Ania: Farina, we primary actors supporting the country

"We ask for the definition of clear and stable rules over time, which make our work more effective and allow the construction of new and more efficient corridors where our specificities can meet the needs of citizens, the production system, institutions".

This is the appeal that the president of Ania, Maria Bianca Farina, launched at the annual meeting of the National Association of Insurance Companies, guaranteeing the government, Parliament and regulators the sector's contribution to the country " which we are proud to belong to. "

"We feel we are primary actors and determined to actively support the economic and social development of the country", underlined Farina, observing how pandemic and war have projected Italy into the gray area of ​​uncertainty,

On the economic forecasts, explained the president of Ania, "there is a strong uncertainty" and even inflation "will remain high much longer than we imagined only six months ago".

In Italy, she recalled, "the latest forecasts converge on values ​​of over 6% on average for the year. A heavy impact".

In her opinion, "these conditions could worsen further, especially if the belief that inflation will remain high in the medium term takes root among workers and companies".

According to Farina, therefore, "the breadth of the challenges requires a common and collective effort. Single, uncoordinated responses would lead to failure, to a defeat that we cannot afford".

Crucial in this context are the reforms envisaged by the NRP, which Farina defines as "indispensable, long overdue" and precisely for this reason it is now necessary to implement them "quickly, overcoming divisions and particular interests. It is necessary to free the production system from tangle of inadequacies and constraints ".

In the first months of 2022 for TPL auto "despite the jump in inflation, prices are recording a further, significant decrease", explained Farina, highlighting how "however, we must be aware that we are entering a new phase. Inflation is destined to have an impact on the cost of claims, already growing in 2021, and therefore organic reforms of the system are made even more necessary to make it sustainable in the medium-long term ".

In this regard, the president of Ania cited the revision of the bonus-malus, the modification of the taxation on premiums, the unambiguous definition of compensation for damages for serious injuries.

As for the numbers of the sector "in 2021 the total Life and Non-Life premiums reached 140 billion euros, up 3.8%, thus returning to the level of 2019", said Farina, specifying that "in the first months of 2022 the the sector is demonstrating a significant resilience to the worsening of the economic scenario "and" there are no warning signs ".

In 2021, Life premiums rose to 106 billion (+ 4.5%), non-life to 34.1 billion (+ 2%) due to a further 4.5% decline in motor liability premiums.

Overall investments by insurance companies in 2021 "touched 1.050 billion", equal to approximately 60% of the Italian GDP and "the portfolio diversification trend continued with the increase of alternative assets".

"We remain, therefore, large institutional investors oriented towards sustainable medium-long term investments", underlined Farina.

The president recalled how the sector, in terms of welfare, intends to "invest in complementarity with the NRP", explaining that "we want to encourage the spread of supplementary coverage, which in Italy represents only 6% of the overall funding of pensions, against the 50% in the UK and 52% in the Netherlands ".

In terms of health, on the other hand, the role of the sector will evolve towards new solutions with the aim, for example, of making mutual healthcare expenditure accessible to the most vulnerable subjects and of promoting the insurance offer of prevention paths.

The intervention of the ANIA president also concerned climate change: "It is clear that Italy must be equipped with a mixed system for managing catastrophic risks,

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