A survey of the banking system conducted by the Bank of Italy found that at the end of 1995 portfolio management services were offered by more than 60 per cent of all banks, life insurance products by over 70 per cent, and investment fund units by 80 per cent.
Insurance products are increasingly simple and standardized, which has facilitated their marketing via bank networks and financial salesmen. In the first nine months of 1997 the share of life insurance products sold through bank networks was 33 per cent, compared with 25 per cent in the same period of 1996; the share marketed through agents dropped from 42 to 36 per cent.