Supervisory Stimulus Package

Polish Financial Supervision Authority ("KNF") published Supervisory Stimulus Package for Security and Development to support the insurance industry ("Insurance SSP", in Polish: "PIN"). Insurance SSP's goal is to support the resilience and maintain the stability of the insurance industry. Even though particular Insurance SSP's initiatives remain outside the mandate of the KNF, it is expected that the KNF will closely cooperate with relevant public authorities in order to implement them in due course.

In respect to the areas, which may be relevant to the foreign insurers conducting activity in Poland, Insurance SSP includes the following measures:

Day-to-day supervision

• Suspension of new inspections at insurers and distributors
• Ongoing inspections will be conducted with lower intensity
• Exemption from the reporting requirements regarding unit-linked products
• Extension of the time limit for introducing new additional reporting requirements
• When deciding on sanctions, the KNF will consider the current epidemiological situation and will refrain from imposing regulatory sanctions, when appropriate

Contracting process and execution of insurance contracts

• Pragmatic approach to the assessment of the documentation concerning underwriting process for insurance contracts
• The KNF accepts that, subject to the customer’s consent, the entire process may be conducted remotely (by phone, e-mail or online). The customer’s consent may also be expressed remotely (by phone, e-mail or online). In such a case, it is necessary for the insurer or the intermediary to collect appropriate electronic files which clearly document each element of the underwriting process. These documents may be stored in electronic form (as a recording of a phone call, e-mail correspondence or electronic image of a completed online form)
• When concluding insurance contract electronically, an appropriate focus on the security of information processed is required

Management of insurance contacts

• The KNF is going to propose a statutory amendment that will abolish the mandatory sanctions regarding untimely settlement of claims

Please kindly note that some of the above-mentioned measures should be treated merely as the KNF's declarations regarding future actions. In particular the KNF does not have the authority to amend statutory law, which regulates e.g. the form of conclusion of insurance contracts, communications with customers or time limits to settle the claims. In any case all legal aspects of the insurers' activities in Poland and any potential actions related to the current situation (e.g. changes in procedures or documentation used in communications with customers) should be reviewed from the perspective of provisions of Polish law applicable at the time.

Management of complaints

Please kindly note that despite of the organizational problems the insurers are currently facing, there are no changes in the requirements regarding handling of complaints. A failure to comply with the time limit to reply to a complaint (30 days) generally means that the complaint was considered in accordance with the client's request.

Call of the Financial Ombudsman for solutions in relation to COVID-19

The Financial Ombudsman urged to develop specific solutions aimed at supporting policyholders. In the view of the Financial Ombudsman, these solutions should cover in particular:

• Implementing procedures allowing to defer payment of insurance premiums for already ongoing and automatically renewed insurance contracts (especially in case of motor third party liability insurance)
• The Financial Ombudsman suggested that the Insurance Guarantee Fund (Ubezpieczeniowy Fundusz Gwarancyjny) should consider suspending sanctions (penalty fees) for the failure to conclude compulsory motor third party liability contract
• The Financial Ombudsman indicated that significant assets are "frozen" in various types of life insurance contracts with an investment character and some of these contracts involve high surrender fees in case of early termination. The solution should be the possibility of withdrawing funds from this type of contract without surrender fees or other
• In case of travel insurance, even if the T&C of the contract excludes epidemics, insurance should cover possible medical costs or the costs of repatriation to Poland

We will monitor and inform you about any changes to the above information and any other important initiatives of Polish public authorities, which may have significant impact on your Polish business.

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