Bancassurance Under Regulators' Scrutiny

On 21 February 2012, the Chairman of the Polish Financial Supervision Commission ("KNF") sent a letter on bancassurance to the management boards of all insurance companies and banks in Poland.

The letter sets out what the KNF perceives as irregularities that result from the current cooperation between banks and insurance companies. The particular focus of the KNF is on group insurance policies issued in respect of bank loans. The KNF letter criticises the practice of banks acting simultaneously as insurance intermediaries and as policyholders. It claims that banks that receive a commission from insurance companies under an insurance contract should be considered insurance intermediaries and may, therefore, not also be policyholders.