This paper presents the results of a study of the determination of life insurance demand in Poland. A characterisation of the Polish life insurance sector is given, including a comparison with the...

The aim of the article is to identify the risk factors affecting bancassurance development in Poland. The development is understood here as a change of gross written premiums obtained through banks in Poland. The group of risk factors selected in a survey conducted among financial sector employees was subject to statistical verification. The analysis used both variables directly related to the insurance product (e.g., a regulatory restriction of insurance acquisition costs) as well as those resulting from the specificity of the bancassurance channel, such as the sales of banking products, i.e., cash loans, housing loans and the value of funds placed by customers on deposits. The study was conducted on the basis of data on the gross premiums written in Poland in the years 2004–2019. The result of the applied model confirms the assumptions and the importance of insurance distribution in banks. Significant risk factors (statistically significant) which determine gross premiums written in the bancassurance channel are: the size of policyholder’s family (number of children, dependants) represented by the average number of people in a household in Poland, demand on mortgage loans represents by bank housing loans for households and agent’s commission, represented by the ratio of acquisition costs to gross written premium. The results of the econometric model obtained are consistent with expectations arising from the principles and practice of cooperation between banks and insurers as well as the specificity of insurance products distribution (also local) in the bancassurance channel.

Factors determining the demand for different types of insurance and consumer behaviours have been the subject of many studies. The analysed factors included cultural dimensions, i.e. certain aspects of culture that could be measured, which allows determining the position of a given culture in relation to others. However, the research results were very diverse, which motivated the authors to conduct their own research. The aim of the study discussed in the article was to verify the relationship between Hofstede’s cultural dimensions and insurance demand in selected European countries. It covered various types of insurance: life insurance, property and casualty insurance, motor insurance, general liability insurance and health insurance, as well as all types of insurance in total. The study used secondary data relating to 27 countries and the years 2004–2020 presented on the Insurance Europe and Geert Hofstede websites. Six Hofstede’s cultural dimension indices: the power distance index, individualism vs. collectivism, masculinity vs. femininity, the uncertainty avoidance index, longterm normative orientation vs. short-term normative orientation and indulgence vs. restraint, as well as insurance density (total premiums per inhabitant) were used as variables in the models. The research confirmed the lack of or a very weak relationship between most Hofstede’s cultural dimensions and the demand for insurance, except the indulgence dimension. The relationship between this factor and insurance demand proved significant, which is important not only from a methodological point of view (little interest devoted to this indicator in the literature), but also from a business perspective (e.g. from a marketing communication perspective).