the exchange of information to the Polish Insurance Association, so that the reported damages could be settled quickly – added Michał Boni.
The Polish Insurance Association is continuously receiving information from its members about the number of reported damages and actions taken with relation to the flood. Using the media, the PIU also gives the up-to-date information helpful for the insured people who incurred damages because of the flood.
PIU also wants to express its gratitude to all its members for their up-to-date information about the damages resulting from the flood. The standards established within this issue by the market contribute not only to better protection of the casualties but also to positive change of the image of the industry in the eyes of the society. Due to these actions the insurance industry is treated as a rightful partner in the consultation and cooperation with the governmental administration.
On the 8th of April 2010, the first reading of the Bill took place during the session of the Public Finances Committee. The Bill concerned the Act on Banking Law, Act on Insurance Activity, Act on Investment funds, Act on the Management of Financial Instruments and the Act on the Control over the Financial Market accompanied with executive drafts of the acts. The project was aimed at the execution of the EU Law. The amendment was designed to adjust regulations of the above-mentioned act to the Directive 2007/44/EC of the European Parliament and the Council from the 5th September 2007 amending the Council Directive 92/49/EEC and the Directive 2002/83/EC, 2004/39/EC, 2005/68/EC and 2006/48/EC within the scope of procedural principles and evaluation criteria applied within the prudence evaluation of the cases of purchasing and the enlargement of shares or stocks in financial sector units together with determining deadline for performing particular activities and unified prudence evaluation criteria in all sectors. Moreover, the amendment assumes the adjustment of the act on Banking Law to the Directive 2005/56/EC of the European Parliament and the Council from the 26th of October 2005 on the cross-border merger of capital companies within the possibility to merge a bank with a credit institution.
The representative of the Polish Insurance Association took part in the session.
The Act from the 22nd of May 2003 on the insurance activity, in present legal condition regulates the question of purchasing the shares or rights to the shares of national insurance company, disposing of such shares. It also regulates the duty to inform a supervisory organ about purchasing or disposing of shares in the article 35-37 of the Act on Insurance Activity. Other changes were included in the article 35, amended articles 35a – 35o, amended articles 36 and 37. The reinsurance was included in the article 223 of the Act on Insurance Activity.
In order to continue the legislative actions on the Bill the Public Finances Committee forwarded the Bill to the Permanent Subcommittee of Financial Institution. The date of the first session of the subcommittee was not established, however, the subcommittee should stop its activity until the 4th of May this year in order to prepare a uniform account of the Public Finances Committee no later than the 7th of May the same year.
Paweł Kolbarczyk, the Head of the Accident and Health Insurance Committee of PIU and the director of Health Insurance PZU Życie S.A. will take part in the debate “Health Insurance and the Efficiency of the Health Care System” which will be held on the 15th April at the Faculty of Management at the University of Warsaw.
Subjects of the discussion:
The definition of health insurance in Poland
Monopoly or an open market of health insurances?
Additional health insurance policies as a complement to public health insurance,
Development conditions for commercial health insurance in Poland.
Except for the representative of PIU, the following individuals will take part in the debate
· Andrzej Włodarczyk – a doctor and expert on the health system (introduction)
· Jakub Szulc – the Secretary of State in the Ministry of Health
· Bolesław Piecha – the Head of the Health Committee in Sejm of the republic of Poland
· Leszek Sikorski – the Director of the Center of Health Protection Information Systems
· Alicja Sobczak – The Faculty of Management of the University of Warsaw
· Mariusz Ignatowicz – Partner PricewaterhouseCoopers
During his one-day visit in Poland, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the Managing Director of the International Currency Fund gave a lecture in the Warsaw School of Economics (SGH) titled „After the Global Financial Crisis – The Road Ahead for Europe,” in which he pointed out three basic areas of activity in Europe. Those resulted from the reflection on the financial crisis.
The first of them concerns the need for a fundamental restructure of the supervisory architecture of financial markets. The new supervisory architecture should include the European Resolution Authority which has the authorization and tools to cope with bankruptcy of systemic banks operating on the cross-border level. The second consists in the necessity to strengthen the coordination of economic policies in individual EU Member States, either in the macro-economic, structural and financial aspect. The third, the most up-to-date priority is the economic awakening and counteracting the increasing unemployment
Dominique Strauss-Kahn also took part in the panel debate broadcasted live from the Royal Castle in Warsaw. The debate was titled “20 years of transformation in Central and Eastern Europe: fulfilling the promises.” Vaira Vike-Freiberga, The president of Latvia, Adam Michnik, a publicist in “Gazeta Wyborcza” and Jacquea Rupnik took part in the debate.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn highlighted that the countries in our region experienced an unusal improvement of life conditions during the transformation, which would have been impossible without the integration with Western Europe. Strauss-Kahnnalso pointed out that appropriate financial and economic management, stong institutions and healthy economic policy enabled Poland to avoid excessive effects of the financial crisis. The 20 billion credit line of the International Currency Fund given to Poland was only one of the elements which helped Poland to cope with the crisis in a relatively painless way.
