In 2009 Poland was the only EU member state to register positive economic growth. The negative impact of the global crisis phenomena on the macroeconomic situation in Poland was weaker than in most other European Union countries, according to the Report on the Country's Socio-Economic Situation released by the Central Statistical Office of Poland. As a result, Poland was the only member state to have registered economic growth in 2009, although much slower than in previous years .... After a sharp slowdown in the first half of the year, growth in industrial production, retail sales, transport and communications services and foreign trade accelerated in the final months of last year.

In addition, a National Bank of Poland (NBP) report released in January 2010 stated: Despite an increase in the unemployment rate, the relative stabilisation of employment in the corporate sector may signal a gradual slowdown in unfavourable trends on the labour market. The report noted that there was strong evidence that the Polish economy already had the potential to return to a growth path.

For the local insurance market, 2009 brought a 12% fall in GWP to EUR12.5bn due to a 21% downturn of the Life insurance sector to EUR7.37bn. Nevertheless, aggregated net profits rose 14% on the year to EUR1,598.8m.

The Polish insurance market is the largest in Central and Eastern Europe, with almost 40% of the regional GWP by the end of 2009. According to a Lloyd 's study, Poland is Europe's 13th largest Non-life insurance market (excluding the UK) and the most developed Life insurance market in the CEE region.

Life insurance accounts for 58.98% of overall GWP volume. In the Non-life segment, Motor insurance lines dominate, with 13.90% share for MTPL insurance and 9.52% for Motor Hull business. Property insurance classes account for only 7.25% of GWP although the Fire insurance class recorded an impressive 17% growth rate last year. But Poland continues to be an emerging market for new lines of business, like General Liability and D&O insurance.

Last year, insurers paid some EUR9.8bn of gross indemnities and benefits, up 36% on the year. Life benefit payments grew 43% to EUR6.75bn and claims paid by Non-life insurers rose 22% to approximately EUR3bn.

profitability

Polish customers still prefer the human touch in sales

According to Polish Insurance Chamber (PIU) statistics, an insurance agent is the most popular distribution channel for Non-life Household and Motor insurance. In the Life market banks and insurers' employees are the leading intermediaries.

In the Non-life market, insurance agents (individual people) generated nearly 44% of the premium collected in 2009, up from 2 percentage points on the year before. Brokers also raised their share of the market to 15.6% of all premiums from 14.3%.

Along with a new generation of customers entering the market, a more technological approach to the sales process is gaining strength. Thus, the value of insurance products sold online increased 55% in 2009 while sales by phone rose 42%. But online and phone sales still accounted for less than 10% of the overall Non-life operations.

In the Life insurance market, banks remain the leading distributor of individual policies, with a 28% market share, despite the withdrawal by insurers from bancassurance arrangements. However, the situation has changed in respect of group insurance where banks have lost their leadership and been replaced by insurers' employees. The share of banks in the distribution of group insurance dropped to 32% from 52% while insurers' employees increased their share to 37.3% from 28.5%. Insurance agents' share of sales of individual policies is also large, at 23.9%, while insurance brokers and direct sales are still marginal in the area of life insurance.