The Polish Chamber of Insurance (PIU), together with representatives of insurance companies, actively participated during the consultation process for the Distribution Recommendations.
“The recommendations, as they currently stand, although they impose an additional obligation on companies, are more in line with market practices. The published document is clearly more transparent, shorter, and takes better account of proportionality in the obligations of insurance companies than the originally proposed approach”, says Adam Uszpolewicz, CEO, PIU.
“The adopted Recommendations are the result of months of intensive dialogue between the market and the regulator. In the course of these discussions, we presented numerous analyses and reasons regarding the practical aspects of insurance distribution. The document also takes into account a number of key proposals put forward by the Chamber, which are important from the perspective of market growth potential and the effectiveness of sales processes”, adds Piotr Wrzesiński, Deputy CEO, PIU.
The document published today is the result of many months of close joint work between market representatives and the Polish Financial Supervision Authority during consultations on the project. The final document consists of 30 recommendations and covers the entire insurance distribution process – from the corporate governance and responsibilities of an insurance company’s management bodies, through the organisation of the sales process and product design principles, to customer service standards. A significant portion of the Recommendations also concerns partnerships between insurance companies and various intermediaries and distribution partners – including agents, brokers, and other businesses involved in offering insurance – as well as the specific nature of group insurance contracts. The final section of the document focuses on the mechanisms designed to ensure the proper functioning of the distribution process. This includes measures for identifying and managing conflicts of interest, as well as requirements for the internal control system and the audit and compliance functions, which are intended to ensure that insurance companies’ operations comply with legal regulations and regulatory expectations.
Distribution recommendations are a set of regulatory expectations established by the Polish Financial Supervision Authority for insurance companies regarding the design, offering, and selling of insurance products, both through direct sales and through agents and brokers. Their goal is to standardise the application of legal provisions and raise the standards for insurance distribution, in order to reduce irregularities and ensure that the products offered meet customers’ requirements and actual needs, and deliver relevant value to them.
The recommendations were adopted by the Polish Financial Supervision Authority on 26 June 2026, and should be implemented by insurance companies generally by 1 July 2027, with the exception of certain requirements concerning the savings component of products, for which the deadline is 1 July 2028. They replace the previous 2014 Guidelines on Insurance Distribution.
