Contrary to what many commentators are predicting, Italian insurers may not be able to pass on most of the losses incurred from an unlikely default of Italian government debt.
Based on the ‘A+’/Negative rating of Italian sovereign debt, Fitch believes that Italian government bonds are a low default risk. However, in the extreme scenario of a sovereign default, the ability of insurers to pass losses on to policyholders would be significantly impaired, as the return on customer portfolios may be below the minimum promised to policyholders. Insurers would be liable for the additional losses.
Life products offered by Italian life insurance companies typically distribute 85% of any investment return to policyholders and keep 15% for the company. In many policies, the absolute return cannot be less than a minimum guarantee that the insurer is contractually obliged to pay. If the investment returns are below this minimum, the insurer must pay the guaranteed return from its equity.
The situation is worse for insurers in Italy compared with other jurisdictions, such as Germany, because there is not an explicit ability to defer profit sharing. This means there is no capital buffer from previous unrealised profits on the company’s balance sheet.
Historically, Italian companies built a cushion of unrealised gains largely on domestic sovereign debt that could be used to cover guarantees when investment income was insufficient to meet the guaranteed return. This cushion has shrunk in recent months as credit spreads on Italian debt have widened, driving down the value of existing bonds and giving insurers less protection against further market volatility.
In the unlikely scenario of a sovereign default, the realised losses on Italian debt holdings could damage insurers’ capital adequacy to a larger extent than the traditional profit-sharing split would suggest. This is one of the assumptions underpinning Fitch’s Negative Outlook on the life and non-life sectors in Italy.
Theoretically the insurers are also exposed to liquidity risk if policyholders start redeeming their policies early. This is not believed to be a significant risk. The rate of policy lapse is around 8% and this is seen as a structural feature of the market. Many policies are partially insulated from this risk through early redemption penalties.
Source : Fitch Ratings Press Release
