The Insurance Knowledge Sharing Programme by PIU and FES of the University of Warsaw is becoming increasingly popular.

Almost 40 people, mainly students participated the lecture devoted to the idea of private health insurances. The lecture was conducted by Stanisław Borkowski, the Member of the Board of Directors of Allianz Polska SA.

That was the second lecture within the Insurance Knowledge Sharing Programme organized together with PIU and the Faculty of Economic Science at the University of Warsaw.

In the first part of the lecture, Stanisław Borkowski focused on the basic aspects concerning the functioning of insurances. He described the function of the insured, insurer, supervision and reinsurer.

In the second part of the lecture, students had the opportunity to get familiarized with the commercial health insurance market and the system of financing the public health service in Poland.

The last part of the lecture consisted in a presentation of the complex reform of the health service created by PIU. The students had an opportunity to hear a case study by many experts recognized as the best proposal of changes in financing the Polish health service.

The lecture ended with questions from the audience.

The next lecture within the Insurance Knowledge Sharing Programme will be held on the 14th of December.  It will be devoted to the topic of disaster insurances and it will be given by Andrzej Maciążek, a member of the Board of PIU.

More information on the lectures is available on the website of the FES of the University of Warsaw in the section devoted to the Insurance Education and the Insurance Knowledge Sharing Programme.

Another unit joined the Polish Insurance Association: Inter Partner Assistance SA, Branch in Poland. At present, the Association consists of 78 units.

Inter Partner Assistance SA, Branch in Poland is a branch of Belgian insurance company possessing 100% of the capital of the service company IPA Polska SA. The aim of the branch is the insurance and reinsurance activity within the assistance products. Both companies are of equal importance and their cooperation is aimed at improving the commercial and legal servicing of assistance contracts concluded with institutional partners of IPA in Poland.

Marta Kaleńska-Jaśkiewicz is the General Director of Inter Partner Assistance SA, Branch in Poland and the Chief Executive Officer of IPA Polska SA. Andrzej Grzych, a Member of the Managing Board of IPA Polska SA, is the Deputy General Director of Inter Partner Assistance SA, Branch in Poland,

The registered office of Inter Partner Assistance SA, Branch in Poland is situated in Warsaw:

ul. Chłodna 51
00-867 Warszawa
Warsaw Trade Tower
Tel. + 48 22 5759400
Fax. +48 22 5759401
e-mail: ipaoddzial@ipa.com.pl
http://www.ipassistance.pl/

During a special ceremony the prizes of the Polish Insurance Association were awarded in the Leon Kozicki competition for the best MA theses as well as in the the journalist competition.
The ceremony was held in Lubomirski Palace, the seat of the Business Center Club. The special guest of the evening was Prof. Jarzy Bralczyk, who gave lecture on the language in insurance. In a humorous way, he attributed the greatest importance to the word “insurance.”

In the Leon Kozicki competition for the best MA theses, on the request of the Assessment Committee, the Board of PIU awarded the main prize to Joanna Zawarska for her MA thesis: “Chosen sources of third party liability of the members of capital companies and available insurance solutions” written under the supervision of Professor Jerzy Handschke of the Economic Academy in Poznań. The thesis was distinguished for its substantial and cognitive value and its original approach towards the subject. The second prize was awarded to Janusz Wozowczyk for his thesis: “The theory of ruin and the standard financial analysis as an alternative of evaluating the financial situation of the insurer”” also written under the supervision of Professor Jerzy Handschke of the Economic Academy in Poznań. The third place was awarded to Grzegorz Dudczak for his thesis: “The System of the Green Card and the System of the IV Directive on Motor Vehicle Traffic as Complementary Protection Tools for Casualties of cross-border Motor Vehicle Accidents.” The supervisor of the work was dr Marcin Orlicki from the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań.

The title of the Insurance Journalist of the Year within the journalists’ community competition was, for the second time, awarded to Marcin Jaworski, the journalist of “Gazeta Prawna,” (currently “Dziennik Gazeta Prawna”).

The prize for the Article of the Year was awarded to Aleksandra Kurowska from “Parkiet,” while the award for the Debut went to Marta Kasperek from “Miesięcznik Ubezpieczeniowy.”

Photo coverage from the event is available in the Gallery.

We encourage students writing their master thesis and journalists to participate in the competition next year.

The Polish Insurance Association (the PIU) informs that the Official Journal of the European Union No. L 263/11 from the 7th of October 2009 published a „Directive of the European Parliament the Council 2009/103/EC from the 16th September 2009 on the third party liability insurance or damages resulting from the traffic of motor vehicles and executing the mandatory character of this type of liability insurance.”

The Directive 2009/103/EC is a result of the codification initiative from 2008 by the European Commission and it contains a unified version of binding (until now) five directives on motor vehicles traffic by the Council of European Communities.

The Directive was published in the Official Journal of the European Union, and its Polish version is available on the following website:

http://eurlex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2009:263:0011:0031:PL:PDF

The Polish Insurance Association together with the Faculty of Economic Sciences of the University of Warsaw have launched the Insurance Knowledge Sharing Programme. It is addressed to the students and scientific staff of the faculty as well as the whole University.

The Programme will be based on two elements: the series of open lectures at the FES of the University of Warsaw conducted by experts of the insurance market as well as vocational training in the PIU for the students of the faculty.

The first lecture will be conducted on the 26th October, 2010. Further lectures will be held once a month, excluding the exam sessions, winter and summer holidays.

Popularization of the knowledge on insurances and educational actions is one of the most important public functions of PIU. Its significant element is the close and regular cooperation with renowned academic centers. The cooperation has so far been focused on e.g. preparing the contents of branch conferences, editing “Wiadomości Ubezpieczeniowe,” and organizing competitions of final projects.
One of the target group particularly interested in insurance are the students of economic faculties. They are the natural receivers of information and knowledge on insurance. In the future, many of them may be interested in taking up jobs on the insurance market, therefore, they are looking for places where they could gain practice.

Therefore, the PIU together with the FES of the University of Warsaw prepared the Insurance Knowledge Sharing Programme. Within the program, the PIU received the status of an institution cooperating with FES of the University of Warsaw. More information on the program is available on the website of FES of the University of Warsaw.

http://www.wne.uw.edu.pl/promocja/index.php?id=4

The district Court in Warsaw decided to secure the claim of PIU against a compensatory firm Casus. According to that decision, the firm, during the proceedings will be obliged to stop issuing advertisements which mislead customers. The ban concerns all mass media.

Justifying its decision, the Court stated that the credibility of the claims by PIU was sufficiently proved. According to the Court, the materials delivered by PIU in regard to the suit “expressly undermine the reliability of insurance companies concerning the payment of damages.” The Court believes that further advertisements of Casus could – in case of a decision for PIU – seriously disturb the insurance companies in getting across to all receivers of the advertisement with false content.

The suit against Casus was put forward by PIU in July, 2010. According to the Association’s opinion, by presenting the information about lowering damages by insurance companies, the firm misleads customers and frightens the casualties of road accidents and tarnishes the opinion of insurance companies within PIU. In the suit against Casus, the PIU demands a correction of false information in the advertisements. The corrections should be placed on the 2 or 3 page of “Gazeta Wyborcza,” “Metro,” and “Rzeczpospolita” and the costs will be incurred by Casus. In each of the papers, the correction should appear five times. Casus is also to apologize the clients of insurance companies for being misled and for tarnishing their good names. Moreover, PIU demands that Casus pay 100,000 PLN on the account of the Child’s Health Center which should support the Child’s Health Center Memorial Institute.

PIU starts a national educational campaign focused on the functioning of the insurance market in Poland. Therefore, the PIU established cooperation with the biggest and the most popular women’s magazine “Pani Domu”

The cooperation with the magazine (issued every two weeks) consisted in a series of materials concerning all spheres of the insurance market. Each of the materials will be devoted to a different type of products. The first part will be issued on the 7th of October and it will be a guide of motor vehicle insurance. Other parts are already being prepared and they will concern, e.g. home insurances, health insurance and life insurance (either of protection or investment nature).

The materials are aimed at familiarizing potential customers with insurers’ offers and clarifying the most common doubts related to insurances. The cycle will also include answers of PIU experts to questions asked by the readers of Pani Domu.

PIU reminds that the education within insurances is one of statutory targets of the Association. The cooperation with media in that field is aimed at getting across to potential customers, companies without sufficient knowledge on the insurance regulations and products available on the Polish market. Pani Domu gets across to 5 million readers.

For the first time, the Association of Polish Insurance will take part in this year’s edition of the TT Warsaw International Tourism Fair. PIU together with the Polish Insurance Association will organize a discussion panel titled “Touristic Insurance Fund as a guarantee for the protection of tourists and tour-operators.”

The TT Warsaw Fair is an event organized every year for people interested in national and foreign tourism. During the three days of the fair, we will organize various presentations, seminars, lectures and workshops aimed at travel agencies, tour-operators and the representatives of the MICE sector (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, Events). The event is also aimed at all the people interested in this subject.

The event will be held on the 24th-26th September, 2010. On the second day of the fair – 25 September (Friday), at 14:00 o’clock – the Polish Insurance Association will organize a discussion panel titled “Touristic Insurance Fund as a guarantee for the protection of tourists and tour-operators,” devoted to the need for creating such a fund in Poland. This kind of securities work successfully in other EU countries.

The following representatives of the Polish Insurance Association will participate in the panel: Mr Stanisław Piśko, the Vice President of the PIT, Mr Leszek Miłosz, Legal Counselor of the PIT, and representatives of the Polish Insurance Association: Jan Grzegorz Prądzyński, The President of the Board of PIU and Adam Pustelnik, the President of the Board of Companies of Signal Iduna.

After the speeches of the experts, a panel discussion will be held.

The Polish Insurance Association presents the report of the European Insurance and Reinsurance Federation – CEA – entitled “The European market of transport insurance”. The Association presented the original version of the report to the insurance companies in the middle of the year and announced its translation into the Polish language.

The report contains an interesting cross section of data within the scope of transport insurance in particular countries and the tendency over a few years.

The report in the Polish version

The representatives of insurance companies who take part in the race will be competing for the prize of the Polish Insurance Association – PIU Running Cup 2009 – in the 31st edition of the Warsaw Marathon. The insurers can submit their 6-person teams to a relay race – within the scope of the Running Friendly Company programme – which is held every year one day before the main race, that is the Warsaw Marathon. This year, the relay race will take place on Saturday, 26th September, and the main race on Sunday, 27th September. The objective of the event is not only propagating a healthy manner of spending free time, but also supporting the charity campaign organized by the “Warsaw Marathon” Foundation.

The competitors of the 31st Warsaw Marathon, the most popular Polish race, will run along the streets of the capital of Poland. The route of the race leads through Śródmieście, Powiśle, Żoliborz and Praga. It is expected that on Sunday 27th September, there will be approximately 4 thousand runners. A day before, there will be a competition of relay teams, within the scope of the Running Friendly Company programme, which will have to run the entire distance of the marathon – that is 42.195 km (5+10+5+10+5+7.195 km).

The Polish Insurance Association, for the first time this year, is involved in the promotion of this prestigious sports event. In June, the Association organized the first football competition for insurers – PIU Cup 2009. Currently, within the scope of the events of the “Warsaw Marathon” Foundation, the employees of insurance companies will be able to compete for PIU Running Cup 2009 in the relay race event. Three best insurance teams will receive the prizes of PIU Running Cup 2009. The Association was persuaded to take part in the event by Generali – the initiator of previous insurance races whose employees, for the 4th time, participate in the events of the Foundation.

6-person teams which represent a particular insurance company can enter for the race. They can do it via the Internet website of the Warsaw Marathon (www.ekiden.pl) and – which is very important! – simultaneously with it, they have to send the information to the address: izba@piu.org.pl, writing “Sztafeta” in the subject of the e-mail.

We encourage the company teams of insurers and also the insurance runners who would like to be part – as in the previous years – of the mixed team of the Association – “PIU Insurance Team”. This option is especially directed to those who cannot complete the entire team or have too many runners for one team. Attention – there is a limit of 200 teams which is quickly reached, that is why it is advisable that the would-be competitors enter for the race as quickly as possible.

The coordinator of the mixed teams is Mr Rafał Kałęcki from Generali (rafal.kalecki@generali.pl), who participated many times in the Warsaw Marathon. The prizes in the relay race event will be awarded as soon as the race has been finished, on Saturday, 26th September. 

We also encourage everybody to take part in the main event – the 31st Warsaw Marathon. This year, the time limit to cover all the distance is extended to as many as 8 hours which makes the marathon a lot easier for those who are not sure of their skills and capabilities.

Also the participants of the main race, in order to be able to compete for the prizes of the Association – PIU Running Cup 2009 – apart from the registration on the website of the Warsaw Marathon (www.maraton2009.pl), should send an e-mail to: izba@piu.org.pl, writing in the subject of the e-mail “Bieg główny”. The sponsor of the prizes is Generali, the initiator of the previous insurance races.

We encourage – competitors and fans as well – to take part in the event, especially that the there is going to be an immense number of people this year!

The event takes place under the patronage of “Dziennik Ubezpieczeniowy”.