Subsidized insurance is an essential resource for protecting the crops and income of farmers and ranchers, as has already been noted. (1) However, their use is very scarce in Italy, also due to the policies 'expensive by decree' of the former Minister of Agriculture Teresa Bellanova. (2)
Meanwhile, Coldiretti's magic circle - in subsidized insurance in agriculture as in various other areas - does business right behind those whom the 'union' should instead protect. In the magna-magna of conflicts of interest that feeds the splendor of Palazzo Rospigliosi. That's how. #Clean shovels.
Green Assicurazioni Srl, Coldiretti and the 'Impresa Verde' network, Net Insurance SpA
At Palazzo Rospigliosi, Green Assicurazioni Srl operates, in theory, as an intermediary (broker) insurance. The share capital of € 51,646 million is 96,1% in the hands of Germina Campus SpA (€ 15.492 million the share capital, sole shareholder the National Coldiretti Confederation. See notes 3,4) and 3,9% directly in the territorial ones of Coldiretti.
Green Assicurazioni Srl manages the sale of policies throughout the country through the 'Impresa Verde' network, the service companies controlled by Coldiretti, with over 1500 branches throughout Italy. The 'union' then owns a corporation that grinds profits on policies sold under a monopoly regime to its members. But there is more.
Green Assicurazioni Srl and Net Insurance SpA
It is not clear se Green Assicurazioni Srl, which introduces itself to farmers which broker (IVASS register, section B), really acts as an intermediary for the sole service of farmers. Or if rather - as some suspect - it carries out the activities of an insurance agent (IVASS register, section A), placing only the products of Net Insurance SpA, in the primary interest of the latter.
Net Insurance SpA in turn, it operates mainly as a reinsurer. In other words, instead of insuring individual risks on its own, it relies on other insurance companies for their overall coverage (fronting). (5) A business so interesting that it has attracted leading financial investors, including banks and insurance companies. (6)
Green Insurance, farmers and appraisers
The societies who offer subsidized insurance in agriculture always win. The value of compensation for calamitous events (eg artichoke insurance in Sardinia, epizootic diseases) is permanently lower, for each policy, than the premiums paid by individual farmers. Beyond the overall technical performance of the insurance service, which also benefits from substantial public contributions (50-70% and more, with integrations on a regional scale).
The problem, according to some experts in the sector, it is represented by the role of Green Assicurazioni Srl which, according to them, would usually enter into agreements (also through other companies in the system) with the experts. In this way the broker (or agent in disguise?) would have full control over the performance of premiums and compensation. A hen that lays golden eggs, all the greater where public contributions are more conspicuous (eg Sardinia, which has in fact become a reference market for Green Assicurazioni Srl). And that's not all.
Conflicts of interest, from beginning to end (of the union)
Coldiretti, combination, is also the owner of the Agrifides Srl General Agency, which operates as an agent of the Cattolica di Assicurazione Spa, whose president now under investigation Paolo Bedoni was president of Coldiretti. (7) The sole director of Agrifides is Raffaele Grandolini, alias the King Midas of Coldiretti. (4)
Agrifides, with the fronting of Net Insurance SpA, may sell Cattolica's insurance services, through the 'broker'Green Insurance. From beginning to end, Coldiretti's magic circle is always present to drain the resources of farmers, public and private. It is not otherwise explained why
- the Agenzia Generale Agrifides Srl (administered by Raffaele Grandolini) must pass through
- Net Insurance SpA and also through
- Green Assicurazioni Srl (where Raffaele Grandolini and Vincenzo Gesmundo are directors, Albano Agabiti president, as well as president of Coldiretti Umbria),
to reach the recipients that Agrifides could reach directly through the 'Coldiretti system' to which it belongs.
Who pays the bill?
A simple tractor liability insurance policy - offered by Green Assicurazioni Srl at Impresa Verde Coldiretti Srl - it would cost 180 euros. The same policy, offered by Generali and also available at independent agricultural consortium agencies, costs 60 euros.
A transversal power which commands rulers and politicians in the name of a representation anchored to de facto monopolies in the management of crucial services for Italian farmers and breeders, however, costs immensely more, to the country-system and to us all.
Democracy, legality. #Clean shovels
The Authority for Competition and the Market (AGCM) had also noted the obscurity of an economic empire based on a 'union'. (8) But neither the AGCM nor the judiciary have ever bothered to start an investigation.
And IVASS, Institute for Insurance Supervision, will it ever be concerned with looking at the conflicts of interest in the caravan of policies described above? The law, like mathematics, has unobjectionable postulates. The control duties of the competent authorities are part of it.
#CleanSpades
Dario Dongo
Footnotes
(1) Dario Dongo. Subsidized insurance in agriculture, the Italian anomaly. #Clean shovels. GIFTS (Great Italian Food Trade). 19.4.21/XNUMX/XNUMX, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/idee/assicurazioni-agevolate-in-agricoltura-l-anomalia-italiana-vanghepulite
(2) Dario Dongo. Subsidized insurance in agriculture, the great deals of Coldiretti's magic circle. #Clean shovels. GIFTS (Great Italian Food Trade). 1.3.21/XNUMX/XNUMX, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/mercati/assicurazioni-agevolate-in-agricoltura-i-grandi-affari-del-cerchio-magico-di-coldiretti-vanghepulite
(3) The BoD of Germina Campus SpA is composed of the president Ettore Prandini (president of Coldiretti), managing director Raffaele Grandolini (head of Administration, Finance and General Affairs of Coldiretti. See note 4), director Vincenzo Gesmundo (general secretary of Coldiretti ).
Germina Campus is also the majority shareholder (44%) of Filiera Agricola Italiana SpA, on an equal footing with SCCA pa (Società Consortium of Agricultural Consortiums for shares)
(4) Dario Dongo. Federconsorzi 2, CAI SpA, AgriRevi, Coldiretti. The dinner of the cretins. GIFTS (Great Italian Food Trade). 31.1.01/XNUMX/XNUMX, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/idee/federconsorzi-2-cai-spa-agrirevi-coldiretti-la-cena-dei-cretini
(5) The term fronting, in insurance language, it means that the individual risks assumed by a (reinsurance) undertaking are reinsured as a whole (except in cases where current legislation prescribes a 'minimum retention' for the reinsurer). This activity is particularly widespread when a reinsurer cannot underwrite certain risks directly or in any case, for different interests, has the advantage of assuming them globally to the maximum extent permitted.
(6) Net Insurance SpA, authorized share capital € 19,087 million (subscribed and paid up for € 17,485 million), has a widespread shareholding structure in which Giuseppe Romano and Francesca Romana Amato, Renato Giulio Amato, Swiss Re Direct Investment Ltd., Prealpina Investimenti participate Srl, Arturo Amato, Alfredo Rocchi, Veneto Banca SpA, Argiletum Merchants SpA, UBI Banca SpA, Marex Spectrum Securities LLP against third parties Futura Funds Sicav, Axa France Iard, Banca Popolare dell'Etruria e del Lazio SpA, Banca Popolare di Bari SpA, Veneto Ireland Financial Services Ltd, Giuseppe Caruso, Banca Finnat Euramerica SpA, Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA, Bancassurance SpA, Francesco Rocchi, UniCredit SpA, Net Insurance Servizi Assicurativi Srl, Banca Popolare di Vicenza SpA, Anthilia SGR SpA, etc.
(7) Emanuela Rossi. H-Farm case for Cattolica Assicurazioni, all the details. Startmagazine. 18.1.21, https://www.startmag.it/economia/caso-h-farm-per-cattolica/
(8) Antitrust, case AS1590, communication 12.6.19 to the Ministry of Health. In bulletin no. 25/19, https://www.agcm.it/dotcmsdoc/bollettini/2019/25-19.pdf
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
