CGAP Working Group on Microinsurance Good and Bad Practices: TUW SKOK- Poland, Case Study No. 2

TUW SKOK, the primary insurance provider of the Polish credit unions (CUs), started serving individuals in 2001. Despite significant growth in its first three years—by 2004, the company had nearly 100,000 policyholders— is only reaching roughly 10 percent of CU members, so it still has a major market opportunity. But is TUW SKOK providing microinsurance? It is difficult to say. Although the insurer is not purposely extending insurance to low-income people, it is filling a market niche below the rest of the Polish insurance industry. Either way, TUW SKOK provides a number of valuable lessons for microinsurance providers.

This case study looks at lessons learned in the following areas:

• Role of a brokerage company; 
• Staggered implementation;
• Mutually beneficial relationships;
• Simple but integrated products; 
• Incentives;
• Premium collection; 
• Complications with disability claims; and 
• Savings completion insurance.

This paper was commissioned by the “Good and Bad Practices in Microinsurance” project. Managed by the ILO’s Social Finance Programme for the CGAP Working Group on Microinsurance, this project is jointly funded by SIDA, DFID, GTZ, and the ILO. The major outputs of this project are:

1. A series of case studies to identify good and bad practices in microinsurance.
2. A synthesis document of good and bad practices in microinsurance for practitioners based on an analysis of the case studies. The major lessons from the case studies will also be published in a series of two-page briefing notes for easy access by practitioners.
3. Donor guidelines for funding microinsurance.