For Giancarlo Giannini, president of Isvap, the birth of the insurance anti-fraud under consideration by the Senate is certainly an important step forward, however "it alone is not enough" to reverse the trend towards the increase in motor liability premiums, a phenomenon "which has assumed the dimensions of a social drama. Giannini recalled the data collected between October 2009 and October 2011: +26,9% for a forty-year-old in maximum bonus, +20,2% for an eighteen-year-old in a car, +27,9% and +45,4% for an eighteen-year-old driving a moped and a motorcycle, respectively. "We continually stigmatize the increase in motor liability prices - remarked Giannini - however in the last few months of the year we see an increase that is slowing down just above the inflation rate".
Since last January for the four tariff profiles monitored by Isvap (cars and motorcycles) the increases have fluctuated between a minimum of 0,9% and a maximum of 3,3%. The Institute therefore proposes a reform of the sector, starting with the bonus-malus system. Isvap is thinking of a systematic reform which, combined with an effort to improve management efficiency on the part of companies, "can lead over time to a reduction in the cost of motor liability to the extent of 15-18%, thanks to the considerable decrease in impact of claims on company financial statements”. In the specifics of the anti-fraud bill, Giannini proposes to introduce an obligation to consult the ISVAP claims database in the assessment and settlement phase of more complex claims. An obligation that should be assisted "by correlated sanctioning mechanisms".
The reform of the bonus/malus, initiated by Isvap "which is in an advanced stage" will also contribute to the containment of tariffs and will be on the French model with the elimination of parallel merit classes by the individual companies. Giannini took the opportunity to sound the alarm about "ghost" companies, a phenomenon "in worrying and steep increase". The Authority of the sector has detected as many as 35 during 2011 against the 52 surveyed in the period 2002-2010 . The ghost companies are those not authorized or enabled to operate "which collect premiums of modest amounts without obviously providing any insurance coverage".
Since the beginning of the year, Isvap has imposed fines on insurance companies for 41,6 million (an amount destined to grow by the end of December) compared to the 43,3 million fines imposed throughout 2010. Most of the sanctions, Giannini said, concern the motor liability branch (30,9 million of which over 20 million for violation of the rules on claims settlement). Lastly, in front of the senators of the Industry commission, Giannini wanted to give reassuring signals on the cash liquidity of the insurance companies: “we are in a state of tranquillity, let's say 'anxious and above all vigilant tranquillity. The situation – he clarified – is not comparable to that of 2008 when the ratio between outgoings and premiums was close to 120%. We are not in this phase, we will see the evolution”.
