Commercial Union Polska – Towarzystwo Ubezpieczeñ na ¯ycie SA [Life Insurance Society SA] has won the Gdansk Banking Academy and readers' of the daily „Rzeczpospolita” [Republic] contest in the category of best and also friendliest manager of insurance investment funds in 2002.
Commercial Union Polska – Towarzystwo Ubezpieczen na Zycie SA [Life Insurance Society SA] has won the Gdansk Banking Academy and readers' of the daily „Rzeczpospolita” [Republic] contest in the category of best and also friendliest manager of insurance investment funds in 2002. The winner was announced during the Asset Management Forum at the Securities Exchange head office in Warsaw on 20-21 February of this year.
The CU Group has been operating on the Polish financial services market for the past 10 years and is one of the largest institutions organising long-term savings such as investment fund life insurance, an open retirement fund and investment funds. The CU Group boosts the Polish economy by investing the resources entrusted to them on behalf of their clients.
"We are encouraging our clients to take up active long-term savings and investments and thus to change the Polish savings structure. It is just this kind of complex investment portfolio active management that makes it possible for clients to make decent profits in a low inflation and low interest rate environment. This is why I am particularly pleased that CU Life has won first place as the best and friendliest long-term savings manager", said Jaroslaw Myjak, President of the Commercial Union Polska Group and CU Polska - Life Insurance Society.
CU Life issued its first policy in November 1992. It was also at that time that it offered the first insurance investment fund in Poland - the Guaranteed Fund. At the end of 1993 after the first full year of operations, assets managed by CU Life amounted to 4.7 million zlotys and its portfolio share value was 117 thousand zlotys.
The CU Group currently manages assets worth over 15.7 billion zlotys. These are financial resources collected by CU Life insurance funds in the largest CU Open Retirement Fund and in the young, but vigorously developing CU - Investment Fund Society. At the end of 2002 the value of a CU Group share portfolio exceeded 3.3 billion zlotys, approx. 3 percent of the total capitalisation of the Securities Exchange in Warsaw and nearly 10 percent of the free float share pool. The value of the bond portfolio is nearly 10.3 billion zlotys, which gives the CU Group almost 7 percent share of the treasury bond market.
The CU Group has created one of the most professional asset management departments in Poland. The management team includes six investment consultants licensed by the Securities and Exchanges Commission. Three of the consultants also hold the prestigious American title CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst).
CU Life insurance asset funds and the CU Investment Fund Society funds are managed by the specialist company, Commercial Union Investment Management (Polska) SA. It is licensed by the Securities and Exchange Commission to manage entrusted securities portfolios and to act as investment consultant.
Commercial Union Polska – The Life Insurance Society SA offers 6 insurance funds, ie, complex investment portfolios with different levels of profits to owners of individual and group policies:
- funds described as safe: The Guaranteed Fund and the Strategic Fund
- funds described as balanced: Active Fund and International Fund
- funds described as aggressive: CU – Share Fund Dynamic Fund
| Fund | Asset value as of 31.12.2002 [million zlotys] | 3 months [%] | 1 year [%] | 5 years [%] | 10 years [%] |
| Guaranteed | 4 965.9 | 2.25 | 10.56 | 87.38 | 532.88 |
| Strategic | 465.6 | 4.67 | 15.18 | 118.47 | - |
| Active | 125.1 | 8.06 | 14.81 | 82.65 | - |
| International | 162.0 | 2.35 | -8.87 | 8.95 | - |
| CU – Shares | 6.7 | 12.92 | 7.02 | - | - |
| Dynamic | 19.5 | 16.75 | 17.60 | - | - |
| Inflation | - | 0.60 | 1.00 | 35.40 | 293.50 |
| Warsaw Exchange Index | - | 12.26 | 3.19 | -2.05 | 1280.48 |
"Taking the very low inflation in 2002 of approximately 1 percent into account, the following results were achieved: Guaranteed, Strategic and Active must be considered as very good. The rate of return for the Dynamic Fund of +17.6 percent at a Warsaw Exchange Index of barely +3,2 percent, can only be described as spectacular", said Jaroslaw Myjak. The total value of CU Life's asset funds exceeded 5.7 billion zlotys at the end of 2002.
"Because the typical investment perspective for our funds ranges from several to a dozen years or so, we are pleased that our Guaranteed Fund –the oldest and largest investment fund in Poland has brought 532 percent returns during the past 10 years which, we hope, should satisfy our clients", stressed President Myjak.
For further information please contact: Grazyna Goslings, Corporate Communications Director of the CU Polska Group, Tel: (22) 557 40 93, Fax: (22) 557 40 26, e-mail: bohdan_bialorucki@cu.com.pl. Additional information about the Commercial Union Polska Group can also be found on the web page http://www.commercialunion.pl