Each year, the Polish Insurance Association organises the Leon Kozicki Contest for the best final theses on the subject of insurance.
This year, in the sixth edition of the contest, the final theses can be submitted by the thesis supervisors from 20thJanuary to 30th June 2010 at the address of the Polish Insurance Association.
The theses will receive the awards after being rated and submitted by the thesis supervisors, and then rated by the Evaluation Committee constituted of people connected to the theoretical and practical aspects of insurance. The submitted works should be the final theses during the master’s or bachelor’s degree studies, which allow obtaining the master’s or bachelor’s degree diploma.
The reward for the first prize is PLN 5000. If the theses represent a very high standard, the Management Board of the Polish Insurance Association can decide to award the second and the third prize.
The reward for the second prize is PLN 3000, and for the third prize – PLN 1500.
We invite you to participate in our contest.
Additional information can be found in the Statute of the contest.
We are pleased to inform that the Polish Insurance Association organizes the sixth edition of the Leon Kozicki Contest for the best final thesis on the subject of insurance. This year’s edition of the contests ends in June 2010. The official prize awarding ceremony shall take place in autumn.
We encourage all students writing their final thesis to take part in the competition!
The submitted work should include personal data and address of the author and should be sent to the headquarters of the Polish Insurance Association – Polska Izba Ubezpieczeń, ul. Wspólna 47/49, 00-684 Warszawa, between 20th January and 30th June 2010. The theses are going to be rated by the Evaluation Committee which is composed of people connected to the theoretical and practical aspects of insurance. The Committee will choose the best three theses, the authors of which shall be awarded.
The submitted works should be the final theses during the master’s or bachelor’s degree studies, which allow obtaining the master’s or bachelor’s degree diploma. To become qualified, the work should include an opinion of the thesis supervisor on the submitted thesis, as well as a declaration, that the university/faculty authorities have been informed about the contest.
The first prize in the Polish Insurance Association contest, except for a diploma and prestige, is also connected with a monetary reward in the amount of PLN 5000. The reward for the second prize is PLN 3000, and for the third prize – PLN 1500.
Additional information about the contest and its statute can be acquired from:
Anna Ludwiniak, Publications and Insurance Education Manager of the Polish Insurance Association, tel.: (0 –22) 420 51 34.
You can also contact us by e-mail: pracedyplomowe@piu.org.pl.
Download the contest poster in PDF format.
The Polish Insurance Association informs that the Leon Kozicki Contest 2010 for the best final theses on the subject of insurance is now finished. The Evaluation Committee composed of: prof. Irena Jędrzejczyk, PhD; Wojciech Nagel, PhD; prof. Kazimierz Ortyński, PhD; Jan Piątek, PhD; Adam Pustelnik, PhD and Witold Walkowia, PhD, chose the best of the all the theses submitted for the contest.
The first prize is awarded to Mariusz Kamiński for the thesis titled:”The enforcement of vehicle insurance claims, including typical disputes”. According to the Committee, the subject of the thesis is current and important both for the theory and practice of insurance business. In an interesting and complete manner, the author describes the issues connected with the enforcement of vehicle insurance claims and their settlement. The thesis was supervised by prof. Eugeniusz Kowalewski, PhD from the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń.
The second prize was awarded ex aequo to Joanna Adamska for the thesis „The securitisation in life insurance as a tool of the mortality risk transfer” and to Arkadiusz Filip and Marcin Wienke for the thesis titled. „The stability of quantile premium in relation to the disturbances in the single claim distribution in collective risk models.” The Committee declared that the first thesis is original and written with verve, while the second one presents that the authors are skilled in using mathematic and statistic methods and applying them to non-life insurance, especially concerning the constitution of an insurance premium. The first thesis was supervised by prof. Danuta Marciniak-Neider, PhD from the University of Gdańsk, while the second one was supervised by Agata Boratyńska, PhD from the Warsaw School of Economics.
The third prize was awarded to Wioletta Baranowska for the thesis titled ’Group exclusions from the anti-competitive agreements ban in business insurance sector”. The author analyses a complicated matter of the European legislation, concentrating on the regulations concerning the competition law and group exclusions from the anti-competitive agreements ban in business insurance sector. The thesis was supervised by prof. Maria Królikowska-Olczak, PhD from the University of Łódź.
We congratulate all the winners and thank all the competitors for taking part in our competition. The Polish Insurance Association invites all the students who write their final thesis this or next year to submit their work for the next edition of the contest.
At the meeting of the Working Group on Review of Insurance Business and Financial Market Development Council at the Ministry of Finance, the postulate contained in the interpellation of MP Bozena Szydlowska regarding partial financing of the units of the Volunteer Fire Brigade and the State Fire Service by insurance was evaluated critically.
All participants supported PIU’s arguments indicating that the insurance market bears the costs of funding the State Fire Services anyway. The State Fire Service receives 10 percent of contributions from the fire insurance for the purposes indicated in the interpellation. In the last 20 years the State Fire Service has received 500 million PLN from insurance market. Additionally, last year the State Fire Service received from preventive funds, only from one insurance company, about 1 million PLN. Moreover, the accident statistics show that over the last ten years their number has decreased. In 1997, there were 66.5 thousand of accidents, while in 2007 – only 49.5 thousand, causing a significant drop in fire brigade intervention.
The option of subsidizing the fire services from motor insurance is also not used in the European Union countries.
The preparation within RRRF works on systemic solutions preventing third party liability insurance policies from parataxes and recourses for various budgetary entities and public officials was also discussed at the meeting.
In the light of information on court decision that gives police the right to recourse against the insurer the cost of benefits, which by law the Police received for a policeman injured in the accident, all participants in the meeting on RRRF supported the arguments of PIU opposing to the introduction of the next “Religa tax” burden on insurance.
Participants of the meeting supported the position of the PIU on the need to restore the Police powers to exclude a vehicle, which is uninsured or whose driver does not carry a confirmation of MTPL, from traffic and to keep the vehicle’s registration certificate. Proposal to limit the liberalization of the Law on Road Traffic in terms of the Police power, according to the participants of the meeting will help to maintain the universality of the compulsory motor third party liability insurance.
At the meeting PIU presented the actions it has performed for quite a long time on a direct claim settlement. The first result which PU managed to acomplish is an agreement conluded last week on recourse settlement. The Association predicts continuation of works aiming at standardization of the insurance market. In the first place the works will regard transport insurance. PIU indicated the need to conclude a voluntary agreement of insurance companies on the introduction of direct claims. The introduction of such system will be preceded by an analysis of source materials about the solutions operating in the European Union, made by the PIU Motor Insurance Commission, and followed by a recommendation of the best possible system for the Polish market.
Participants of the meeting acknowledged Association’s information about their works and recognize that they are sufficient for this preparatory stage of the system of direct claims. It was assumed that the current advancement of preparations for the implementation of the system does not require the involvement of the RRRF forum nor any additional action such as statutory regulations.
A Working Group on the Review of Insurance Law of the Council of Economic and Financial Market Development at the Ministry of Finance has started a discussion on the functioning of the so-called legal regulation of the perfoemance of so-called compensation office. The meeting was held on 29 September.
Almost all participants of the meeting – including representatives of the Ministry of Finance, Insurance Guarantee Fund and the Insurance Ombudsman, and representatives of law offices – agreed with the assumption that the performance of the office must be regulated. According to PIU’s assessment it is particularly important that such regulation is made on the basis of provisions concerning the insurance market.
The Association has held the same opinion for a very long time: although the performance of the office itself is within the law, still it must be legally regulated, primarily in the interests of all victims of accidents. It is necessary for the professionalization of the office. The main issue on which the insurance government will work now is a way to regulate the performance of the office. It is possible to introduce appropriate provisions to the Law on Insurance Mediation. The participants of the meeting of the Financial Market Development Council discussed, inter alia, the introduction of the third kind of mediation in Poland – except agents and brokers.
The Working Group on Insurance Mediation Polish Insurance Association will be meeting in a few days in order to begin working on this issue.
Working Group on the review of business insurance in the Council of Financial Market Development at the Ministry of Finance criticized the Insurance Ombudsman project, which aims to modify the role of automotive experts.
The meeting in this matter was held on 22 September 2009. The Ministry of Finance adopted a critical view of PIU relating the Ombudsman project (PIU Annoucement 77/2009) and the amendments to the Law on Compulsory Insurance, UFG and PBUK and Traffic Law.
It was estimated that the Ombudsman’s proposals too deeply interfere with the existing insurance legislation. It was argued that they were incompatible with the solutions of the Civil Code, Code of Civil Procedure, and even the Constitution of the Republic of Poland (within court rights).
They are in contradiction with the general principle determining the insurance right to receive insurance benefits. Especially criticized was the granting of the valuation prepared by an expert of the same status as the recognition of claims for the facility, the conclusion of a settlement or court decision.
Most participants did not object to the introduction of regulations governing the profession of surveyor, with the proviso that this matter falls within the jurisdiction of the Minister of Infrastructure. The meeting was attended by representatives of the Ministry of Finance, the Financial Supervision Authority, the Office of the Insurance Ombudsman, UFG, the association of experts – a member of the National Automobile Appraisers Associations Agreement and the Polish Insurance Association.
It was settled that the Insurance Ombudsman in cooperation with representatives of the involved institutions will work on a new version of the insurance project.
18th September 2009 a meeting of the Justice and Human Rights Committee, devoted to discussion of the possible consequences of the implementation of the government’s draft law on the recovery of claims in the proceeding group (No. 1829). Among MP’s there were also present: representatives of the Polish Insurance Association, the Polish Bank Association and the Polish Confederation of Private Employers “Leviathan.”
During the meeting the guest – Mr M. Scevola de Cazotte from the Institute of Legal Reform of the United States Association of Commerce – gave a detailed lecture on the functioning of institutions of group action lawsuits in the U.S. The speaker’s main message was to highlight the immediate consequences of the proposed legislation to the MP’s. U.S. experience prooves that good intentions, meaning: strengthening consumer protection in practice led in many markets only to the development of the law sector deriving profits from the management of disputes.
The vast majority of court compensation goes to the accounts of law offices in the form of payment for legal services. In addition, the institution of collective actions contributes to the reduction of foreign investment in the country by introducing preferences for collective action.
A sharp increase can be observed in bankruptcy, both of small, medium and large companies involved in the long, costly, though not always right processes. Mr. M. Scevole de Cazotte recommended caution in implementing solutions critically evaluated in countries with years of practical experience. According to the invited guest, it is necessary to carry out a thorough analysis of economic, social and economic project before approving it.
The representatives of the PIU, PBA and PKPP “Leviathan” shared and completed the review of the representative of the Institute of Legal Reform of the United States Association of Commerce with further doubts and detailed examples.
Because of the importance of the arguments and raised doubts, the Bureau of the Justice and Human Rights Committee decided to postpone the deadline for consideration of the report of the subcommittee on the investigation of claims in the group proceedings by two weeks. During this time, there will be another independent expertise drawn up, taking into account in particular the benefits and risks of the proposed solutions.
The Committee also requested the Office of the Seym to assess the economic impact of the project.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on 27 August 2009 turned to the Polish Insurance Association about the opinion on the draft decision of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development amending the Regulation on the target subsidy to the proceedings on the refund of excise duty included in the price of diesel used for agricultural production and its payment – with the deadline to respond to the following day, ie 28 August this year.
After consultation within the Commission’s Property Insurance, the Polish Insurance Association informed the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development that it does not make any comments to the amendments provided for the draft regulation.
On 26 August 2009 during the meeting of the Public Finance Commission of Poland the first reading of a law project on export insurance guaranteed by the Ministry of Treasury was held. As a result of concerns about the scope of the project and many questions to the government, the Commission decided to forward the project to the Subcommittee of Financial Institutions.
The doubts and the questions were mostly related to the merits of extending the legal scope of the Act on the contract of sale of shipped goods and services performed outside the Polish subsidiaries of companies whose partners, shareholders, shareholders, founders, co-owners or owners are entrepreneurs who are resident on Polish territory and owning directly more than 50% of the shares, or shares in a subsidiary undertaking (Article 1 paragraph of the draft law).
Non life insurance
– Agents
Non life insurance agencies gained in 2008 up to 42 percent of accumulated contributions through agents (individuals). It is worth noting that the dominance of agents a year ago was even more visible. Their share of sales exceeded 44 percent.
– Direct (phone and Internet)
As for direct sales, Poles have clearly got used to Internet as a form of insurance policy sales – mainly in transport insurance. In 2007, thanks to this distribution channel, property insurers gathered almost 23 million PLN contributions. In 2008 it was already 52.5 million PLN. It should be added that despite that doubled growth, the Internet still has a minimal share in Poland, in terms of sales. Still it is far less popular than the phone. Sales via phone rose last year by one third and were nearly 350 mln PLN.
These figures do not include Axy and Liberty Direct insurance. If we take into account the performance of these two branches in 2008, the value of direct market in Poland is estimated at 544.26 million PLN. The PIU estimates (based on national reports of insurance companies) that about 15 percent of that amount are policies, purchased through the Internet, and 85 percent – by phone.
– Brokers
There has been, however not significant increase in Poland of importance of brokers in the structure of life insurance sales. Today, through brokers, insurance companies collect more than 2.4 billion PLN contributions, which means 11.8 percent of all collected contributions.
Life Insurance Market
Banks and other financial and credit institutions dominate as intermediaries on life insurance market. More than one third of individual policies and more than half of the group policies is sold through this channel. Due to the dynamic development of bancassurance in Poland in case of life insurance policies – agents (individuals) have lost importance.
Direct sales (Internet and telephone) on the life insurance market is still marginal. Brokerage services also have gained little popularity.
