Polish insurance market totaled PLN 50.9 billion (EUR 10.9 billion) at the end of September 2021, up by almost 7% y-o-y, according to the quarterly market figures published by The Polish Financial Supervision Authority (KNF). Claims and benefits paid by local insurers increased by 2.9% y-o-y to PLN 30.2 billion or ~EUR 6.5 billion.

During the 25th year of Europ Assistance's operations in Poland, the company's service volumes returned to pre-pandemic levels, and in some areas, the operator of assistance services handled even more cases than in the period before Covid-19.

The pandemic led to an over half-million increase in the number of individual life policies and lower interest in group contracts, Gazeta Ubezpieczeniowa reports referring to the data of the Polish Financial Supervision Authority.

According to data collected by the Polish Insurance Association (PIU), as at September 30, 2021, GWP through the banking channel reached PLN 5.21 billion, 26% more y-o-y (~EUR 1.12 billion*).

NN Group announces that it has obtained competition clearance from the European Commission to acquire MetLife's business activities in Poland and Greece. The intended acquisition was announced on 5 July 2021.

The insurance market in Poland (GWP) will increase in 2023 to PLN 76.5 billion (~EUR 16.6 billion*). This year the market will grow by 7%, to PLN 67.7 billion (vs PLN 63.4 billion in 2020). The prospects for insurers operating in Poland remain "mostly positive", said the experts from Inteliace Research, Gazeta Ubezpieczeniowa reports.

More than two and a half times increase in net profit y-o-y, historically high GWP, nearly 18% return on equity - these are the most impressive achievements of the PZU Group in the first three quarters of this year, Gazeta Ubezpieczeniowa reports.

On November 3, S&P Global Ratings affirmed the rating of the PZU Group at A- with a stable outlook. According to the agency, the company maintained good financial results and a stable capital position, and the group's dominant market position, recognizable brand and diversified structure will allow for continued growth, both on local and foreign markets, Gazeta Ubezpieczeniowa reports.

Every year Poles choose personal insurance more and more, thus the number of people covered by health insurance increased by 14% as of now, and the number of group contracts for life protection increased by 6%. About 3.5 million people are using health insurance policies and almost 12 million are covered by group life insurance, Gazeta Ubezpieczeniowa reports.

Beata SIWCZYNSKA-ANTOSIEWICZ is the new Generali Poland CFO, Generali CEE Holding announced in a statement on its website. She takes up the position of Member of the Management Board of Generali Poland as well.

Car owners have been complaining about many increases recently. Besides high fuel prices, they have also started to feel an increase in the cost of compulsory third party liability insurance, Gazeta Ubezpieczeniowa reports.

The Covid-19 pandemic has increased interest in life and health insurance, noted Malgorzata SADURSKA, a PZU board member during the discussion at Congress 590 on how the financial market responds to the new fears and needs of Poles, Gazeta Ubezpieczeniowa reports.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development announced that the amount of subsidies to premiums for insurance of crops and livestock allocated in the state budget for 2021 has been increased, Gazeta Ubezpieczeniowa reports.

Austrian insurer UNIQA announced it successfully concluded the merger of its units with the former AXA subsidiaries in Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia acquired a year ago for a total cash consideration of EUR 1.0 billion.

After the challenging year 2020, when Polish insurers' business decreased by about 8.3% y-o-y, the first half of 2021 showed signs of recovery that resulted in a positive dynamic, GWP growing by 8% y-o-y, to EUR 7.6 billion, data provided by the Polish Chamber of Insurance (PIU) show.

The position of the Polish Financial Supervision Authority on the dividend policy of insurance and reinsurance companies, adopted in December last year, allowed them to share profit from the last two years with shareholders. Companies eagerly took advantage of this opportunity, Gazeta Ubezpieczeniowa reports with reference to Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.

Austrian insurer Vienna Insurance Group announced in a statement it launched together with C-Quadrat Investment Group a joint venture investment fund company in Poland: VIG / C-QUADRAT TFI S.A.

Despite the difficult environment - a pandemic, violent weather phenomena, progressing market consolidation - the Polish operations of Vienna Insurance Group in the first half of the year are successful, especially in terms of sales, Gazeta Ubezpieczeniowa reports.

The PIU (Polish Chamber of Insurance) survey shows that 91% of drivers are confident in their driving skills. However, this exact behavior brought Poland to one of the last places in the ranking of the safest roads in Europe, Gazeta Ubezpieczeniowa reports.

Polish non-life insurers Concordia Polska T.U.S.A. and Generali T.U.S.A. have merged on the 30th of July 2021, as Generali CEE Holding announced in a statement.