“Insurance protection must be a fundamental part of Italy’s recovery plan because it reduces the fragility of individuals, families and businesses by strengthening the significant bridge function between savings and the real economy that the sector has always performed”. And again: “We can and want to be alongside the government, the institutions and all the productive and social forces to make our contribution to the restart of the country, leveraging on the cornerstones of our mission”.
Maria Bianca Farina, president of Ania (National Association of Insurance Companies), announces the full cooperation of the insurance sector for the relaunch of the country on which the Draghi government is working. And the premier recognizes the importance of this availability. “The Italian insurance companies have a crucial role and their support through investments will be essential to support the Italian restart” he wrote in the letter sent to Farina. On the day of the Ania annual assembly (“We are here, we are here again. And it is the best victory”, was the president’s opening words), that savings of Italian families parked on deposits returns to center stage. “The propensity to save has doubled in one year, reaching 15.3%, the highest value in the last 20 years” he commented. Life policies represent 18.2% of the stock of household financial wealth; the stock of investments in the insurance industry exceeded 1 trillion, of which 345 billion in government bonds. The chairman stressed the need “for regulatory innovations to allow the sector to continue to offer medium / long-term products with guarantees” in a context of very low interest rates (such as the introduction of the Fund also useful in existing management and a review of Unit Linked).
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“It is desirable to simplify the rules and relations between insurance companies and businesses” to make it more fluid to direct savings towards the real economy, said the Minister for Economic Development, Giancarlo Giorgetti.
Insurance plays an increasingly important role in infrastructure; for Farina the funds of the Recovery Plan will not be enough “to guarantee an adequate recovery and safety of the country”. On the other hand, it is “necessary and urgent to combine private investments with public efforts”. Attention is also needed to the “Solvency II revision project” to make the necessary adjustments, “already evident in the first years of application”, in order to incentivize long-term investments and sustainable initiatives. On the protection front, for Farina, SMEs should do more to cover themselves from the risks of business interruption and cyber attacks (only 3% of companies are covered).
Themes already highlighted in previous editions return: a public-private partnership path is needed to cover natural disasters. And the issue of welfare, even more topical after the pandemic.