Insurance Review | April 2026
The insurance sector is showing signs not only of growth, but above all of a paradigm shift. To correctly interpret the ongoing changes, it’s necessary to look at market data and the evolution of distribution channels. Let’s start with the most obvious trends.
The first is the boom in the property and casualty and protection sectors: after years of dominance in life insurance, Italian bancassurance is increasingly focusing on “protection” products (credit, health, and home). The sector is experiencing double-digit growth, driven by the need to cover new risks, such as cyber and catastrophe risks.
The combined growth of the life and protection sectors highlights the fact that demand is shifting toward protection and integrated asset management.
In property and casualty insurance, the dynamics are different: agency dominance remains, but brokers and banks are growing faster than average. The message is consistent: the need for real coverage and more comprehensive solutions is growing, and space is opening up for models capable of analyzing risk in an integrated manner.
Read together, these trends highlight that customers are no longer satisfied with standard financial instruments or coverage, but are seeking a comprehensive solution to their needs for security, stability, and long-term planning.
The second trend concerns digitalization and the consolidation of the hybrid approach. Digital transformation is now mature. 75% of customers consider banks more efficient than insurance companies in managing digital platforms (apps or private areas). The purchasing experience combines human (in-branch) and digital advice.
The third trend concerns the focus on wealth management. In 2026, bancassurance will remain a key driver for wealth management, as part of a more selective and value-driven growth strategy.
The fourth trend is the focus on potential customers, including young people: bancassurance is exploring new customer targets, particularly young people, seeking to make insurance products more accessible and understandable through digital tools.
From product to solution
Customers are no longer looking for products, but solutions. Not individual policies, but architectures that combine investment, protection, and planning.
Longevity, generational transition, income protection, and health risk management: issues that until a few years ago were marginalized and managed in a fragmented manner are now becoming part of the customer relationship and fundamentally changing its very nature.
This dynamic is reminiscent of the evolution of financial advisory. In the 1980s and 1990s, financial advisors sold mutual funds and in-house products, often with a strong distribution strategy; their value was tied to their placement ability.
Mutual funds were the main product, promoted to introduce small savers to international stock and bond markets. Insurance products (life insurance policies) were another bulwark, widely used for their protection components combined with investment ones. Then there were repurchase agreements used for short-term liquidity management, and finally the ever-present government bonds, which, although also purchasable at banks, were often managed in portfolios by the pioneers of advisory services.
The evolution saw the shift from a product sales model to the current advisory service focused on the life plans of families and businesses, oriented towards service and diversification. In other words, using the metaphor of a house: from brick sellers to architects.
Over time, through a change that was strategic, but also cultural and organizational, there was a shift to a wealth advisory model centered on planning, relationships, and understanding needs.
Less than fifty years have passed and today network banks lead the Italian financial market: with an average annual growth of 8.4%, they now represent a quarter of the financial assets of Italian families, generate 90% of investments in mutual funds and serve savers of all types (mass market, affluent and private).
Today, the insurance world is in a similar phase: it must evolve from product to solution. This evolution can rapidly alter the ranking of distribution channels.
The Advantage of Networks
In this scenario, advisor networks are the most effective model. Their share of insurance products is growing, but this is only the visible consequence. The real advantage is the model.
The first element is the relationship of trust: an ongoing relationship that allows for addressing complex issues such as protection and planning. The credibility that bankers and financial advisors have built by working on these key issues for a long time represents a key advantage that is difficult to challenge.
The second is asset management: networks integrate investments, insurance, and financial planning into a unified vision of the client. This “native” integration, competent and efficient, is starting to pay significant dividends for those who are more advanced.
The third is technical-specialist support, with insurance specialists increasingly integrated with the networks.
The fourth point is strengthening the product offering, which allows for the creation of more effective and customized solutions (an element shared by both open and closed architectures).
Networks don’t sell policies: they integrate them into an overall strategy. This is why they currently represent the most advanced model and the benchmark for market evolution.
Banks: Dominant but Transforming
Banks remain the dominant channel in life insurance, but the landscape is increasingly complex and less homogeneous.
On the one hand, the captive model is consolidating: the major banking groups are internalizing their insurance product factories to oversee the entire value chain and offer integrated solutions. This allows for greater control, higher margins, and better integration with financial services.
On the other hand, strategic partnerships are developing with specialized insurance providers to cover areas requiring a more vertical level of expertise or a faster pace of innovation.
This dual trajectory—internal integration and selective openness—reflects a key point: bancassurance is no longer just a distribution channel, but a key lever in building customer relationships.
The true differentiator, however, is not the business model itself, but the ability to evolve towards a consultancy approach. The banks that are growing the most are those that: integrate protection and investment into a single offering; complement their sales network with specialist structures; They shift the focus from sales to planning. Conversely, where the model remains anchored to product logic, commercial effectiveness declines.
Agencies: A Model Under Pressure
Agencies remain central, but the model has clear limitations, requiring specific work.
The strength of agencies is based on three elements: local proximity, personal relationships, and contractual exclusivity. These elements, however, are losing their centrality. Digitalization reduces the need for physical interaction, while customers are more informed and autonomous. Regarding local proximity, competition from the postal channel and cooperative banks (primarily BCC Iccrea), which have not abandoned their local communities by closing branches, has become stronger on the commercial level. Competition is growing.
Faced with these changes, companies are rethinking their business models. They no longer produce and distribute products directly, but become ecosystem “orchestrators.” Companies are investing in digital platforms, collaborating with insurtech to integrate with third-party partners, and focusing on hybrid distribution models. At the same time, we are witnessing a redefinition of distribution governance. Companies are trying to maintain control over their end-customer relationships by investing in direct channels and customer engagement tools.
The single-agent, with a limited offering, is struggling to meet the complexity of needs. It won’t disappear, but it must change. Agents who can evolve into hybrid consultants, capable of integrating technical, interpersonal, and digital skills, can still play an important role. But the focus of distribution is shifting from product sales to relationship management, from transactions to consulting.
Brokers: the emerging model
Brokers are the players to watch. In this new equilibrium, brokers are emerging as key players because they truly know how to put the customer at the center of the system. It’s a silent but profound revolution that is rewriting the rules of the insurance game.
In P&C, they are already significant and growing. Their strength is their independence and ability to build customized solutions, thanks to an open, multi-brand architecture.
In many ways, they represent a customer-centered, not product-centered, model.
The role of artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the enabling factor of advanced consulting. It will allow for the systematic customization of solutions, supporting the consultant in understanding their needs. It will not replace the relationship: it will make it more effective.
Insurance distribution is no longer a question of channels, but of a model. The winners will be those who can: 1) integrate protection, financial consulting, and credit; 2) manage the relationship with the client; 3) build an integrated wealth management vision.
The insurance bank is changing: from a distribution channel to a relationship platform. The issue is not what you sell, but how you interpret and serve the client.
Upon closer inspection, the financial advisor model teaches, or, as our ancestors said, teaches.
Nicola Ronchetti e Lorenzo Bernorio