Market players prepare to meet non-life bancassurance demand

In 2006, bancassurance in Italy accounted for nearly 60% of premium income in the life sector compared with just 1.7% in the non-life sector. But non-life bancassurance is said by some to be ready to emerge in Italy and a number of new ventures have been set up in recent years - the most recent being Aviva’s acquisition of 50% of Banco Populare’s Novara Assicura insurance unit. The belief is that this trend, combined with the already strong bancassurance culture in the country, should drive the development of this distribution channel. Progress is likely to come by way of joint ventures between banks and one or more insurers. This process should, in part, be facilitated by the ongoing impact of Law 40 (also known as “Bersani bis”) which took effect from 1 January 2008 and which effectively signaled the end of the Italian tied, or sole agency system. The law is posing new challenge for insurance companies, as their tied agents, who were previously selling products of only one company, are now allowed to sell non-life policies from other companies