The pandemic has changed the habits of Italians and, in particular, their perception of the need for health. So from 2020 the life insurance market has changed its skin, focusing on the well-being of people and no longer just on classic financial policies to protect savings (such as unit-linked) or protect loved ones in the event of death or serious illness of the ‘insured.
It is above all in the North West that insurance giants such as Axa, Generali, Intesa Vita, Poste, Reale Mutua and UnipolSai are working to create increasingly complex insurance products that offer their policyholders a wide range of health services, from vaccination campaigns to telemedicine , from diagnostic institutes to spas. This new frontier has helped to restart life insurance after Covid: at national level, according to Ivass data processed by “La Stampa”, it should reach 110 billion, compared to 101 in 2020. For estimates by Ania, “Life business is expected to grow by 8.5%, thanks to the strong dynamics of unit-linked and health products”. A substantial portion of these 110 billion of deposits in the life sector, over 10%, comes from the North West. Here the lion’s share is Piedmont (on average 8.4 billion euros), followed by Liguria (around 3 billion) and Valle d’Aosta (around 250 million).
That the pandemic has contributed to the growth of this market is also testified by the fact that about 3.6 million Italians have signed a life insurance policy for the first time in 2021 and of these more than one in three (34%) has it. done because he felt less safe because of Covid. According to the same survey, commissioned by Facile.it to the mUp Research and Norstat institutes, it appears that over 16 million people have a life insurance policy. «In the 90s – explains Luigi Onorato, senior partner of Monitor Deloitte and Insurance Sector leader – it was important to take care, in 2000 we focused on prevention, today what counts is living well. In 2021, health is the only expenditure expected to increase for Italians, who already spend 40 billion a year on private healthcare. And the most attentive to well-being are the perennials, curious and always fit people of all ages ».
To meet all these needs, companies are structuring themselves according to the ecosystem. «Insurance companies – explains Onorato – join forces with banks, create joint ventures and collaborations with check-up centers, clinics, residences for the elderly, wellness centers, technological operators aiming at the complete management of the customers’ need for health at 360 °. In the North West, very dynamic realities are Reale Mutua, which with Blue Assistance was a forerunner in the world of health and now plays an important role in managing the vaccination campaign in Piedmont. UniSalute (UnipolSai group) is also involved in the anti-Covid front and in health services in general. The same goes for Intesa Vita, which has controlled Rbm since 2020. “Another engine that drives the life and health market – continues Onorato – is corporate welfare, which is becoming the fourth pillar of health, because it compensates for the spending limits of the National Health Service”. A market that in the US has also seen the entry of hi-tech and financial giants who, for example, have decided to develop solutions to insure their employees, such as AmazonCare.
This business crossroads between finance, health and new technologies, in a low-cost money environment, according to Paolo Vendramin senior partner of Monitor Deloitte and M&A Consulting Lead, will inevitably push mergers and acquisitions. “With the aim of developing the Health business as an integrated ecosystem, AXA purchased diagnostic centers, while Generali with the Fenice 190 plan allocated 3.5 billion for investments in infrastructure, digitalization and health“. Looking more at the financial aspect, Vendramin observes how “the market remains very lively, supported by operators seeking to reposition themselves – this is the case of Aviva which sold its life company to Cnp, a French insurance company well rooted in the North West – or by serial consolidators – in Genoa the Amissima company was acquired by Athora, a company controlled by the Apollo fund ». Generali itself was the protagonist of the largest transaction in the sector: «the integration of Cattolica», Vendramin points out, «in addition to a pre-eminent positioning in the non-life classes, it also brings with it a Life portfolio of approximately 2.6 billion in premiums and bancassurance with Iccrea and Bpm ». But the companies are also looking with great interest in finance, the partner of Deloitte still notes, “and Zurich has moved by acquiring the network of 1,100 promoters of Deutsche Bank with the aim of integrating the financial and insurance offer”. With these premises, for experts, it will be difficult for 2022 to disappoint in terms of alliances, acquisitions and mergers in the life sector.
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