On 28 January 2022, the Italian Insurance Supervisory Authority (“IVASS”) launched a public consultation on a draft regulation (available here, in Italian only) setting out rules related to the communication to IVASS of data and information on non-life premiums collected in Italy by insurance undertakings through single intermediaries or written without any mediation (the “Draft Regulation”).
The public consultation builds on the supervisory activity on the conduct of insurance undertakings and intermediaries exercised by IVASS during 2020 and 2021, when it was deemed appropriate to extend also to undertakings operating in Italy in non-life classes the data collection carried out pursuant to IVASS Regulation No. 44/2019 on organisation, procedures, internal controls and customer due diligence for AML purposes (the “AML Regulation”). In fact, pursuant to the AML Regulation, IVASS shall acquire annually - from Italian and foreign insurance companies operating in Italy in life classes - a structured set of information and data, including those related to the amount of premiums and the corresponding number of policies distributed by each insurance intermediary used by the insurance company (agent, broker, bank, Poste Italiane, etc.), separately for each class of policies. Although not subject to the AML Regulation, also non-life insurance companies were requested to send information related to non-life premiums referred to each insurance intermediary or written without any mediation, by filling in only section V (Intermediaries) of the broader document required for life insurance companies, duly supplemented in order to collect also information relating to non-life businesses.
Therefore, with the Draft Regulation IVASS intends to provide for a regular transmission of structured information on premiums collected in Italy also by companies operating in the non-life business. The rationale of the new rules is to allow IVASS to collect homogeneous data and to monitor the whole distribution activity carried out in Italy by intermediaries, so that to be able to define supervisory actions regarding all insurance distributors and not only those acting in the life insurance sector. In particular, on the basis of the Draft Regulation, IVASS would be in a position to better monitor in advance the activity of EU insurance undertakings in Italy and the distribution channels they use, so that to better focus the supervisory activity in terms of conduct rules.
More in detail, the Draft Regulation provides the following:
- Scope: the Draft Regulation would apply to non-life insurance undertakings, including Italian and EU/EEA as well as third-country insurance undertakings operating in Italy in non-life classes of business;
- Annual transmission of data: the abovementioned insurance undertakings would be required to transmit to IVASS annually, by 30 June, information on the insurance activity carried out in Italy and precisely the information related to non-life premiums referred to each insurance intermediary and those collected without any mediation activity by also providing evidence of premiums and respective policies related to motor liability (class 10), general civil liability (class 13) and suretyship (class 15), by filling in only section V (Intermediaries) of the broader document required for life insurance companies pursuant to Article 28-sexies of the AML Regulation;
- Procedures for the transmission of information: the data must be organised and transmitted in accordance with the instructions to be published by IVASS in a letter to the market by 30 November of each year.
Next steps
The public consultation on the Draft Regulation will close on 28 February 2022.
Authored by Silvia Lolli and Davide Valloni.
