The ceremony of awarding prizes in the competitions of the Polish Insurance Association

Below you will find a gallery of photographs taken at the prize awards gala of the PIU contest for the best seminar papers as well as the journalism contest. We would like to invite you to browse the gallery.

Casus, a compensation office, must apologize and correct all false information about the alleged lowering of claim amount by insurers.

That is the effect of the settlement achieved at the District Court in Warsaw between the Polish Insurance Association and Casus Dochodzenie Roszczeń Ubezpieczeniowych. The correction of the false information used by Casus in its advertising materials must be published twice in “Dziennik Gazeta Prawna” and twice in “Metro”. Its contents, according to the settlement achieved, will look as follows:

“Casus Dochodzenie Roszczeń Ubezpieczeniowych would like to apologise to insurance companies for disseminating in advertising materials false information on lowering by insurance companies the amount of claims paid out. Casus declares that it did not intend to suggest that using its services is indispensable for receiving compensation.”

Casus is also obliged to pay PLN 2,000 to the account of Society of Friends of Children’s Health Centre Foundation to support of the Scientific Library of the Children’s Memorial Health Institute.

The lawsuit for infringement of personal interests was filed against Casus by the Polish Insurance Association in mid-2009. It was connected with the law firm’s ads claiming that “in over 99% of cases insurance companies lower claims they pay out” and suggesting the need to use the services of Casus to receive due compensation.  

Our draft bill is the first step towards introduction of competition on the healthcare market in Poland. The vision must be focused on the patient. This means that healthcare providers cannot be divided into public and private ones. Everyone is a partner – this is how Ewa Kopacz, the Minister of Health, defined the vision of a comprehensive healthcare reform in Poland.

During the conference “Role and place of private health insurance in the healthcare system in Poland” organized by the Polish Insurance Association, Ewa Kopacz pointed out that what is very important to the Ministry of Health in the process of creating new system-based solutions is partnership and professional cooperation with the insurance circles. – We are listening to you because we are not the kind of people who think they know everything best – said Ewa Kopacz.

The draft bill regulating private health insurance has been long expected. Ideas presented during the conference by Jakub Szulc, Deputy Minister of Health, largely comply with the postulates of the Polish Insurance Association.

The Ministry wants to develop a definition of health insurance in the legal system and to determine the minimum scope of that insurance in the draft bill. Rules on which the National Health Fund will cooperate with the insurers will be defined. The new regulations will make it possible, thanks to this insurance, to obtain occupational medicine benefits and to finance the employees’ contributions to the company social benefits fund. The proposal also anticipates a tax break for persons taking advantage of insurance financing unprofitable benefits, scarcely available in the public system.

– We are very content with the declarations made by the Ministry of Health. Now we are awaiting concrete provisions to be implemented in the law. We anticipate that within the next several weeks the Ministry will send concrete provisions of the draft bill for external consultation, which will be forwarded by the Government to the Parliament – says Jan Grzegorz Prądzyński, President of the Management Board of the Polish Insurance Association.

Representatives of the Ministry of Health emphasized that opening of the private health insurance market does not and will not favour wealthier patients. – Private insurance will not be a key to jumping the queue to publicly guaranteed services – Ewa Kopacz announced.

This is an assumption on which the proposals put forward by the Polish Insurance Association have been based for years. – The private health insurance system must be founded on the rule of social solidarity. Everyone – those who decide to pay an extra premium for private insurance and those who do not – will benefit from competition on the health insurance market. Queues to public services will be shortened thanks to extra insurance coverage – says Paweł Kalbarczyk, Chairman of the Health Insurance Committee of the Polish Insurance Association.

We estimate that today, despite of a theoretically full access to public services, each year the patients pay a dozen billion zlotys for health services out of their own pockets. – Thanks to the private health insurance system everyone who decides to pay the extra contribution takes the burden off the budget of the National Health Fund, which will improve the situation of everyone taking advantage of public services – said Jakub Szulc. 

In the first half of 2010 insurance companies paid over PLN 850 million worth of claims for losses caused by fire and other natural disasters. It is 90% more than a year ago. These are mainly claims associated with the floods which occurred in Poland in the second quarter of this year. Data gathered by the Polish Insurance Association, covering approx. 99% of the Polish insurance sector, show that overall in the 1st half of this year customers of insurance companies received over PLN 19.3 billion in the form of claims and benefits. This is 7% less than a year ago. As for non-life insurance nearly PLN 6.7 billion were paid (increase by 14.1%) whereas in regard to life insurance, over PLN 12.6 billion were paid (drop by 15.5%).

On the non-life market we are observing a further deterioration of the technical balance, i.e. result on basic activity. This is an effect of the flood (2nd quarter) as well as a long and cold winter (1st quarter).

Non-life market

In the 1st half of this year the insurers collected PLN 11.2 billion worth of premiums, i.e. 4.2% more than a year ago. Over 54% of the premiums on the non-life market come from motor insurance. Premium earned on MTPL as well as accident and theft insurance increased from year to year by approx. 2%, whereas the value of claims in these groups increased by 5.6% (MTPL) and by 7.3% (accident and theft insurance). On the Polish motor insurance market we may still observe faster growth of the value of claims paid than premium collected. This is an effect of huge competition (including price competition) between the insurers.

The value of claims and benefits paid in the 1st half of 2010 should be looked at, above all, from the point of view of the flood. – This was the largest claim adjustment operation in the history of the Polish insurance market. During the flood the insurers provided assistance to over 200 thousand people and approx. 1.5 thousand companies. All parties affected by the disaster could count on simplified procedures and special claim adjustment paths – says Jan Grzegorz Prądzyński, president of the management board of the Polish Insurance Association. It should be noted that not all claims associated with the natural disasters are reflected in the insurers’ results for the 1st quarter of this year. The floods in Bogatynia and Zgorzelec occurred more than a month after the 2nd quarter had been closed, that is why the effects of the flood claims will be visible also in the insurers’ reports for the 3nd quarter of 2010.

The technical loss of the non-life insurers after the 1st half of 2010 was PLN 777 million in comparison to PLN 238 million of technical profit the year before. – The flood had to be reflected in this year’s results. Please note though that insurance activity is a long-term business. The insurers fulfil all cautionary standards stipulated by the Polish law, and thanks to the reinsurance mechanism, they are financially prepared for paying flood claims. Thanks to this the security of the customers and the funds entrusted by them in the long run are not threatened – emphasizes Jan Grzegorz Prądzyński.

The net profit of non-life insurers after the 1st half of the year amounted to PLN 3.1 billion and was 26% higher than a year ago. But it must be mentioned, that if the insurance group is constructed in such a way that the non-life company is the owner of a life company, then the profit of the life company transferred over to the owner in the form of a dividend is added in the financial statement to the financial result of the owner. If we do not take the biggest one dividend into account in the results for the 1st half of 2010 and the 1st half of 2009, the net loss of the non-life sector in the 1st half of this year amounted to PLN 11 million in comparison to a PLN 884 million profit the year before.

Life market

Life insurers paid in the 1st half of 2010 PLN 12.7 billion worth of benefits, i.e. 15.5% less than a year ago. This drop is associated with a smaller desire of the customers to resign from investment products than a year ago. This applies to short-term bank products (the drop in the value of benefits in group 1 amounted to 18.7%) as well as to products linked to capital funds (the drop in the value of benefits in group 3 amounted to 8%). The premium collected by life insurers in the 1st half of 2010 amounted to PLN 15.1 billion and was 8.4% higher than a year ago. The highest growth in the premium written pertained to products linked to insurance capital funds – 27.3%. The balance on technical life account after the 1st half of the year amounted to PLN 1.8 billion and was 38% higher than a year ago. The net financial result amounted to PLN 1.9 billion in comparison to PLN 2.3 billion the year before. 

Witold Walkowiak has handed in his resignation as the vice-president of the Management Board of the Polish Insurance Association. He will hold his position until September 30th, when we will take on new professional challenges.

– Working for PIU gave me a possibility of dealing with insurance issues seen from the perspective of the whole market, whose solutions require knowledge as well as dialogue and consensus. It was a very important experience and challenge for me – said Witold Walkowiak.

– Cooperation with Witold Walkowiak gave me big personal satisfaction, and his knowledge and professional experience were really valuable for the work carried out by the Association – said Jan Grzegorz Prądzyński, the president of PIU Management Board.

Witold Walkowiak has held the position of the vice-president of PIU management board since January 2010.

Regina Skibińska was awarded the title of the Insurance Journalist of the Year. PIU”s management board decided to reward texts published in “Rzeczpospolita” for a friendly way in which insurance issues are presented and educational values of these texts.

PIU’s Management Board awarded the prize in the category “Text of the Year” to Małgorzata Kolińska-Dąbrowska of “Gazeta Wyborcza” for a series of texts on compensation offices. Those texts were a contribution to a broad discussion on creating legal and ethical regulations for compensation offices.

The prize in the category “Debut of the Year” was awarded to Malwina Wrotniak of Bankier.pl for the ability to find new insurance topics and for a clear way of their presentation.

This year, PIU’s Management Board also decided to award two honorary prizes. The title of the “Editor of the Year” was awarded to Radio TOK FM for consistently conducted insurance education of the listener.

A honorary prize was also awarded to Aleksandra Biały, the winner of the 1st edition of PIU’s Competition, for a long-standing and consistent interest in insurance issues in her work.

PIU’s Management Board would like to thank all the participants of the competition, whose work was at a very high level, and congratulate all the winners.

Group life insurance agreements in Poland will not be cancelled, and the clients who enjoy such a type of cover do not have any reason to be anxious. Press releases concerning the judgment of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) of 15 July against Germany, are erroneously suggesting this judgment to pertain to Poland.

The verdict issued by the ECJ pertains exclusively to Germany and, also exclusively, to the German occupational pension schemes. It has nothing to do with the Polish group life insurance agreements. – The verdict issued within a member state’s infringement procedure is binding for that state against which it has been passed. In this case it pertains to Germany only – explains Jan Grzegorz Prądzyński, Board President of PIU.

The clients who have concluded group life insurance agreements can be calm about their insurance cover. Press articles also mention the interpretation of the Polish Public Contract Office (UZP), according to which the offer for group life insurance for employees should be chosen in Poland by way of tender procedure. – Unfortunately, such an interpretation is disadvantageous for insurers’ Polish clients. The price of a service is often the main criterion in case of public contracts. The problem is that in the case of insurance the price should not be the only criterion of the offer choice. Taking care of employees’ insurance is connected with ensuring them the widest possible scope of cover matched to their needs. The wider the scope is, the higher is the premium but it is also connected with higher sums insured and the warranty that the insurance covers a wider spectre of risks – says Jan Grzegorz Prądzyński. In PIU’s opinion, concluding occupational insurance agreements according to the rigors of Public Contract Law could result in a relatively narrow scope of cover for the employees and with relatively low insurance sums. Such offers would really have a better chance to meet the price criterion but, unfortunately, to the harm of the employees. Above 360 thousand group life insurance agreements were concluded by the end of 2009.

The persons insuring cars, houses and any other type of property, received indemnities from insurers amounting to approx. 3.4 billion PLN in the first quarter of 2010, as results from the data collected by the PIU. Life insurance benefits reached the amount of approx. 7 billion PLN. The first quarter of this year was dominated by the losses caused by the long and frosty winter.

It results from the data gathered by PIU and covering approx. 99 per cent of the Polish insurance industry, that the sector increased its gross premium written in the first quarter of this year by 3.4 per cent in case of non-life segment and by 4 per cent in life business, as compared to the first quarter of the last year.

Worse technical results in the segment of non-life insurance which could be observed in the second half of 2009, were also shown in the first quarter of this year, mainly due to the increase of the costs of indemnities; technical loss of non-life insurers amounted to approx. 337 million PLN . Despite higher costs of benefits, the segment of life insurance reported the technical result at the level of approx. 978 million PLN, which is 18 per cent less than a year before.

Non-life market

The highest share in the collected premium amounting to 5.8 billion PLN is that of motor insurance products. This type of insurance has shown a drop (by nearly 1 per cent) reaching the level of 1.75 billion PLN for MTPL (a drop by 1.45 per cent) and 1.2 billion PLN for AC (a growth by 0.22 per cent).

Such a growth of non-life insurance premium in the first quarter of this year was derived from other product groups, especially financial insurance, TPL and property insurance, except for motor products.

Frost and snowfalls were the main reason of the growth of indemnities paid to non-life insurance clients in the first quarter of this year. In total, the amount of approx. 3.4 billion PLN was paid, which is 15 per cent more than in the same period of last year.

The growth of indemnities was connected with both losses in houses and apartments (snow and inundations) and motor losses. The growth of motor indemnities was caused not only by typical road events related to the long and snowy winter, but also the damages caused by ice and snow falling from roofs and events related to the discharge of batteries at frost time, i.e. the assistance services.

We cannot leave out the costs of personal injuries within MTPL cover which are growing continually, and the need of provisions being created by insurers for such type of events, whose value is getting higher and higher (e.g. compensations). The negative technical result was compensated by returns on investment only partially, so the segment of non-life insurance closed the first quarter of this year with the net loss amounting to 30 million PLN. It should be noticed that these are the data for the first quarter of this year, so they do not comprise the flood-related claims.

– Insurance is a long-term business. You can always expect a loss abounding year to happen from time to time which is a normal phenomenon in this business. Insurers know that perfectly well and they are prepared for such circumstances – says Jan Grzegorz Prądzyński, Board President of PIU.

Life market

In respect of life insurance segment, the highest growth, as compared to the first quarter of 2009, was shown by unit-linked products. However, the amount of premiums in these product groups was significantly lower, as compared to last quarter of 2009. Thus, it is too early to announce the reconstruction of investment product portfolio, whose summit value fell in 2008.

With regard to life insurance, we also faced, although to a lower extent than in the case of non-life insurance, the growth of value of the benefits paid (+6.4 per cent). Insurance operational costs have also increased by approx. 7 per cent. Technical result for life insurance amounted to approx. 1 billion PLN for the first quarter of 2010 which was 18 per cent lower than in the first quarter of 2009. Life insurers closed the quarter with a profit of approx. 978 million PLN, which is 1.7 per cent lower than a year before.

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13 persons have registered approx. 40 works for this year’s edition of PIU contest for journalists. It is a record number in the whole history of the contest. After several years, not only the press journalists but also those from the radio, decided to fight for the Award. This year’s contest is also a record one in respect of the number of web portals, whose journalists decided to fight for the Award.

The works submitted in the contest have already been transmitted to the contest Committee. Scores of the contest are expected to be announced in the first half of September.

The insurers whose clients live in the areas affected by flooding, have launched their special crisis teams. Insurers have also introduced the path of the so called quick loss adjustment. In the case of smaller losses indemnity is paid in full to the victims after just a few days, without the detailed procedure of loss estimation.
Insurers will pay indemnity advances to the persons who suffered the largest losses in the consequence of flood. Due to that, the persons who have lost all their property in the consequence of flood, will not be left without means to live.
Thanks to the special crisis teams more employees receive loss reports at Call Centers. Above all, more loss agents have been sent to the places affected by flood. Due to that the losses are being assessed more quickly which results with indemnity payment within a shorter period of time.
Approx. 29 thousand losses have been reported to insurers during last few days. Several hundreds of additional loss agents have been sent to the affected areas. Polish Insurance Association is answering all the questions asked in relation to the flood through the media.
Insurers stress that the victims can take any measures aimed at avoidance of the loss or at diminishing its size. Debris removal of the houses destroyed by the flood can also be begun without fear. In order to make the agent’s job easier, it would be worthwhile to take some photos of the property destroyed by the flood. No professional equipment is required for this purpose, the photos taken by means of a mobile phone are sufficient. Such a documentation will make the waiting time for indemnity payment still shorter.
PIU is in permanent contact with its members and currently gathers any information regarding the flood.