EN ECB-PUBLIC  
 
 
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 
of 30 July 2012  
on the reform of supervision of insurance and retirement provision 
(CON/2012/61) 
 
Introduction and legal basis 
On 5 July 2012, the Italian Government adopted Decree Law No 951 on public spending review 
(hereinafter the ‘Decree Law’), which entered into force on 6 July 2012. On 18 July 2012, the European 
Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the Mi nistry of Economic Development for an opinion on 
Article 13 of the Decree Law. Article 13 concerns  the establishment of a new institution for the 
supervision of the insurance and retirement provision sectors ( Istituto per la vigilanza sulle assicurazioni 
e sul risparmio previdenziale , IVARP). 
The ECB’s competence to deliver an  opinion is based on Articles 127(4) and 282(5) of the Treaty on the 
Functioning of the European Union and the third and sixth indents of Article 2(1) of Council Decision 
98/415/EC of 29 June 1998 on the consultation of  the European Central Bank by national authorities 
regarding draft legislative provisions2, as the Decree Law relates to the Banca d’Italia and the rules 
applicable to financial institutions insofar as they materially influence the stability of financial institutions 
and markets. In accordance with the first sentence of  Article 17.5 of the Rules of Procedure of the 
European Central Bank, the Governing Council has adopted this opinion. 
 1.  Purpose of the Decree Law 
1.1 Under Article 13 of the Decree Law, the IVARP will be established as a public law institution with 
legal personality. The IVARP will replace the ISVAP
3 and the COVIP4, and take over their 
competences, tasks and administrative and financia l resources. With regard to the insurance sector, 
the IVARP will have the same competences and t asks as the ISVAP, and will be entitled to receive 
the fees charged to insurance companies, insurance intermedia ries and insuran ce assessors under 
the relevant legislation5. With regards to the retirement provision sector, the COVIP’s competence 
                                                 
1  Gazzetta Ufficiale della  Repubblica Italiana, No 156, of 6.7.2012, p. 1, Supplemento Ordinario. No. 141  .  
2  OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42.  
3  Istituto per la vigilanza sulle assicurazioni private e di interesse collettivo , Institution for the supervision of private and 
public interest insurance.  
4  Commissione di vigilanza sui fondi pensione , Commission for the supervision of pension funds.  
5  With regard to the competences and ta sks, see Article 4 of Law No 576 of 12  August 1982 and Article 5 of Legislative 
Decree No 209 of 7 September 2005. Articles 335 to 337 of the la tter contain provisions on the fees due to the ISVAP. In 
particular, according to Article 335(2) insurance and reinsu rance companies are subject to a fee based on the premia 
collected by such companies; the fee cannot exceed 0,2% of the premia. Insurance and reinsurance intermediaries are 
subject to a fee whose maximum amount de pends on the specific category in question.  Insurance assessors are subject to 
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2 concerning the supervision of pens ion funds is transferred to the IVARP, as well as the entitlement 
to receive the fees which pension funds pay to the COVIP under the relevant legislation6.  Some 
other competences will be transferred to the Minist ry of Labour and the Welfare State and to the 
CONSAP7. Where competence is transferred to the Mini stry of Labour and the Welfare State, the 
latter and the IVARP may enter into special agre ements for the exercise by the IVARP of powers 
of verification and control, including via inspections.  
1.2 The Governance of the IVARP will consist of a President, a Council and the Directorate of the 
Banca d’Italia, which pursuant to Article 21 of the Statute of the Banca d’Italia consists of the 
Governor, the Director General and three Deputy Directors General8, enlarged by the addition of 
the two IVARP Councillors, solely for the purpo ses of the performance of the institutional 
functions assigned to the IVARP in insurance a nd pension matters. The Council, which will be 
responsible for the overall administration of th e IVARP, will consist of the President and two 
Councillors, chosen among persons  of unquestioned integrity,  independence and professional 
expertise in insurance or pension matters. The Di rector General of the Banca d’Italia will be the 
President of the IVARP, who will in this capac ity be the legal representative of the IVARP and 
chair the Council.  The two Councillors will be a ppointed for a term of office of six years, 
renewable once, within 120 days from the entry in to force of the Decree Law, by decree of the 
President of the Republic upon a resolution adopted by  the Council of Ministers at the initiative of 
the President of the Council of Ministers, ac ting on a proposal from the Governor of the Banca 
d’Italia, and in agreement with the Minister for Economic Development and the Minister for 
Labour and the Welfare State. The enlarged Dire ctorate will be responsible for setting guidelines 
and for the strategic direction of the IVARP a nd will have the power to take all measures of 
external importance relating to the performance of the IVARP’s institutional functions of insurance 
and pension supervision. It will also be responsible for the appr oval of the IVARP’s annual report 
and the adoption of regulatory measures. 
                                                                                                                                                             
a fee whose maximum amount is 100 euro. The amount of the af orementioned fees is currently determined on a yearly 
basis by means of a decree of the Ministry of  Economy and Finance on a proposal of the ISVAP.  
6 With reference to the competences transferred from the COVIP to the IVARP see Legislative Decree No 252 of 
5 December 2005. As for the provisions concerning the fees on pension funds, see Article 13(3) of Law No 335 of 
8 August 1995, according to which the COVIP can be funded by means of a fee not exceeding 0,05% of the yearly 
contributions inflows of pension funds. Th e competences which are transferred to the Ministry of Labour and the Welfare 
State are those set out in Article 14 of Decree Law No 98 of 6 July 2011, converted with amendments into Law No 111 
of 15 July 2011.  
7  The CONSAP ( Concessionaria servizi assicurativi pubblici , Concessionaire for public insurance services). will be 
responsible for keeping a registry of insurance assessors. The Ministry of Economic Development will make provision 
for assigning a quota of the aforementioned fees to the CONSAP by means of decree, after having consulted the IVARP. 
8  The Directorate has authority to adopt measures of external signi ficance regarding the exercise of the public functions 
entrusted by law to the Banca d’Italia or to the Governor in  pursuit of the Banca d’Italia’s institutional aims, other than 
decisions falling under the authority of th e ESCB. Within the scope of its author ity, the Directorate may grant mandates 
to managers of the Bank, establishing how they are to be performed, for the adoption of measures that do not require 
discretionary assessments but merely involve the acknowledgement of facts,  circumstances and qualifications. According 
to Article 17 of the Statute of the Banca d’Italia, the Director General and the three Deputy Directors General are 
appointed by another decision-making body of  the Banca d’Italia, the Board of Dir ectors, on a proposal of the Governor. 
The appointment, reappointment and rem oval from office of the Director General and the Deputy Directors General must 
be approved by a decree of the President of the Republic acting on a proposal from the President of the Council of 
Ministers in agreement with the Minister for the Econom y and Finance after consulting the Council of Ministers. 
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3 1.3 The Statute of the IVARP will be adopted by the Directorate of the Banca d’Italia within 120 days 
from the entry into force of th e Decree Law, and approved by decree of the President of the 
Republic acting on a proposal from the President of the Council of Ministers, in agreement with the 
Ministry of Economic Development and the Ministry  of Labour and the Welfare State, subject to a 
prior resolution of the Council of Ministers. Amendm ents to the Statute of the IVARP, adopted by 
the enlarged Directorate, will have to be appr oved by the same procedure. Criteria for possible 
secondment of employees from the Banca d’Italia to the IVARP or from the IVARP to the Banca d’Italia will be laid down in the Statute of th e IVARP, and the IVARP will have access to the 
technical infrastructure of the Banca d’Italia. With in 120 days from the takeover of the functions of 
the ISVAP and the COVIP, the IVARP Council will draft a regula tion on the legal, economic and 
pension treatment of IVARP staff, and a reorga nisation plan aimed at optimizing resources and 
reducing operating expenses. A regulation to be issu ed by the Government within two years of the 
entry into force of the Decree Law will make provi sion for the establishment of a private institution 
responsible for keeping a single register of insurance and reinsurance intermediaries and 
supervision thereof. This institution will be subject to supervision by the IVARP.   
1.4 Several measures are contained in the Decree Law to ensure an adequate level of independence of 
the newly-established IVARP. In the first place, the IVARP’s accounts will be audited by external 
auditors in the manner established for the Banca d’Italia by Article 27 of the Statute of the 
European System of Central Banks and of the Euro pean Central Bank (hereinafter the ‘Statute of 
the ESCB’), without prejudice to the controls al ready performed by the State Audit Office on the 
ISVAP and the COVIP, pursuant to the legislation in force
9. Secondly, several provisions 
concerning both the influence of the competent mi nistries on the organisation of the ISVAP and the 
COVIP, and the regulatory powers of such ministri es with reference to the sectors supervised by 
the ISVAP and the COVIP, are repealed, whereas such regulatory powers are transferred to the 
IVARP10. 
 2. General observations  2.1 The ECB understands that in the Italian legal sy stem the adoption of a Decree Law is part of a two-
phase urgent legislative procedure. In the firs t phase the Government adopts a Decree Law which 
immediately enters into force and takes effect, for a limited period of 60 days, upon publication in 
the Official Journal. In the second phase, th e Government submits the Decree Law to the 
Parliament, on the same day as its adoption, for c onversion into law within the 60-day period. The 
ECB already noted in paragraph 2 of its Opinion CON/2012/20
11 that decree laws are legal acts that 
enter into force on adoption by the Government, and that therefore consultation should take place 
                                                 
9  See Article 4 of Law No 576 of 12 August 1982, as ame nded by Article 351(1), of Legislative Decree No 209 of 
7 September 2005, and Article 18(4), last sentence, of Legislative Decree No  252 of 5 December 2005. 
10  An exception being the regulatory powers on the integrity and experience requirements for the members of the governing 
bodies and managers of insurances and s upplementary pension schemes,  which remain with the Ministry of Labour and 
the Welfare State. 
11  All ECB opinions are available on th e ECB’s website at www.ecb.europa.eu.  
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4 before adoption. Consulting the ECB after the s ubmission of a decree law to Parliament is not 
sufficient to comply with the consultation obligation and the ECB would like to draw the Ministry’s attention to the proper procedure for its consultations
12. 
2.2 With reference to this Decree Law, the ECB unde rstands that the Banca d’Italia is only concerned 
by Article 13 and is not affected by any other provision contained therein. The ECB notes that Article 13 of the Decree Law will only take eff ect at a later stage, upon implementation of this 
Article, in particular when the Statute of the IVARP is adopted. This time lag should enable the 
relevant national authorities to take the ECB’s opini on into consideration before the Article takes 
effect both during the process of conversion in to law, and when drafting and adopting the 
implementing measures, including the Statute of the IVARP.  
 3. Contribution to the prudential supervisio n and the stability of the financial system 
3.1 Article 127(5) of the Treaty provides that th e ESCB has to contribute to the smooth conduct of 
policies pursued by the competent authorities rela ting to the prudential supervision of credit 
institutions and the stability of the financial system. In this context, the ECB has constantly stressed 
the importance of having central banks cl osely involved in prudential supervision
13. With respect to 
the insurance sector in particular, experience has shown that insurance companies are important for 
systemic financial stability because of their size and their interconnectedness with the financial 
sector. In view of the systemic relevance of the in surance sector for financial stability, it is subject 
to macro-prudential oversight by the European Syst emic Risk Board. Against this background, the 
ECB welcomes the Decree Law, whic h ensures that the Banca d’Italia will be closely involved in 
the IVARP both through its decision-making bodies and operationally.  
3.2 The ECB notes that it is of utmost importance to ensure that the IVARP will have full and effective 
supervisory independence, in complia nce with international principles14. In this context, the ECB 
welcomes the safeguards included in the Decree La w as regards the personal independence of the 
two Councillors, as well as the operational independ ence of the IVARP and the members of its 
governing bodies (Article 13(4) and (13)). In this context, it is also of importance that, when 
sharing supervisory data with the Ministries of  Economic Development and of Labour and Social 
Policies, this is limited to aggregated data. Mo reover, the ECB welcomes that any conferral on the 
IVARP of powers of verification and control over entities subject to the oversight of the Ministry 
                                                 
12 See Title IV, Section I of the Guide to consultation of the European Centra l Bank by national authorities regarding draft 
legislative provisions , available on the ECB’s website . See also paragraphs 2.2 and 2.3 of Opinion CON/2012/48. 
13  On earlier attempts to confirm the attribution of responsib ility for prudential supervision to the Banca d’Italia and to 
extend the scope of such supervision to all financial inte rmediaries, see in particular Opinions CON/2007/17, paragraph 
2.2, and CON/2004/16, paragraph 5. S ee also Opinions CON/2011/46, paragra ph 2.2, CON/2011/7, paragraph 2.1, 
CON/2010/48, paragraph 2.2, CON/2010/33, paragraph 2, C ON/2010/30, paragraph 2.2, CON/2010/4, paragraph 2, 
CON/2008/16, paragraph 2.2, CON/2006/39,  paragraph 2.3, CON/2005/39, paragr aph 5, CON/2005/26, paragraph 4, 
CON/2004/31, paragraph 9 and CON/ 2003/23, parapaphs 6 to 8.  
14  Primarily, the standards a nd guidelines of the Internationa l Association of Insurance Supe rvisors (IAIS), in particular 
ICP2, available on the IAIS’s website at www.iaisiweb.org. 
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5 of Labour and Social Policies is subject to special agreements signed by the IVARP and the 
Ministry. 
 4. Central bank independence and monetary financing 4.1 Member States must ensure that the national central banks have sufficient financial resources to 
carry out their ESCB-related tasks. In this resp ect, the ECB understands that the functions to be 
performed by the members of the Directorate of th e Banca d’Italia in the IVARP will be conducted 
in a manner that is fully compatible with the f unctional, institutional and financial independence of 
the Banca d’Italia and with the personal independence of the members of its Directorate, including 
the Governor and the Director General, which is  designed to safeguard the proper performance of 
their tasks under the Treaty and the Statute of the ESCB
15. In this respect, the ECB notes that the 
envisaged formal separation between the Banca d’Italia  and the IVARP, in particular with regard to 
the IVARP’s distinct legal personality, staff, and financial autonomy, woul d avoid any liability of 
the Banca d’Italia for the activities or decisions of the IVARP or for obligations entered into by the 
predecessor authorities. In add ition, the ECB notes that the IVARP will be financed via 
contributions of the supervised institutions and understands that it will not receive financial or 
human resources, with the exception of the secondments referred to in Article 13(25) of the Decree 
Law from the Banca d’Italia.  
4.2 With regard to the separation of the governa nce bodies of the Banca d’Italia and the IVARP the 
ECB recommends clarifying in the converting law that  the  Directorate of the Banca d’Italia in its 
enlarged composition responsible for the IVARP is a body formally distinct from the Directorate of 
the Banca d’Italia, that the Banca d’Italia will not take any liability for IVARP’s decisions, and that 
the Directorate of the Banca d’Italia remains the only body exclusively entrusted with supervision 
of the banking sector, as provided for in the legisl ation currently in force. The same clarification 
should be made concerning the function of the IVAR P’s President and that of the Banca d’Italia’s 
Director General. 
4.3 The ECB also notes that the contribution of the Banca d’Italia to the IVARP through its Directorate 
members should not affect the Banca d’Italia’s ability to carry out its ESCB-related tasks from an 
operational and financial point of view. The ECB exp ects that care will be taken to ensure that the 
provision of staff of the Banca d’Italia to the IVARP and the use by the IVARP of the technical 
infrastructures of the Banca d’Italia, which s hould serve to enhance the Banca d’Italia’s 
contribution to the IVARP’s supervisory and stability-related policies,  does not affect the Banca 
d’Italia’s ability to carry out its ESCB-related task s from an operational and financial point of view. 
4.4 As regards autonomy in staff matters of the Ba nca d’Italia, which is an aspect of central bank 
financial independence, the ECB unde rstands that the initial text of the Statute of the IVARP which 
will, inter alia, govern secondments between the Ban ca d’Italia and the IVARP, will be adopted by 
the Directorate of the Banca d’Italia, whereas future  amendments will be decided on in the enlarged 
                                                 
15  See the ECB’s Convergence Report of May 2012, p. 22. 
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6 Directorate of the Banca d’Italia. However, the Statute of a separate authority such as the IVARP 
cannot provide for the conditions under which Banca d’Italia staff are seconded to that authority 
unless those conditions are compliant with the relevant rules of the  Banca d’Italia applicable to 
Banca d’Italia staff, including the approval of secondments by the Banca d’Italia as an employer. 
Therefore, the ECB recommends providing for the n ecessary explicit clarifications in this sense in 
the converting law.  
4.5  The Decree Law also provides for the possibility for the IVARP to  use the technical infrastructure 
of the Banca d’Italia for the performance of its  functions, as well as for possible secondment of 
employees from the Banca d’Italia to the IVARP. In  this respect, the ECB notes that the financing 
by the Banca d’Italia of such resources to be  used by the IVARP does not appear to present 
monetary financing concerns, given that this woul d in particular facilitate the performance by the 
Banca d’Italia of its ESCB-rela ted task under Article 127(5) of the Treaty to contribute to the 
smooth conduct of policies pursued by the IVARP re lating to the stability of the financial system. 
In this respect, it is crucial that the Banca d’Italia  is in a position to make a meaningful contribution 
to the conduct of stability-related policies by the IVARP. The ECB considers that the role 
envisaged for the Banca d’Italia under the Decree  Law, as well as possible staff secondment from 
the Banca d’Italia to the IVARP, should serve to enhance the Banca d’Italia’s contribution to the 
IVARP’s stability-related policies16.  
 This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website.    Done at Frankfurt am Main, 30 July 2012. 
 
[signed] 
 
The President of the ECB 
Mario DRAGHI 
                                                 
16  See also paragraph 3.5 of Opinion CON/2010/4.