Struggle for the Polish Insurance Market in the Initial Years of Poland’s Regained Independence

Abstract

For the first few months after Poland regained its independence, the Polish insurance market was dominated by foreign insurance companies, which fared better than the domestic undertakings owing to the protectionist policy pursued by their respective governments in the preceding years.  The Polish authorities successfully undertook to exercise supervision of the insurance sector with a view to enabling domestic investors to strengthen their position in the sector, and to ensure that the principle of reciprocity was observed towards the states wherefrom foreign capital originated. Nonetheless, all those efforts were ruined by adverse processes taking place in the domestic market since the 1920s and, above all, by the galloping inflation, which undermined the financial foundations of the Polish insurers.