Insurance intermediaries should provide consumers with all the essential information they need to make a decision, including the insurance company on whose behalf it is operating. This is particularly important if the insurer has its headquarters abroad and is not supervised by the Polish Financial Supervision Authority.

In 2012 insurance intermediary 4Life Direct ran a series of advertisements in the press, on the radio and television and online. Targeted at senior consumers, the ads depicted the benefits of having insurance, while a voice-over encouraged contact with the intermediary. However, the ads did not provide information about the company actually offering the product, nor state that it was headquartered in Gibraltar.

UOKiK accused 4Life Direct of misleading consumers by omitting essential information — including the company with whom contracts were concluded — from its advertisements. Moreover, because the insurer was from Gibraltar, it was not subject to supervision by the Polish Financial Supervision Authority, for example with regard to insurance guarantees. According to the Office, the advertisement could be misleading by creating the impression that consumers were concluding a contract with a Polish enterprise. Seeing the 4Life Direct name and logo in the ads, they may have assumed that the intermediary was the insurer. UOKiK noted that while some materials did contain the statement "Insurance protection is provided by the Red Sands Group", there was still no indication that contracts would be concluded with a foreign insurer.

UOKiK imposed a fine of more than 51,000 PLN (ca. 12 000 EUR) and stated the company had abandoned the illegal practices. The decision is final.

Additional information for the media:

Press Office, UOKiK
Pl. Powstańców Warszawy 1, 00-950 Warsaw
Phone.: +48 22 827 28 92, +48 22 55 60 314, +48 22 55 60 430
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