Commercial Union Poland General Insurance Company (CU General) has introduced three new and improved types of home insurance: Locum Apartment, Locum Residence and Locum, which replace products previously on offer in this sphere.
Commercial Union Poland General Insurance Company (CU General) has introduced three new and improved types of home insurance: Locum Apartment, Locum Residence and Locum, which replace products previously on offer in this sphere. The company is also expanding its cooperation with its minority shareholder, Bank Zachodni WBK, Polish subsidiary of Allied Irish Bank, by offering customers home insurance under the trading name Locum BZ WBK and Your security insurance for credit cards holders.
Locum Apartment insurance is the home insurance most often chosen by CU General customers interested in a broad range of house or flat protection. Property may be insured to cover many different risks, including fire and flood, but also extending to, for example, water leakage from a domestic aquarium. It may be taken out both by people who own a house or flat, and by customers who are interested in insuring their moveables and civil liability.
"What is interesting, and what distinguishes this insurance from competing offers, is the potential to have cover for items that are only temporarily in the possession of the policy-holder, and also property that is used at home to carry out business activities," says Anna Katarzyna Wojciechowska, general manager of CU General.
Cover may also be extended by adding home assistance, which provides specialist services (electrician, plumber, glazier, roofer, fitter, carpenter), and by additional costs cover, eg seeking the causes of damage. A one-year contract may include an automatic renewal clause – the insurance cover is automatically renewed for another year without the need for the policy-holder to take action. All that is required of the customer is to pay the premium using bank transfer forms that are specially drawn up and sent a suitable time in advance of the payment date. There is the potential to conclude a long-term contract for two or three years.
"These arrangements mean time saving and enable insurance prices to be stabilised over a longer period. They also guarantee continuity of cover, which is both convenient for the customer and financially advantageous," Anna Katarzyna Wojciechowska points out. Conclusion of a long-term contract gives a policy-holder the right to favourable reductions.
Locum Residence insurance is intended for customers interested in the broadest scope of cover (21 types of risk in property insurance against fire and other damage), with the highest liability limits (particularly important in the case of insurance of jewellery and cash), who are looking for insurance of property worth at least 500,000 zloties (approximately £83,000). A special feature of this insurance is the cover it provides for damage caused by power surges, falling trees and pylons, or devastation.
Customers for this insurance may be people who own a house or flat, or someone interested solely in insuring moveables and civil liability. A holiday cottage could also be the subject of insurance cover. The standard insurance contract envisages cover for additional costs (including appointment of experts or looking for causes of damage). There is the opportunity to contract civil liability insurance with an extended territorial range, tenant civil liability and insurance for legal cover. Locum Residence includes home and medical assistance insurance. A contract may be concluded for two or three years, with an incentive in the form of a reduction for buying a long-term policy.
Besides this reduction, CU General also offers discounts for insurance of further residential real estate, for supplementary fire and burglary security, and for existing customers of the CU Polska group (apart from CU Pension Fund ).
"We offer and recommend Locum Apartment and Locum Residence insurance to our customers as one of the best home insurances available on the market, with the broadest scope of cover," says Anna Katarzyna Wojciechowska.
CU General also offers Locum insurance, intended for owners of houses or flats who need insurance in order to acquire a mortgage. One incentive is the relatively low cost of insurance, and another is the ease with which an assignment of contractual rights to the bank may be made. Locum is a simple policy that provides the basic range of cover protecting property solely from fire and other chance events. The standard contract, concluded for one year, may include an automatic renewal clause. It may also be concluded for two or three years. Locum may also be taken out to insure a house or flat that is in the process of construction.
This change in home insurance that is on offer comes with a new set of sales and advertising material (general conditions, policies, advertising leaflets), which reflect the fact that CU General belongs to the international Aviva group.
CU General co-operation with the Bank Zachodni WBK SA
CU General is improving and widening its bancassurance business done in co-operation with Bank Zachodni WBK, the Polish subsidiary of Allied Irish Bank. This is part of the wider cooperation between the CU Poland group and the bank, which is itself a minority shareholder in three CU companies: CU Life, CU General and CU Pension (in each case the bank holds 10% of shares).
The bank’s customers may insure a house or flat by taking up Locum BZ WBK insurance. The customers most keen to have this insurance are those who borrow to buy a flat, who then additionally have the opportunity to go to BZ WBK for life insurance from CU Life. The cover may be for real estate including fixed components, moveable property used for domestic purposes and civil liability cover in private life for damage caused to third parties.
Taking up the insurance package brings the customer many benefits, including simplicity of signing up for the insurance (no visit made to the property), and automatic renewal for subsequent years, as well as cover for events that are rarely insured in policies of this category (eg losses caused by theft with break-in, robbery and devastation of fixed components of real estate).
"Locum BZ WBK is more than just an insurance with a broad range of risk cover (20 events) at an attractive price, it also comes 'without asterisks and small print'," points out Jacek Marcinowski, BZ WBK board member.
"The insurance available from BZ WBK does not contain the typical premium increases found in insurance offered by other banks, eg for flammable roofing materials or running a business on the premises," adds Paweł Zawisza, BZ WBK bancassurance director.
CU General also offers BZ WBK customers insurance for payment of credit obtained by using BZ WBK credit cards, called Your security, which provides cover for loss of work or capacity to work on the part of the policy-holder, and also accidental death of the policy-holder.
CU General offers home insurance, accident insurance and travel insurance to individual customers, and also insurance for businesses (including fire and loss-of-profit insurance, technical insurance, insurance against loss of property during transportation, and civil liability insurance). For small and medium-sized businesses it offers the “Entrepreneur’s partner” package of insurance. In the first half of 2005, CU General has written 38.9 m Polish zloties (£6.5 m) in gross premiums, resulting in a 6.9 m Polish zloties (£1.15 m) net profit.
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Information:
Tel + 48 22 557 43 41
E-mail: bohdan_bialorucki@cu.com.pl
For further information, see www.cu.com.pl
Notes to editors:
Commercial Union Poland Group is part of the international Aviva group, the world’s sixth largest insurance, savings and investments group, and the largest in the United Kingdom by revenues. Aviva group operates in over 25 countries. It occupies a strong position in the European Union, including United Kingdom, Ireland, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy and Poland. Worldwide, Aviva group services over 30 million customers and manages assets valued at over £290 billion. For additional information, see the website http://www.aviva.com.