CU's advance commission payment plan luring agents from other firms

Life insurance company Towarzystwo Ubezpieczen na Zycie (TUnZ) Commercial Union (CU) has introduced a modified commission system more advantageous for sales agents, resulting in a surge of agents to CU from other insurers. Other companies accuse CU of demoralizing insurance agents. At the beginning of the year CU created a sales network parallel to its existing one, in which agents are paid their commissions in advance, while under the old system agents were paid only after the customers had paid their insurance premiums. Previously, some small- and medium-companies had implemented similar schemes, but the move by CU, one of the biggest players on the life insurance market, is a blow to competitors such as Nationale-Nederlanden, Zurich, Winterthur, Allianz and Amplico Life. (Puls Biznesu, p. 7) M.T.