THEAntitrust Italian has opened an investigation into some insurance companies and a number of companies that compare policy prices. The suspicion is that between the insurance companies and online comparators there is an agreement that limits competition in the sector motor liability policies.
The list of companies involved is quite long:
- Facile.it Insurance Broker
- CercAssicurazioni.it (“Hound”)
- General Representation for Italy (“ComparaMeglio”)
- Sure
- Genertel
- Allianz Direct
- First Insurance
- Daina Finance Ltd
- Admiral Intermediary Services SA
- B2C Innovation
- Good Insurance
- Linear Insurance Company
- Italian social security company
- Insurance and Reinsurance
- FIT Srl Benefit company
- HDI Insurance
- Quixa Insurance
- Verti Insurance
- Zurich Insurance Public Limited Company – General Representative for Italy.
The preliminary investigation aims "to verify whether the companies that offer price comparison services and the insurance companies involved in the proceeding - writes the Antitrust - have created an agreement restricting competition through a exchange of sensitive information on the economic conditions of the direct sale of the policies for motor vehicle liability. All this “through the sharing of reports prepared and distributed by price comparison companies”, reads the note again.
In essence, the agreement – which would have been in place since at least 2012 – would have allowed insurance companies to keep the prices higher compared to those that would have been practiced in a regime of real competition. The companies, according to the Antitrust, could in fact limit discounts just why they knew the commercial strategies and pricing policies of their competitors.
On Thursday 20 May, the Authority's officials carried out inspections in the offices of 6Sicuro, CercAssicurazioni.it, Facile.it, Admiral Intermediary Services SA, B2C Innovation and Linear.
“We are collaborating with the Authority and we are confident that the preliminary investigation will confirm the legitimacy of the service offered – writes Facile.it in a note – We are an operator which, by stimulating a healthy competitive comparison between insurance companies, brings an advantage to all consumers and a benefit for the whole sector. We firmly believe that fair and transparent competition translates into an advantage for everyone and our actions have always been inspired by the pursuit of this objective".
