History

Slavia pojišťovna has its roots very closely connected with the beginnings of the insurance industry in the Czech Republic. It builds on the successful tradition of one of the oldest and most important financial institutions – reciprocal, capital and pension insuring bank Slavia. The insurance company’s foundations were laid as early as 1868 under the rule of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The emergence of a purely Czech insurance institution was an important act in the economic and political sectors at that time. The most important figures of Slavia Bank include its creator and founder, lawyer F. L. Chleborád, who won the ‘Father of the Nation’ František Palacký and other outstanding representatives of the Czech nation for his idea.

The symbolic name Slavia, personifying the ideal of Slavic reciprocity and solidarity, gave the bank access to all oppressed countries in the former empire. Therefore, from an insignificant beginning, the insurance company has become a recognised company with international scope of activity in the coming decades.

The growth of Slavia’s business was particularly intensive in the period between 1924 and 1929, when the insurance company participated in a total of 11 insurance institutions, eight of them in Czechoslovakia and three abroad. The most important founding act abroad was the participation of Slavia in Lion Insurance Company in New York, USA, in March 1928.

The activity of the insurance company was forcibly interrupted after it was nationalised in 1945, when the natural development of the entire insurance industry in the former Czechoslovakia was stopped for several decades. This period lasted until the 1990s, when competing insurance institutions were again permitted to operate and Česká pojišťovna’s monopoly ended.

Slavia pojišťovna, based in Prague, was established during this period and set re-establishing the success of its famous predecessor as its main goal, particularly high innovation, flexibility and quality of insurance products.

An important milestone in the life of the insurance company is its entry into the strong financial group SPGroup, becoming a member in April 2006. The new owner, Capital Management Company, a.s. – a member of SPGroup, is a company with many years of successful operation in the Czech Republic insurance market. An example of its operation is the establishment of one of the most important insurance companies in the Czech Republic – Česká podnikatelská pojišťovna, a.s. Since then, Slavia pojišťovna has been expanding and its position in the insurance market has been strengthened.

The new owner’s strategy is to continue in the successful tradition, responding quickly to the specific needs of clients and business partners and to new market opportunities. The legacy of its predecessor remains the main creed of the insurance company:

‘… our institution, throughout its existence, does not follow in the footsteps of other insurance institutions, but instead we strive, in all areas, to bring the needs of the institution into line with the needs of the current times.’

Quotation from Slavia’s 1880 Annual Report