The largest CEE insurance market posted aggregate 3Q2024 GWP worth PLN 63.25 billion (EUR 14.75 billion), up by 9.6% y-o-y according to the quarterly statistics published by Polish KNF (Financial Supervision Authority). At the same time, claims and benefits paid by local insurers increased by 11% y-o-y to PLN 36.78 billion or EUR 8.58 billion.

Life GWP was up by 4% y-o-y to over PLN 17.7 billion (EUR 4.13 billion), while the non-life insurance segment increased by 11.95% to PLN 45.55 billion (EUR 10.6 billion).

Motor insurance

Motor insurance GWP grew by 8.13% y-o-y, to PLN 23.2 billion (EUR 5.4 billion). Motor insurance accounts for the largest share of claims traditionally comes from payouts under motor insurance policies. Claims for comprehensive motor insurance (CASCO) amounted to PLN 6.3 billion, nearly 20% more than the previous year.

The average MTPL insurance premium after the third quarter of 2024 was PLN 532, an increase of only PLN 23 compared to the previous year (up by 4.5% y-o-y). At the same time, the average claim value increased y-o-y by as much as 10.9% to over PLN 10,500, which is PLN 1,035 more than a year ago.

"We are observing a steady increase in the cost of claims, and this will not change in the coming months as the costs of parts and services continue to rise. Insurers must account for this in their calculations to meet their obligation to maintain a balance between payouts and premiums. Therefore, we should expect further gradual increases in third-party liability motor insurance premiums," says Jan Grzegorz Prądzyński, PIU President.

Property Insurance
As a result of damages caused by fires and other natural disasters, insurers paid out over PLN 2.3 billion in claims after 3Q 2024. This represents a 40% increase compared to the same period last year. "After a challenging spring and stormy summer, we faced the consequences of flooding in southern Poland during the autumn. Since the beginning of the year, insurers have recorded numerous local events involving hailstorms, gales, torrential rains, and fires. Many cities, including Łódź, Bielsko-Biała, Wrocław, and Warsaw, experienced flash floods during the summer holidays. This highlights the importance of maintaining proper drainage systems. In agricultural insurance alone, the financial impact of spring frosts amounted to PLN 379.64 million, while torrential rains and hailstorms caused damages in agriculture totaling PLN 412.5 million," says Andrzej Maciążek, Vice President of the PIU Management Board.

69 thousand people received compensation payments related to the effects of flooding in southern Poland. Most cases are now closed, but insurers are still receiving individual applications.

- We will only know the full effects of the flood in a few or even a dozen months. Many people will not carry out comprehensive renovation work until spring. However, documentation is being collected in the most complicated cases concerning entrepreneurs. Reconstructing even a production line may take several months. It is worth emphasizing, however, that although the flood was dramatic, thanks to the existing flood protection infrastructure, its effects mainly affected those places where there was no infrastructure, or it was defective. This shows how important preventive measures and building systems to prevent such phenomena are - explains Jan Grzegorz Prądzyński .

The largest insurer in the country was PZU which accounted for about 28% of non-life insurance segment (PLN 12.75 billion) and over 42% of life sector (GWP worth PLN 7.44 billion).

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