KUKE is growing faster than the Polish insurance market
PLN 575 billion was the value of trade insured in the year 2020 by companies affiliated with the Polish Chamber of Insurance (PCI), including KUKE.
This represents an increase of 8 percent in a year when the economy experienced severe operating restrictions due to the pandemic and eventually closed with a 2.7 percent drop in the GDP. At the same time, according to the PCI, the value of gross written premium collected by insurers increased by 5 percent to PLN 761 million. At the same time, turnover in the commercial business of KUKE covered by insurance increased by almost 25 per cent and written premiums by 33 per cent.
"After the outbreak of the pandemic, there were concerns that due to the prevailing uncertainty financial institutions would drastically reduce their exposure to corporate finance to reduce their risk- as was the case during the previous global crisis in 2008. And this would only make the slump more severe, leading to payment bottlenecks, a wave of company bankruptcies, and ultimately rising unemployment. The rapid response of the State in the form of providing liquidity to both the corporate and financial sectors has made it possible to avoid falling into such a trap, and last year companies did not lose access to trade credit insurance on a massive scale. This contributed to limiting the scale of the recession in Poland and stemming the wave of insolvencies. At KUKE, while monitoring the market situation, which stabilised over time, and the positive impact of the anti-crisis instruments on the condition of business, we provided our customers with the necessary financing, enabling them not only to survive the difficult situation, but also to increase sales, which many of them used to strengthen their market position both domestically and abroad. We also acquired many new customers who found it difficult to obtain protection for their commercial transactions, and we provided it for them. As a result, commercial turnover insured by the Export Credit Insurance Corporation increased by almost a quarter, i.e., three times more than the market average, and gross written premium increased six times more. At the same time, the loss ratio was at a record low level. We are not changing our approach to the market this year, although we estimate that it will bring more insolvencies and restructurings (although not necessarily in sectors benefiting from credit insurance) and a higher loss ratio than it had in 2020, which was exceptional in this respect", said Janusz Władyczak, KUKE's CEO.