Brokers and Digital Signatures: Closing Contracts Remotely Without Friction

In the Italian insurance sector the sales process has become almost entirely digital, but the signing of the contract has been left behind. For brokers who work with high volumes and customers spread across the territory, this gap is not an operational detail: it is a concrete brake on productivity and competitiveness.

The Moment When Everything Grinds to a Halt

You did everything right. You analysed the customer's needs, built a tailored proposal, handled the objections. The customer is convinced. Then comes the moment of signing, and the deal enters a state of suspension: the customer can't come into the office this week, or is out of town, or simply keeps putting it off. Every day that passes cools the proposal and increases the risk that something will change.

For a broker managing dozens of cases at once, this pattern repeats every day. It is not an isolated case: it is the very structure of the problem. The Italian insurance market has changed pace — according to the Italian Insurtech Association, the share of consumers buying policies digitally rose from 10% in 2020 to 60% in 2024 — but many brokers' signing processes have remained those of ten years ago. The result is an asymmetry that weighs on operational work every single day.

Why the Problem Runs Deeper Than It Seems

At first glance, waiting for a signature seems a manageable inconvenience. In reality, the true cost is spread across several levels and is often not measured precisely.

The first cost is the broker's time. Every case awaiting signature generates a queue of micro-tasks: the reminder email, the chasing phone call, checking the status of the document. Multiply this by the number of open cases and you get hours a week taken away from genuine sales activity.

The second cost is the temperature of the deal. In the insurance sector, the moment of signing is also the moment of maximum customer motivation. Every day of waiting is an opportunity for doubts to creep in, for a competitor to step forward, for the customer's priorities to shift elsewhere. The most experienced brokers know it: cases that close straight away have far lower withdrawal rates than those that drag on.

The third cost is geographical. A broker who wants to expand their operating range runs into a structural limit: without an effective remote signing process, every new distant customer is an added logistical complexity. The signature becomes an invisible ceiling on growth.

The Regulatory Framework: IVASS Has Already Given the Green Light

One of the most common objections when digital signatures in the insurance sector come up concerns legal validity. Is it really valid? Is it recognised by IVASS? The answer is yes, without reservation — and the regulation has been clear for years.

IVASS Regulation no. 8 of 2015 establishes that policies drawn up as electronic documents must be signed with an advanced electronic signature (FEA). The subsequent IVASS Measure no. 97 of 4 August 2020, which came into force on 31 March 2021, explicitly extended this option to remote signing via SMS OTP technology, without the need for the customer to be physically present. The framework is completed by the Digital Administration Code and the European eIDAS Regulation, which guarantees recognition of the signature throughout the European Union.

In practice: an insurance contract signed digitally with OTP technology has full legal value, is enforceable against third parties, and holds up under any scrutiny in the event of a dispute — provided the process complies with the technical requirements set out in the regulation.

What a Signing Tool Designed for Brokers Must Have

Not all digital signature solutions are the same, and not all are suited to the daily work of an insurance broker. When assessing a tool in this area, there are certain criteria that make the difference between a product that really works and one that creates new complications instead of solving them.

The first criterion is simplicity for the signer. The customer should not have to download an app, create an account or learn a new procedure. The ideal flow requires zero cognitive effort: the customer receives a link by email, opens the document in the browser, enters a code received on their phone, and is done. If the process is any more complicated than that, the abandonment rate rises.

The second criterion is vertical compliance with the insurance sector. A generic tool may not be configured to handle the specifics of insurance documents: proposals, policies, information notices, technical annexes. The platform must support multiple documents in a single session, with configurable signature points, and must automatically produce the evidentiary documentation required in the event of a dispute.

The third criterion is complete traceability. Every signing session must generate a detailed log: who signed, when, from which device, through which authentication channel. This trail is not only useful in the event of a dispute — it helps the broker monitor the status of open cases without manual follow-ups.

The fourth criterion, often underestimated, is automatic reminder management. The system must take care of chasing the signer autonomously, at predefined intervals, without the broker having to keep every pending case in mind. This alone recovers a significant amount of operational time each week.

The fifth criterion is compliant archiving. Signed documents must be stored automatically for the period required by law, accessible at any time, without the broker having to manage a separate archive.

The Real Change: From a Reactive Process to a Proactive One

Adopting a structured digital signing process changes not only the logistics of signing — it changes the way the broker manages the entire sales cycle. With a system that works well, the signature stops being a moment of passive waiting and becomes a phase of the process that the broker actively controls.

This means being able to close cases with customers hundreds of kilometres away with the same efficiency as those next door. It means having real-time visibility of which cases are awaiting signature and which have stalled. It means not losing deals for logistical reasons at a time when the market is accelerating: insurtech investment in Italy grew from 50 million euros in 2020 to over one billion in 2024, and IIA projections indicate that by 2030 more than 80% of policies will be purchased digitally.

Those who build solid digital processes today are not just solving an operational problem: they are positioning their firm to compete in a market that in the coming years will reward those who know how to work remotely without friction.

How We Can Help You

At A126 we have worked with insurance brokers and intermediaries for years, and the topic of digital signatures is one on which we have accumulated direct experience. We know that every firm has different processes, different volumes, different customers — and that a solution that works for one does not necessarily work for another.

That is why our approach always starts from an analysis of the existing operational workflow: where time is lost, where bottlenecks are created, where the customer experiences friction. Only then do we identify the most suitable technological response — and in this area we have already developed a concrete, ready-to-use solution that meets exactly the criteria described in this article.

If you want to understand how to structure a digital signing process that really works for your firm, get in touch for a free consultation. Together we will analyse your situation and show you what can be done straight away.

A126 Corporate Advisors — Technology consulting for those who work in the insurance sector.