2nd PIU Congress

250 people visited the Sheraton Hotel in Sopot on 7 and 8 May 2014 to participate in 2nd PIU Congress. The main focus of that event was “Challenges for contemporary insurance – insurance capacity, investments, supervision.” – I am convinced that this Congress will be remembered as the most important event by insurance industry thanks to the presence of our outstanding guests, panelists and experts. Like last year – said Jan Grzegorz Prądzyński, President of the Polish Insurance Association, in his opening speech.

The following guests honoured us with their presence:

  • Józef Zych, Senior Speaker of the Parliament of the Seventh Term, Deputy Chairman of the Extraordinary Commission for Changes to Codification
  • Kazimierz Kleina, Member of the Polish Senate, Chairman of the Budget and Public Finance Committee
  • Tomasz Latos, Chairman of the Polish Parliamentary Health Committee
  • Andrzej Jakubiak, Chairman of the Polish Financial Supervision Authority
  • Zbigniew Derdziuk, President of the Social Insurance Institution
  • Jacek Karnowski, Mayor of Sopot
  • Michaela Koller, General Director of Insurance Europe
  • Terry Vaughan, former Chief Executive Officer of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners
  • Prof. Karel Van Hulle, former Head of the Insurance and Pensions Unit in the European Commission
  • Witold Skomra, Government Centre for Security
  • Mariusz Wichtowski, Chairman of the Polish Motor Insurers’ Bureau
  • Łukasz Zoń, President of the Association of Polish Insurance and Reinsurance Brokers

as well as the representatives of the Polish Financial Supervision Authority, Ministry of Labour, Ministry of Health, Narodowy Bank Polski (National Bank of Poland) and academic world.

The discussion began with the speech by Mary Trussell, Partner KMPG in the UK. Then, Paul Sharma, Managing Director at Alvarez & Marsal presented his speech about contemporary models of supervision. Another discussion panel was connected with the theme of the Congress and concerned insurance capacity and challenges that the insurers have to face. The speech by Markus Wade, the representative of Munich Re, introduced all participant to the discussion.
The first day of the Congress ended with a lecture on new media presented by Pam Moore, President and Founder of Marketing Nutz.

The influence of healthcare on economy was the first topic on the second day of the Congress. The discussion panel was preceded by speech of Łukasz Zalicki, Partner at EY. Then, a part devoted to investments of insurance companies began. The participants were discussing about the investments in the panel called “Investment policy at the time of low interest rates. New challenges for insurers”. The introductory lecture for that panel belonged to Kurt Karl, Chief Economist at Swiss Re. The theoretical part of the Congress ended with a panel about good and bad legal regulation by law that was preceded by a presentation of Michał Romanowski, Member of the Civil Law Codification Commission.
The Congress was attended by the most prominent insurance experts both from Poland and abroad as well as representatives of the supervisory authorities, politicians and scientists.