Italian ICMIF member UnipolSai has launched WelBee, a company wholly owned by the insurance company, with the aim of marketing flexible benefits through a proprietary platform that directly uses the catalogue of services and products of Tantosvago Srl, 75% of which UnipolSai acquired last July. The benefits will be marketed through different channels including: direct network; network of insurance agents; and agreements with third-party channels.
The transaction is part of the strategic direction “Beyond Insurance Enrichment” which is part of the Unipol 2022-2024 “Opening New Ways” Business Plan, specifically in the welfare ecosystem. UnipolSai intends to strengthen its presence in the constantly growing market of flexible benefits, ie goods and services that do not contribute to employee income, by launching a platform optimised for the large company and SME sectors.
“WelBee’s goal is to develop new business solutions that are integrated, functional and collateral to the insurance offer, marketing goods and services typical of the welfare and health sectors in the field of flexible benefits, through the use of digital platforms with innovative proprietary technologies,” said Giacomo Lovati, Chief Beyond Insurance Officer of UnipolSai. He continued: “the aim is to take advantage of the enormous synergies that the Unipol Group can generate, both in terms of typical insurance products, which are the core business, and with the services developed to preside over the mobility, property and welfare ecosystems. All this, of course, by leveraging the agency sales network that already has solid insurance relationships with a very large number of companies that are also a target for flexible benefits.”
WelBee develops, manages and markets technological solutions that enable companies to make flexible benefits available to their employees. In detail, the company prepares the platform on which employees of client companies finalise purchases by taking advantage of the welfare credit and WelBee is also responsible for all activities preparatory to the preparation of the platform, such as consulting and training, and for all customer oversight activities in terms of assistance.
As of today, the Unipol Group’s proprietary platform uses Tantosvago’s catalog of products and services, which includes a wide variety of offerings focused on travel, sports, leisure, events and wellness, enriched by the inclusion of UnipolSai health and pension products and products belonging to the Unipol Beyond Insurance sphere.
UnipolSai says the flexible benefits market has seen strong growth with steady upward trends. The numbers speak of about 4 million employees already making use of platforms where they can use their welfare credits, out of a virtual audience of more than 18 million Italian employees, with transacted volumes that recorded almost EUR 2 billion in 2021 and could soon exceed EUR 10 billion on an annual basis.
