Insurance Management Consultancy

The insurance broker has seen a significant change in his/her role compared to the "pioneering" years, adding to the function of "mediation" that of professional advice.

Today, the broker acts as a trusted consultant for companies and organizations.

Once the specificity and the nature of the single entrepreneurial project have been analyzed and understood, it is the broker who has the ability to direct attention to the critical issues that can hinder the achievement of the objectives of a company.

It is the broker who quantifies the amount of resources available for the transfer of risks and "tailors" the most appropriate solution. A capacity that the broker derives from an expertise, acquired through dealing with a multiplicity of situations and through the global management of business problems.

To understand needs, to anticipate requirements, to inform correctly and to assist at all times in the relationship with the insurer.

This is the role of the broker in Italy today.

With the aim of providing an integrated service in response to customer requirements and of providing adequate responses to changing and complex needs.
 

As is well known, since 2007, IVASS, the Insurance Sector Supervisory Authority, has been operating the Single register of insurance and reinsurance intermediaries.

Electronic register composed of five Sections:

• Section A: Insurance and reinsurance agents
• Section B: Insurance and reinsurance brokers
• Section C: Direct producers of life, accident and health insurance enterprises.
• Section D: Employees at bank counters, financial intermediaries, SIMs and Poste Italiane counters,
• Section E: Agents engaged in intermediation other than the intermediaries registered in Sections A, B and D.

As from 30 June 2007, at the time of the first contact with the potential insured party, the intermediary must submit a form conforming in content to Model 7, attached to IVASS Regulation n.5 of 16.10.2006.
 

Document highlighting the behaviours that the intermediary must adopt. Until eventual receipt of the premium.
 
The submission of the document is mandatory even if the intermediary is known to the potential contracting party and even if - in the past - there have been other contacts.

Once the existence of a potential interest of the policyholder in evaluating a proposed insurance cover has been verified, the intermediary is required to provide him/her with a further printed document, which corresponds to the contents of Model 7B, attached to the aforementioned IVASS Regulation, in which is contained the following information:

• as to the person of the intermediary
• possible conflicts of interest between the intermediary and the prospective contracting party
• the policyholder's instruments of protection.

The information regarding the intermediary's person should relate to:

• personal data
• the details of the entry in the Register of Intermediaries
• the methods for verifying the entry in the Register itself (see website: www.ivass.it)
• the address and, where appropriate, internet and e-mail addresses
• the name of the company from which the insurance offer is made
• in the event that the intermediary is registered in Section "E" of the IVASS Register, the details and registered office of the person for whom he/she acts must be reported (intermediaries registered in Sections A, B, D)
• citation of IVASS as the authority supervising the insurance sector.

must indicate:

• if the intermediary has a holding of more than 10% in the capital of the insurance undertaking
• if the insurance undertaking has a capital holding of more than 10% in the company for which the intermediary is acting,
• if the intermediary provides consultancy based on analysis of the insurance market (this is the typical case of the professional figure of the broker)
• if, on the other hand, the intermediary - bound to act exclusively with one or more insurance companies can offer only the contracts of those companies,
• if the insurance contract offered concerns compulsory motor third party liability, the amount in absolute terms and as a percentage of the commissions received.

Information which must be specified:

• the premiums paid by the policyholder constitute separate assets with respect to the assets of the intermediary to whom they are paid (see article 54 of IVASS Regulation n.5 )
• the intermediation activity is guaranteed by a civil liability insurance policy (article 11 of IVASS Regulation n.5)
• the policyholder - in addition to being able to appeal to the Judicial Authority - has the right to submit complaints to the insurance company and, in the absence of any reply, to IVASS
• the contracting party may also apply to a special Guarantee Fund for compensation for financial damage, in the event that the intermediary is a Broker
• if the intermediary is a broker, it shall be clarified whether or not he/she is authorised by the insurance company to collect the premium.

Before the proposal and contract are signed, the intermediary shall:

• explain to the policyholder, in a correct, exhaustive and comprehensible manner, the essential elements of the contract (duration, costs, limits of cover, financial risks with regard to life insurance policies, etc.)
• propose and recommend contracts adapted to the insurance and welfare needs of the policyholder, obtaining the necessary information
• alert the policyholder that a lack of appropriate information may prejudice the adequacy of the insurance offer
• deliver to the policyholder the information memorandum, the proposal and the general and special conditions of the insurance contract at the time of its conclusion
• sign, together with the contractor, and keep for five years, the documentary evidence of the activity performed.

The intermediary may collect policy payments from policyholders in the following manner:

• non-transferable bank or post office cheque or bank order in the name of or on behalf of the insurance company or the intermediary
• bank or postal transfer or electronic payment system (debit/ credit card) with the beneficiaries as indicated above
• cash for the payment of third-party motor liability policies and ancillary risks of the same vehicle and for coverage of other lines of business, provided that the amount does not exceed EUR 500 per contract per year.

In proportion to the seriousness of the violation, are:

• reprimand, in the case of a minor failing
• censure
• removal from the register of intermediaries

Repeated conduct which would otherwise lead to a reprimand or censure may result in the immediately higher penalty. The de-registration shall be publicized in the Bulletin and on IVASS's website.