“Once again in 2014 the prices of motor liability insurance decreased significantly. According to IVASS data referring to the fourth quarter of last year, Italians paid on average a premium of 475 euros to insure their car, i.e. 40 euros less than in the same period of 2013”. He said it this morning in Rome Aldo Minucci, president ofAnia, speaking at the annual meeting of the National Association of Insurance Companies.
“Overall, the Italians have saved one billion and 300 million – he added – to ensure an almost unchanged number of vehicles. The average premium fell by 15% from March 2012 to March 2015”.
However, Minucci points out that the number of accidents increased in the first half of 2015 and "in the current scenario, to make the drop in motor liability prices structural" "new regulatory interventions" are needed, such as "the approval of the biological damage table ”, the solution of the problem “of the assessment of the damage from death and of the coherent identification of the beneficiaries” and “a more incisive fight against insurance fraud, which remains too widespread”.
There was no lack of alarm for insurance evasion: “It is estimated that there are around 3 million and 900 thousand vehicles without coverage – warned Minucci -, a phenomenon that is reflected in all the policyholders, who have to pay a surcharge destined for the Guarantee Fund to compensate for accidents caused by the uninsured”. The dematerialisation of the cash on delivery "which will be applied from 18 October next, will be a valuable tool for drastically reducing insurance evasion", he added.
According to the Minister of Economic Development, Federica Guidi, with the Competition Law in the insurance sector "premiums will continue to drop and the discounts for consumers who accept the clauses governed" by the provision will be "really significant". With the bill, added Guidi speaking at the Ania assembly, “the government has really committed itself to designing a playing field that is coherent with what happens in the most advanced countries. We wanted to remove distortions and uncertainties that have represented an 'implicit tax' for insurance companies, but above all for policyholders”.
COMPLEMENTARY SECURITY: MORE DYNAMIC INSURANCE THAN FUNDS
As for supplementary pensions, the president of ANIA underlined that last year “out of 6,5 million members, around 2,9 million appear to have chosen individual pension plans, which proved to be the most dynamic component (+ 10%) compared to open funds (+7%) and traded funds (substantially stable)”.
Minucci then had words of appreciation for the Competition law bill, but he defined the increase "from 11 to 20% of the taxation of returns on social security forms" as "questionable", because "subordinating the development of this sector to contingent cash needs of the State is a short-sighted action, which severely limits the purpose of the supplementary pension".
SOLVENCY II: DO NOT TIGHTEN THE RULES AT THE LAST
On the subject of regulation – i.e. Solvency II, the new set of European rules which will enter into force in 2016 – the head of ANIA hoped that “a few months after the launch of the new regime no unjustified tightening of the rules ”. The reference is a recent "Opinion" by EIOPA, the European Insurance Authority, "which requires companies, if they want to use an internal model, to reflect the sovereign debt risk in their capital requirements". According to Minucci, this is a novelty that "would produce an undue aggravation of the requirements for investment in government bonds".
FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2014: PREMIUMS INCREASE, RECORD IN THE LIFE INDUSTRY
In terms of economic results, the President of the Insurance Association recalled that in 2014 "premiums collected, amounting to 143 million euros, showed a sharp increase in the life classes and a decrease in the non-life sector". In particular, Italians allocated over 110 billion to life policies, the highest amount in the history of our sector, with a 30% growth compared to 2013. In the non-life classes, premium income, amounting to 33 billion, recorded a decline by 2,7%, as a result of a decrease in motor liability premiums, determined by the sharp reduction in the prices charged by the companies”.
Minucci then announced that “the overall profit for 2014 was approximately 6 billion, of which 3,5 relating to the life business and 2,5 to the non-life business. Profitability, equal to 10%, has thus returned to the European average levels” and the stress tests conducted last year confirmed “also in light of the Solvency II criteria, the solidity of the sector and its ability to withstand very severe shocks ”.
GROWING INVESTMENTS (+12%)
In terms of investments, last year those of insurance companies reached "630 billion - continued Minucci -, 12% more than the previous year". Furthermore, "almost half of the companies' investments are represented by Italian government bonds".
Finally, as regards the recent possibility given to insurance companies to provide credit through investments in minibonds, securitized securities and private placement operations, the number one of ANIA reiterated that the Italian companies "have allocated approximately 12 billion to companies" using these new tools.
"A still small value, but certainly significant", he concluded, specifying that, FrTo increase direct loans to businesses, insurance companies need to resolve three issues: a system of public or private guarantees to reduce the risk of default, the certainty that the new Solvency2 capital rules do not penalize investments in infrastructure and a taxation on the returns of policies linked to medium/long-term investments equivalent to that of BoTs (12,5%).
