Insurance company Link 4 to launch new products

Link 4 Towarzystwo Ubezpieczeniowe, a Dutch-Israeli financed insurer, is gearing up to make a foray into the national insurance market and says it will start offering a new product from spring 2003. The company was cleared to operate in Poland by the Insurance and Pension Fund Supervisory Commission (KNUFE) in October and is to receive its license within a few weeks. "We are ready to start operating within a month or two of getting the license," said Mariusz Sarnowski, Link 4's chairman. This means that the insurer will most likely begin its activities in spring 2003 at the latest. Link 4 will base its business on direct sales, using telemarketing and the Internet rather than agents or brokers. The company's offer will include simple products like car and household insurance which, it claims, will be cheaper due to lower costs. Sarnowski, however, would not disclose any details of the company's immediate future. Link 4 will challenge Hestia MTU which also offers simple products via online brokers. (Puls Biznesu, p. 8) J.K.