After the Banking Arbitrator, the Insurance Arbitrator also arrives. The Insurance Supervisory Institute is working with the Ministry of Economic Development "to draw up the implementing rules", while "activities are underway to recruit and train personnel and create the IT platform for the presentation and efficient management of appeals". This was announced on Thursday by Fabio Panetta, president of IVASS, in the Considerations on 'activity of the Institute in 2018.
The Insurance Arbitrator will deal with the out-of-court settlement of insurance disputes, working alongside the Arbitrator for financial disputes (Acf) and theBanking and Financial Arbitrator (Abf). For the start of the Insurance Arbitrator "the legislator has expanded the organic plan of the institute by 45 units - Panetta continues - until now it has stopped at the 355 units envisaged by the institutive law".
IRREGULAR SITES
But there are not only ordinary disputes to resolve. Italian insurance companies are afflicted by a scourge that becomes more serious every year: that of irregular sites, online traps that alter competition by defrauding thousands of consumers, especially in the motor liability sector. Their number is constantly growing: 2018 cases were identified in 103, more than double the 50 in 2018, while this year the reports have already reached over 80.
The issue falls within the competence of the investigating authorities, the only ones who have the power to put scam sites off-line (which happens in 95% of cases). Also thanks to the support provided by IVASS, an investigation is underway by the Special Technological Fraud Unit of the Guardia di Finanza, coordinated by the Milan Public Prosecutor's Office, for the seizure and blackout of over 100 irregular sites.
CAR TPL
Meanwhile, net of online scams, the cost of motor liability insurance continues to drop in Italy. In five years, the average premium has fallen by 100 euros, going from 515 euros in 2013 to 415 euros in 2018. As always, the national average hides deep geographical imbalances, but in recent years the North-South differential has also substantially reduced. Between the most expensive city (Naples) and the cheapest one (Aosta), the gap narrowed by over 140 euros, from 380 euros in 2013 to 237 in 2018.
“In international comparison – explains Panetta – the average net premium in 2018 is still higher than that of the major European countries (France, Germany and Spain), but there has been a clear reduction in the gap: from 202 euros in 2012 to 97 euros in 2018”. Less than half.
The spread of black boxes contributed decisively to the drop in motor liability premiums, which at the end of 2018 were included in more than one contract in five (22,2%), with higher values in the provinces most exposed to the risk of fraud .
However, IVASS notes that policyholders with a black box are less inclined to change company, which negatively affects the final cost of the policy. For this reason "the completion of the regulations on the portability of black boxes is essential - continues Panetta - in order to avoid undesirable effects on the degree of competition on the market".
SLEEPING POLICIES
The Supervisory Institute also provides an update on dormant policies, i.e. the premiums never collected by the beneficiaries (often unaware of their existence) who risk prescription and passage to the Consap Dormant Relations Fund. The policies "awakened" up to now have exceeded 200 thousand, while payments to citizens have come close to 4,5 billion euros.
THE NUMBERS OF ITALIAN INSURANCE
As regards the accounts of the Italian insurance market, IVASS informs that profitability fell in 2018, remaining however in positive territory for the seventh consecutive year. The downturn in profits in the Life business, caused in turn by value adjustments to securities, was the most important factor: the 2018 result was just under 2 billion euro, against 3,5 in 2017. On the other hand, the decrease in the Non-Life business result (approximately 2,2 billion, from 2,4 in 2017) mostly due to the lower contribution of the motor liability class.
Total premium income grew by 3 per cent compared to 2017. In the Life business there was a reorganization of the portfolio: class I products (life duration insurance) grew by 5,5 per cent, after two years of decline; those of class III (unit and index linked) instead decreased by 4,5 per cent.
On the balance sheet side, IVASS writes that "the volatility of the spread has been reflected in the financial statements of Italian insurance companies". At the market level, the solvency ratio stood at 222 per cent last year, almost 20 percentage points lower than at the end of 2017, but still more than double the regulatory limit of 100 per cent.
