After fifteen years of collaboration between Bank Zachodni WBK and the Commercial Union Group, both partners have opened two joint venture insurance companies, covering both property insurance and life insurance.
After fifteen years of collaboration between Bank Zachodni WBK and the Commercial Union Group, both partners have opened two joint venture insurance companies, covering both property insurance and life insurance. This is the first of this type of venture in the bancassurance sector on the Polish market.
BZWBK-CU Towarzystwo Ubezpieczeń has been set up to provide services to 1.4 million BZWBK customers who will be offered new specially prepared life and property insurance packages. The joint-venture company will be able to utilise the experience and best practice of both partners.
"Setting up BZWBK-CU will allow us to better adapt our products to the needs of the bank's customers, harmonise IT solutions, standardise customer service procedures and take full advantage of the know-how of both shareholders. As a result, the cost of our bancassurance work will decrease," says Jacek Koronkiewicz, chairman of the board of directors of BZWBK-CU Towarzystwo Ubezpieczeń.
"Within this venture Commercial Union will be able to use the experience of the parent Group (Aviva) which has set up a number of similar ventures with the largest banks in Europe, moving it into the bancassurance premier league," adds Adam Uszpolewicz chairman of the Commercial Union Poland Group.
Insurance products are a natural addition to the Bank's offers. BZWBK-CU will mainly deal with the insurance products which were previously offered by BZWBK, but it will also introduce new products. The company is already offering insurance protection for BZWBK payment cards. Insurance for these cards was previously provided by different insurers. The offer to be launched in October will include a structured product - an Investment Policy. In the next few months there are also plans to introduce insurance products for cash loans and mortgages. Work is also under way to develop innovative insurance products, insurance and investment products and an offer of typical protection products.
"One of the main business aims of Bank Zachodni WBK is to ensure long-term income from its bancassurance work, whose growth dynamic will exceed the dynamic from classic banking products. BZWBK has ambitions to become the leader in the bancassurance market, and the commission income from this line should reach a ceiling of 10% of all non-interest income for BZWBK by 2011," explains Mateusz Morawiecki, chairman of the board of directors at Bank Zachodni WBK.
The creation of the company BZWBK-CU is in response to the rapid development of bancassurance in Poland. The share of the banking channel in the sale of insurance products is continually growing - in 2007 the share of this form of insurance product sales reached 24% and, according to the estimates of BZWBK-CU, by 2013 the banks should have at least a 45% share in the sale of insurance.
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Press contact:
Katarzyna Mirowska-Wawrzyniak
BZWBK-CU Towarzystwo Ubezpieczeń
Telephone: (61) 659 66 09 / 0 607 16 30 16
E-mail: katarzyna.mirowska-wawrzyniak@bzwbkcu.pl