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Powszechny Zakład Ubezpieczeń Spółka Akcyjna

Generation Park in Warsaw, PZU's headquarters
Company type	Spółka Akcyjna
Traded as	WSE: PZU
Industry	Financial services
Founded	1803; 221 years ago (1803)
Headquarters	Warsaw, Poland
Area served	Europe
Key people	Beata Kozłowska-Chyła (CEO) Robert Jastrzębski (Chairman)
Products	Insurance and Banking
Revenue	€8.6 billion (2019)
Operating income	€1.63 billion (2022)
Net income	€722 million (2022)
AUM	€6.98 billion (2022)
Total assets	€90.81 billion (2022)
Number of employees	40,805 (2020)
Subsidiaries	AAS Balta Alior Bank Bank Pekao PZU Asset Management Sp. z o.o. PZU Centrum Operacji SA PZU Finance AB PZU Lietuva PZU Pomoc SA PZU Tower Sp. z o.o PZU Ukraine PZU Zdrowie SA
Website	www.pzu.pl

PZU, also known as Powszechny Zakład Ubezpieczeń Spółka Akcyjna, or PZU SA (Polish pronunciation: ) (WSE: PZU) is a publicly traded insurance company, a component of the WIG20 and Poland's biggest and oldest insurance company. PZU is headquartered in Warsaw and is the largest financial institution in Poland. It is also the largest insurance company in Central and Eastern Europe.

PZU Group offers the selection of nearly 200 insurance products on the Polish market. The activity of PZU group encompasses the comprehensive insurance-financial service. The Group entities provide services in the area of non-life insurance, personal and life insurance, investment funds and open pension fund.

History

Foundation

The company's origin dates back to 1803 when the first insurance company in Poland was established. In the years 1927-1952 the company operated under the name Powszechny Zakład Ubezpieczeń Wzajemnych and between 1952-1990 it was known as Państwowy Zakład Ubezpieczeń (State Insurance Company) as it was officially given a monopoly by the state and effectively became the largest insurance company in the country.

In 1991 PZU was turned into a joint stock company controlled by the State Treasury as a consequence of the political transformation after 1989.

In December 1991, the PZU Życie joint stock company was founded by polski Bank Rozwoju and Bank Handlowy in Warsaw. The PZU transferred its portfolio of life insurance contracts for PZU Życie.

In 1998, in relation with the reform of the pension insurance system in Poland, PZU Życie formed PTE PZU, a joint stock company, which operates the OFE PZU (Open Pension Fund).

On November 5, 1999, a share purchase agreement was concluded under which Eureko and BIG Bank Gdański SA acquired 20% and 10% respectively of the share capital of PZU. A dispute arose in connection with the implementation of the agreement, which was settled amicably in October 2009. A settlement and sale agreement were concluded between the parties.

In the 21st century

In 2002, the PZU Group started its activities on the Lithuanian insurance market by acquiring shares in UAB DK “Lindra” (PZU Lietuva). With the acquisition in OAO “Skide West” (PZU Ukraina) in 2005, it began operations on the Ukrainian market again.

In the first half of 2008 PZU Group received 11,882.5 million Polish zloty in insurance premiums. This is an increase of 50.6% over the same period in 2007.

PZU was first quoted on the Warsaw Stock Exchange in May 2010.

In 2011, the company received the Jakość Obsługi 2011 Award (Quality of Service Award) and was among the tree top insurance companies in the country alongside Allianz and Ergo Hestia.

In March 2014, it was revealed that PZU and Vienna Insurance Group were in the race to acquire rival Lietuvos Draudimas for around $147 million. In 2015 PZU acquired the direct insurer LINK4 in Poland and launched the PZU Zdrowie brand. In the same year, PZU acquired the Baltic businesses of the British RSA Insurance Group for some €360 million. This deal enabled the company to take control of Lithuania’s biggest insurer, Lietuvos Draudimas, Latvian rival AAS Balta, an Estonian unit of RSA’s Danish insurer Codan Forsikring.

In 2015, the transaction to acquire a 25.19% stake in the share capital of Alior Bank SA was completed. The next step was the transaction carried out by Alior Bank to acquire a separate part of Bank BPH, including the core business.

Currently, the PZU SA Group holds 31.94% of shares of the Alior Bank. In December 2016, PZU together with Polish Development Fund acquired Bank Pekao, Poland's second largest bank previously owned by UniCredit, by buying a 32.8 per cent stake in the bank for the amount of PLN 10.6 billion (EUR 2.6 billion).

In 2020, PZU became the first Polish insurer to use artificial intelligence technology developed by Tractable in order to enhance how it reviews its car insurance claims across the country.

In February 2022, in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, PZU initiated a special programme for Ukrainian citizens who have crossed the Polish border and do not have the mandatory automobile insurance. The company decided to contribute the auto insurance premiums for Ukrainian citizens for a 30-day period.

In 2022, PZU became the first insurance company to sign an agreement with the Swedish-based Insurtech Upptec in order to launch automated, digital claims and to accelerate customer experience and optimize claims processing.

Endorsement

In February 2021, PZU Group became the official partner of Polish tennis player Iga Świątek.

Corporate affairs

Organizational structure

The PZU Group currently comprises a total of 88 companies, some of which include:

• Powszechny Zakład Ubezpieczeń na Życie SA
• Powszechne Towarzystwo Emerytalne PZU SA
• Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych PZU SA
• PZU Pomoc SA
• PZU Centrum Operacji SA
• PZU Tower Sp. z o.o.
• PZU Asset Management Sp. z o.o.
• Międzyzakładowe Pracownicze Towarzystwo Emerytalne PZU S.A.
• PZU Lietuva (Lithuania)
• PZU Ukraine
• Apdrošināšanas Akciju Sabiedrība Balta (Latvia)
• PZU Finance AB (Sweden)
• LLC SOS Services (Ukraine)
• Ogrodowa – Inwestycje Sp. z.o.o.
• Alior Bank
• Bank Pekao

Management

List of CEOs:

PZU Group's operations

• Non-life insurance
• Life insurance
• Banking
• Mutual funds
• Pension funds
• International operations
• Medical services (Health)

Products and services

The PZU Group offers insurance services in the areas of property, accident and life insurance. PZU also provides pension fund management, investment fund management, pension fund settlement services, national investment fund asset management, and insurance and financial brokerage services. The company is structured into two divisions: PZU and PZU Zycie. PZU in turn is divided into three segments: Corporate Insurance, Personal Insurance and Investment Activities. The segments Corporate Insurance and Private Customer Insurance are active in personal and property insurance. The Investing activities segment comprises investments with own funds. PZU Zycie deals with group insurance, individual continued insurance, individual life insurance, investment activities and investment contracts. PZU Zycie also provides other financial services such as investment and construction products through various distribution channels.

See also

• List of Polish companies

References

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3. "PZU: Solidne wyniki i obietnica utrzymania poziomu dywidendy". isbiznes.pl (in Polish). 30 March 2023. Retrieved 31 March 2022.
4. "Grupa PZU | Factsheet 1Q 2022". Retrieved 31 March 2023.
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11. "History". PZU. Retrieved 2020-03-25.
12. Borish, Michael S., 1956- (1996). On the road to EU accession : financial sector development in Central Europe. Ding, Wei, 1960-, Noël, Michel, 1954-. Washington, D.C.: World Bank. ISBN 0-585-22421-8. OCLC 44958000.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
13. ^ "Management Board's report on the activity of the PZU Group and PZU SA". Retrieved 2020-03-25.
14. "History". PZU. Retrieved 2020-05-15.
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16. ^ "PZU.WA - Powszechny Zaklad Ubezpieczen SA Profile | Reuters". www.reuters.comundefined. Retrieved 2020-05-15.
17. "Eureko B.V. vs. Republic of Poland-Dissenting Opinion" (PDF). Retrieved 2020-05-15.
18. Investment arbitration in Central and Eastern Europe : law and practice. Nagy, Csongor István, 1979-. Cheltenham, UK. 2019. ISBN 978-1-78811-517-9. OCLC 1128970682.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link)
19. "PZU - Clients - MakoLab". makolab.com. Retrieved 2020-05-28.
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24. Simon Jesson and Adrian Krajewski (17 April 2014). "UPDATE 2-UK's RSA sells east European businesses to Polish insurer PZU". reuters.com. Retrieved 31 March 2023.
25. "PZU Seeks to Create Top Polish Bank After $431 Million Deal". Bloomberg. Retrieved 2020-05-15.
26. "Alior Bank acquires the Core Business of Bank BPH from GE Capital". Finance Monthly | Monthly Finance News Magazine. Retrieved 2020-05-15.
27. "Shareholders - Alior Bank - English version". www.aliorbank.pl. Retrieved 2020-05-15.
28. "UniCredit sells Bank Pekao stake to Powszechny Zakład Ubezpieczeń and Polski Fundusz Rozwoju". 8 December 2016. Retrieved 19 December 2016.
29. "PZU is first Polish insurer to use Tractable's AI To analyse auto damage". prnewswire.com. 27 November 2020. Retrieved 31 March 2023.
30. "Polish insurer to pay insurance premiums for Ukrainian citizens". thefirstnews.com. 28 February 2022. Retrieved 31 March 2023.
31. "Poland's largest insurer PZU launches digital claims with Upptec". finance.yahoo.com. Retrieved 31 March 2023.
32. "PZU oficjalnym partnerem Igi Świątek" (in Polish). Retrieved 16 June 2021.
33. "Group structure". Retrieved 2018-03-24.
34. "Grupa PZU". Companies History - The biggest companies in the world. 2014-08-04. Retrieved 2020-06-02.

External links

Media related to Powszechny Zakład Ubezpieczeń at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website

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• Companies in the WIG30
• Financial services companies established in 1803
• Insurance companies of Poland
• Politics of Poland
• Privatization controversies
• Privatization in Poland
• Government-owned companies of Poland
• Companies based in Warsaw
• Companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange
• Polish brands
• Insurance companies of Ukraine