Poland
In Poland, total life and pension new business sales were £196 million (2004: £181 million). CU Polska continued to hold first and second positions in the pensions and life markets respectively in the first half of 2005. CU Polska has entered into a bancassurance agreement with Deutsche Bank to sell short-term endowments and it is currently in advanced stages of finalising a number of other alliances with banking distribution partners.
Life sales were higher at £96 million (2004: £78 million) as a result of increased sales of single premium savings products. CU Polska has developed a wide range of regular and single premium products, designed to meet the protection and long-term savings needs of individual and group customers. Recent enhancement of some of these flexible products, combined with improvements in distribution capability, delivered sales growth of 6% in local currency terms.
Pension sales were £100 million (2004: £103 million). The prior year included exceptional sales of £26 million made through the Polish Pension State Agency derived from employees who had not chosen a pension provider. Following legislative changes prompted by competition issues, CU Polska and two other pension companies have been excluded from this business in 2005.
Mutual fund sales were lower at £36 million (2004: £59 million) reflecting continued investor caution towards long-term investments and a preference for fixed-income funds.
