Letter from the Chairman

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Česká pojišťovna is a traditional Czech brand boasting a long and compelling history. Yet tradition in itself is no longer enough. The insurance market is continuing to forge ahead, with the attendant changes in customers’ needs and requirements. As a thriving company, we need to have what it takes to respond to modern trends and come up with solutions offering customers maximum added value.

The fact that Česká pojišťovna became fully integrated into Generali’s insurance group last year means we are in a position to actively leverage and share in the know-how of a commanding international company while focusing on and reacting to the sum of factors specific to the domestic landscape. All of this gives us the wherewithal to flourish on the highly competitive Czech insurance market.

Last year, the insurance sector witnessed a whole raft of important events. Insurance companies expectantly kept tabs on developments in two monumental pieces of legislation in particular: the Insurance Act (and the associated implementation of Solvency II) and the Insurance Intermediaries Act. We will not find out until 2016 is well under way what the repercussions of failing to pass these two crucial laws will be for the insurance market.

Last year was also challenging in motor insurance. Personal injuries continued to pile up on the back of the new Civil Code in a trend that shot to the fore in 2014 and, without any shadow of a doubt, looks set to stay. Insurers will have to brace themselves for higher claims from clients even in the future.

Despite being exposed to these market complexities, at Česká pojišťovna we did not let innovation slide. We focused on digitising our processes and on paperless communication with customers. As more than 600 signature pads have been distributed in total to all Česká pojišťovna branches, customers are free to sign documents electronically with us. This has made the entire service process faster, easier and – needless to say – more environmentally friendly. The Customer Zone has also been given a major upgrade and can now be set up online from the comfort of the customer’s own home. Consequently, we are charting waters en route to paperless processes and services.

We have also come up with a new product development – Comfort MTPL, offering generous policy limits, personal accident insurance for the driver and all passengers, a three-year price guarantee, the opportunity to file an initial claim with no effect on the no-claims bonus, and a broad range of breakdown cover. As a result, drivers can be sure of assistance not only if they are involved in an accident or their car breaks down, but also in situations where they have tanked up with the wrong fuel or run out of petrol, or where their diesel has frozen or their battery is flat.

Towards the end of the year, Česká pojišťovna relocated its data centre to a common facility in Italy in a move of such magnitude that it was the largest infrastructure transfer witnessed not only in the Czech Republic, but anywhere in Europe. It took roughly 11 months to make the switch, with IT specialists relocating nearly 1,200 applications running on more than 1,300 servers. The project behind this was truly singular, as illustrated by the fact that the relocation of infrastructure on such a large and complex scale passed off with no blanket outages in IT services or applications. I admire and, naturally, owe a particular debt of gratitude, then, to all those specialists who had a hand in the project and devoted countless hours of overtime to it.

In 2015, Česká pojišťovna also did well in industry awards. In the extremely tough Best Insurance Company 2015 survey by Hospodářské noviny, we were runners-up in the Best Life Insurance Company category and came third in the Most Customer Friendly Non-life Insurance Company category.

Speaking on behalf of the Company’s management, I would like to thank all employees and agents who contributed to Česká pojištovna’s success in 2015 and, in doing so, helped to maintain our market leader status in the Czech insurance sector. I am also grateful to our business partners for their custom and look forward to cooperation that will be just as successful in 2016.

A special thank-you belongs to our customers. The faith they place in us keeps us driving forward apace and acts as a commitment to steadfastly deliver high-quality products and services beyond their expectations.

Marek Jankovič
Chairman of the Board of Directors