The new procedure for collecting information on payment to beneficiaries of dormant life insurance policies: IVASS clarifications
On January 26, IVASS (the Italian Insurance Supervisory Authority) published a letter to the market on the new procedure for collecting information on the payment of dormant life insurance policies to beneficiaries (the Letter). It also published the results of a survey conducted on dormant life insurance policies (the Survey).
Dormant life insurance policies are life insurance policies whose benefits, although accrued, have not been paid to the beneficiaries; for example, when beneficiaries are unaware of death policies.
Article 2952, paragraph 2, of the Civil Code provides that rights arising from life insurance policies are time-barred by ten years from the day on which the event on which the right is based occurred (eg death of the insured). After this period has expired, the sums, if not collected by the beneficiaries, are transferred to the Dormant Relations Fund (Fondo Rapporti Dormienti) established at CONSAP.
IVASS has been increasing market awareness for years. This has been matched by intensive solicitation efforts addressed to insurance companies, to avoid the statute of limitations on claims deriving from these policies.
In 2017, the Authority started cross-referencing the tax codes of insured persons – provided by insurers – with the Tax Registry (which holds data on whether citizens are alive). The process, undertaken every year, is for the benefit of insurers, completed in collaboration with the Italian Revenue Agency. The aim is to report cases of deaths not known to insurance companies, so they can contact the beneficiaries and pay the death benefit before the statute of limitations expires. This time-consuming activity was accompanied by an equally extensive outreach and monitoring of insurance companies. This was not only to collect tax codes held by insurance companies, but also to verify, on the part of IVASS, the existence of adequate internal procedures to guard against the phenomenon of dormant policies of operators.
In the letter to the market of November 22, 2023, IVASS announced that, as a result of the completion of the National Register of Resident Population (ANPR), as of 2024 the Authority will no longer cross-reference tax codes with the data held by the Tax Registry. Now, to verify the death of insured persons and settle the benefits due, insurance companies will have to consult the newly established registry at least once a year. Access will be free of charge.
In the Letter, the Authority clarified that, to gain access to the ANPR, companies will have to join the PDND platform,1 through a certified electronic mail address (PEC). Insurance companies operating in Italy will also have to join the PDND platform under the freedom to provide services regime.
The Supervisory Authority added that a new procedure will be established at the Authority, based on the platform Infostat. This new procedure is aimed at collecting data on payments that will be made on dormant policies. Information about how the Authority will collect the data will be published on the IVASS website by this month.
For enterprises that have already reported through the Infostat platform, no further accreditation will be necessary. But for those that have never reported through the platform, it will be necessary to register as soon as possible.2
We have to wonder whether the complexity of procedures and fulfillments, have, so far, produced the hoped-for results.
Data provided by the Survey shows that, as of June 2023, dormant policies worth more than EUR5 billion had been ascertained, of which EUR4 billion appear to have been paid to beneficiaries. Around 18% of policies are still to be verified.
In the Survey, IVASS says it expects companies to consult ANPR to:
- improve information flow exchanges with intermediaries (especially with banking intermediaries, for policies combined with financing);
- simplify the settlement process by avoiding requests for documentation, particularly medical, that is difficult for beneficiaries to find;3 and
- take steps to ensure that beneficiary designation by policyholders, when taking out the policy, is done by name.
For consumers, the Institute instead suggests they take action on their own to verify whether a deceased family member may have taken out a life insurance policy. They can use the coverage search service offered by ANIA4 or ask the insurance intermediary, bank or company that the family member used. In this regard, IVASS recalls that, in a recent interpretative measure,5 the Data Protection Authority held that heirs and those called to the estate can request access to the personal data of beneficiaries of insurance policies taken out during the lifetime of a deceased person.
The Survey closes by reporting that IVASS has already initiated inspection processes aimed at verifying the proper liquidation management of dormant policies by companies.
1 Accessible through www.interop.pagopa.it, following the instructions in the relevant operational manual.
2 Registration should be done by logging in at https://infostat-ivass.bancaditalia.it; this should be followed by sending the accreditation form on the website https://www.ivass.it/operatori/imprese/raccolta-dati/infostat/Modulo_accreditamento_altre_Survey.dcx?force_download=1 filled out, which should be sent to the following email address: studi.gestionedati@pec.ivass.it, stating in the subject line: "Infostat-Request for POLDO survey qualification."
3 See, in this sense, the guidelines of the Supreme Court, according to which "The requirement to produce a medical report on the death of the insured places a significant economic burden on the beneficiary and, even more seriously, transfers to him the burden of documenting the causes of the accident, a burden that by law he does not have [...]."
4 By consulting https://www.ania.it/it/ricerca-polizze-vita.
5 Published in Official Gazette General Series No. 281, December 1, 2023.
