Insurer of the Year 2016

Founded by the Association of Czech Insurance Brokers (AČPM) and co-organized by the Czech Insurance Association (ČAP) and the specialized information server oPojištění.cz.

The 17th year of this oldest professional contest in insurance culminated with a gala evening held in the Congress Centre of the Czech National Bank (CNB) in Prague on May 11, 2017, under the auspices of the CNB Governor Jiří Rusnok.

The insurance brokers – as experts who work with insurers on a daily basis – assessed the insurance companies’ performance for 2016 in the following categories: insurance of industry, car insurance, civil insurance, specialized insurance and life insurance. Out of these five categories, Kooperativa pojišťovna won three, Česká podnikatelská pojišťovna reached for the first place in car insurance and EULER HERMES SA obtained “gold” in the specialized insurance category.

As in previous years, the brokers also voted for “Personality of the Insurance Market” – a title awarded for an outstanding contribution to the development of insurance in the Czech Republic. This time the lot fell upon Jiřina Nepalová, founder and director of the No.1 brokerage Renomia a.s. and current President of the AČPM.

Within the framework of the contest, the insurers also judged the overall performance of insurance brokers. Thus, Renomia a.s., AČPM member, received the Insurance Broker of the Year 2016 award.

Among the VIP guests were also Prof. JUDr. Marie Karfíková, CSc., Head of Department of Financial Law and Finences, Faculty of Law, Charles University, with her husband, JUDr. Zdeněk Karfík, Lawyer

From left: Ing. Jaroslav Besperát, CEO, Česká podnikatelská pojišťovna, Wolfgang Friedl, Board Member and Business Director, UNIQA pojišťovna, with Ing. Stanislav Svoboda, Director, Brokers Services, UNIQA pojišťovna

The gala evening was opened by Ing. Martin Diviš, President of the Czech Insurance Association, and Jiřina Nepalová, AČPM Chair

Alena Hájková, author of the unique glass/wood prizes for the winners, explains her philosophy behind the design

Life Insurance category winners from left: Kooperativa (gold) – Ondřej Poul, Director of the Insurance Section, Allianz (silver) – Gabriela Jakubcová, Regional Director of Brokerage Services, Česká podnikatelská pojišťovna (bronze) – Marek Woitsch, Director of Life Insurance, UNIQA (4th) – Stanislav Svoboda, Director of Brokerage Services, Pojišťovna České spořitelny (5th) – Petr Zapletal, Chairman of the Board, with the well- wishers: Martin Hrdý, Senior Manager, KPMG, and Ivan Paparega, Vice Chairman, AČPM

The award for Personality of the Insurance Market went to Jiřina Nepalová, AČPM Chair and Director of Renomia a.s. To her left: Ing. Martin Diviš, President of the Czech Insurance Association and Ing. Jan Matoušek, Executive Director of ČAP, to her right, Ing. Zdeněk Tůma, Partner, KPMG, and Ing. Ivan Paparega, AČPM Vice Chairman

Insurance Broker of the Year 2016: (from left) Ing. Jan Matoušek, Executive Director of ČAP, Ing. Martin Diviš, President of the Czech Insurance Association, Lukáš Bajgar, KPMG Director, with the winners: Jiřina Nepalová, Director, Renomia a.s., Mgr. Petra Fenclová, Board Chair, Insia a.s., Ing. Zdeněk Reibl, CEO, Respect a.s., and Margit Vavřincová, Business Director, Inpol a.s.

Master of ceremonies Hanka Koutná with Ing. Ivan Špirakus, AČPM Vice Chairman, and Ing. Jaroslav Besperát, CEO, Česká podnikatelská pojišťovna, winner of the Car Insurance category

Civic Insurance category: from left: Ing. Ivan Špirakus, AČPM Vice Chairman and Ing. Jan Struž, President, Czech Top 100, with the winners: Kooperativa (gold) represented by its CEO Ing. Martin Diviš, silver: Česká podnikatelská pojišťovna represented by JUDr. Václav Honig, Head of Non-Life Insurance, bronze went to Allianz represented by Zdeňka Vodrážková, Regional Director. Award for the 4th place for UNIQA received Ing. Lucie Urválková, its Deputy Board Chair, and Česká pojišťovna took the 5th through David Vosika, Head of Product Management

The creme de la creme of the gala evening – awards for the Industry Insurance category (from left) Ing. Jiří Sýkora, Board Member, Kooperativa (the winner), Jiřina Nepalová, AČPM Chair, Petr Kunzmann, Manager, KPMG, Ing. Pavel Wiesner, Director, Česká podnikatelská pojišťovna (silver), Milan Kříž, Director, Allianz pojišťovna (bronze), Jiří Král, Head of Broker Support, Česká pojišťovna, and Ing. Martin Žáček, CEO of Uniqa pojišťovna.

Ing. Ivan Špirakus, AČPM Vice Chairman, with Ing. Zdeňka Indruchová, AČPM Executive Director

Happy winners of the Insurer of the Year 2016 contest