Poland’s largest insurer PZU to acquire Ukrainian rival MetLife

May 5, 2026 | Business

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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Poland’s largest insurance group, PZU, has signed an agreement to acquire MetLife Ukraine, which is the biggest provider of life insurance in Ukraine. The transaction, whose financial terms have not been revealed, is still subject to approval from Ukraine’s financial authorities.

PZU, whose largest shareholder is the Polish state, says that the deal, which one analyst describes as the biggest ever Polish investment in Ukraine, would strengthen its regional position and open new growth opportunities.

MetLife Ukraine, which is owned by US firm MetLife, has around a 50% market share in Ukraine’s life insurance market and nearly 900,000 customers, says PZU

The acquisition would build on PZU’s existing presence in Ukraine, a market that it entered in 2005 and where it generated 79 million zloty (€18.6 million) in insurance revenue in the fourth quarter of 2025, according to news website XYZ.

“We invest where we have experience, a local presence and a real ability to build value – even in challenging market conditions,” said PZU’s CEO, Bogdan Benczak. “This decision combines strategic ambitions with strong business rationale.”

 

“The acquisition of MetLife Ukraine is an important step in implementing our long-term strategy to develop a strong, international insurance and financial group in Central and Eastern Europe,” added Benczak.

“[It] strengthens our presence in Ukraine and significantly increases the scale of our life insurance operations.”

According to Wojciech Konończuk, director of Poland’s Centre for Eastern Studies (OSW), the transaction will be the largest ever Polish investment in Ukraine. “It may sound paradoxical, but now is the time to enter the Ukrainian financial market,” he wrote on X.

MetLife Ukraine reported revenue of €38 million and net profit of €21 million in 2025, up 11.7% and 5% respectively from a year earlier. At the end of 2024, its assets stood at €249 million and equity at €99 million, reports XYZ.

Gross premiums written, a key indicator of an insurer’s business volume, reached €60 million in 2025, a rise of 10.7%. Payouts to policyholders, however, grew faster, increasing by 23% year-on-year to €12.09 million, accounting for 34% of total life insurance payouts in Ukraine, according to MetLife.

Endowment insurance, a life insurance contract designed to pay a lump sum after a specific term or death, made up the largest share of payouts, at €7.56 million. Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, MetLife Ukraine has also paid 2,500 claims to civilian clients injured by the war, totalling €971,000.

Completion of the deal remains conditional on approval from Ukraine’s central bank and the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine, a state competition regulator. Due to heightened war and political risks, the transaction has been insured by Poland’s export credit agency, KUKE.

PZU Group is the largest financial institution in Poland and Central and Eastern Europe. Its subsidiaries include PZU Życie, Link4, TUW PZUW, Alior Bank and Bank Pekao, with plans to complete a full merger with the latter.

The group serves around 22 million customers in five countries, with the Polish state treasury holding just over 34% of its shares. At the end of 2025, international business accounted for 17.7% of the group’s insurance revenue.


Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

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