Bloomberg News
MILAN, Italy - Poste Italiane SpA, Italy's postal service, has started selling an index-linked life insurance policy as it seeks to broaden its revenue base and return to profitability, according to Il Sole/24 Ore, an Italian newspaper.
The power to underwrite and sell this policy is the result of recent changes in the rules governing the activities of Poste Vita, the postal service's wholly owned life insurance unit. The changes let the company sell insurance products linked to indexes and mutual fund performance.
The new policy is linked to the performance of the European indexes for banking, pharmaceuticals and health-care, public services, and telecommunications. When it matures in 10 years, investors are to get either 80% of any gain in the indexes, or 16.05% interest, whichever is greater.
The postal service started selling the policy Tuesday through its 6,000 offices.
