Italy 2011 Insurance Premiums Drop 12.5%

Insurance premiums underwritten in Italy last year totaled EUR110.3 billion, down 12.5% from 2010 due to a steep fall in the life insurance segment, Italian insurance industry regulator ISVAP said Monday.

Life insurance premiums totaled EUR73.9 billion, down 18%, ISVAP said in a statement.

Non-life insurance premiums rose 1.4% to EUR36.4 billion, boosted by a 4.7% rise in car insurance premiums to EUR17.8 billion. The amount includes premiums underwritten by domestic and foreign operators.

The Italian insurance landscape is being redrawn as Unipol Gruppo Finanziario SpA (UNI.MI) is in talks to take over Fondiaria-SAI SpA (FSA.MI) and its subsidiary Milano Assicurazioni SpA (MI.MI) to create the country's second-biggest insurer by premiums after Assicurazioni Generali SpA (G.MI).

Italy's economy is expected to contract this year and the technocratic government is imposing a series of austerity measures in an effort to prevent the country from falling further victim to the European sovereign debt crisis.

-By Gilles Castonguay, Dow Jones Newswires; +39 02 5821 9908; gilles.castonguay@dowjones.com; Twitter: @GRCastonguay

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