The Italian Insurance Industry and the Challenge Towards a More Competitive Market

The aim of the paper is to conduct an analysis of the Italian insurance industry based on life and non-life insurance companies in the recent scenario under the new European regulatory regime. A wave of industry restructuring has been underway, characterized by both intra-market consolidations and cross-market acquisitions and alliances. The idea is to understand if and how the competitive variables that compressed in the past are still operating and the changes in policies and strategies recently put in place by insurance operators are working. In particular, we want to investigate how the processes of liberalization - both of a regulatory and of an economic/behavioral nature - have actually led to the development of competitive frameworks or, conversely, re-proposed arrangements still anchored in forms of loyalty in demand and, therefore, scarcely effective in a competitive view. The increase in competition resulting from deregulation should reinforce this process, as firms that fail to improve are likely to be penalized the by the market.