Sailors orient themselves with the stars,finance with key words. In the insurance world one of the moast recurring ones is ‘ecosystem’. A concept that marks the transition from an insurance model that starts from the product to one shaped by the customer’s needs – having an increasingly extensive amount of data about them available. “Insurance becomes an ecosystem of integrated services: such as,with the health policy you have prevention,telemedicine,monitoring. With that car, roadside assistance and additional protection; with the home policy concierge and management services”, he says simone Ranucci Brandimarte, president of the Italian Insurtech Association (IIA) and organizer of the most crucial discussion event in the sector, the Insurtech Summit (20-21 November in Milan). And in wealth management? “You can imagine an ecosystem for travel, art, health: packages built on the specific needs of the customer”.
President, let’s start with a fact: in Italy it is above all traditional insurance companies that lead investments in insurtech. From your observatory, do you also see a growing role for banks and insurance companies in digital investments, or does it remain a sector in itself?
Investments in digitalisation are key to increasing insurance penetration. They serve to make the offer more inclusive and flexible, filling areas that are currently underinsured. This affects not only the companies, which create the products and manage the risk, but also the distribution: banks, promoter networks, credit brokers.
If we look at the numbers, up to 2024 and also in the first half of 2025, 70-75% of insurtech investments in italy were driven by insurance companies. Banks and other distribution operators are around 15%. So the interest is transversal, but the main driving force remains the companies.
According to the IIA, by 2030, 80% of prizes will be distributed via digital channels. How is the role of traditional agents recomposed in this scenario?
When we talk about rewards distributed via digital channels, we don’t necessarily mean direct-to-consumer, but the use of digital platforms by bank tellers, agents and brokers. In 2020, 23% of policies in Italy and Europe were distributed digitally; in 2030 it will be 80%. This makes everything faster and more flexible, but does not eliminate the role of the intermediary: simple products will tend towards self-service, but 80% of insurance value still requires human advice.
So should the myth that insurtech is predominantly direct distribution be dispelled?
No, in contrast. Direct distribution will grow – in Italy by 5 times between 2020 and 2030 – but it will mainly concern simple products, not covered by intermediaries. Traditional business will grow thanks to digital platforms, which offer broader portfolios, artificial intelligence for training, relationship marketing, digital payments, instant quotes. Today 78% of intermediaries in Italy declare that they are riding the digital revolution, compared to 21% in 2021: a huge change in mentality.
In concrete terms, how will the work of intermediaries and financial advisors who also deal with insurance change?
The change will pass through three main directions. First, the platforms: with many easily accessible products, to broaden the offer. Second,AI-powered virtual assistants that make understanding and selling easier. Third, versatility in payments, with processes in which the customer receives the link and concludes the purchase online, even after telephone or physical contact.
Another Italian peculiarity: here insurtech investments are driven by companies, while in other countries new technological players emerge. Is that so?
Yes. In the UK, such as, less than 30% of investments are from traditional companies: the rest are from start-ups and technology companies. In italy the new players only account for 9%. But this is