The year 2000 is a year in which Unipol’s priority is certainly the domestic market and its evolution, but the international market plays a significant role at least in two respects: on one hand there are the European authorities that in recent years have assumed a prominent role for the system of European directives put in place from time to time, and for their possible role as last resort controllers; on the other, the same capital market that has for several years taken on a completely globalized dimension, so much so that there are now large institutional investors, such as investment funds and private pension funds, among the investors of Unipol.

Communicating with merchant banks becomes increasingly important and the activities of the Foreign Service of Unipol thus tend to focus more and more on the need to give adequate support to other Company departments in their contacts with those organizations, both during visits of representatives of such investors, and during the road shows organized to meet with investors at their headquarters in London, Paris, Frankfurt, New York, Edinburgh, etc.

Moreover, work on insurance matters is analyzed with great interest, paying particular attention to the topic of Solvency II (rules for the definition of the solvency margin of insurance companies) and the topic of the new IAS (International Accounting System) with the introduction of reference standards for the accounting records of companies in Europe and the relevant guidelines on the preparation of the financial statements.