Dutch insurers continue to invest less in bonds
Written by Adam Cadle
11/03/2024
Dutch insurers are continuing to invest less in bonds, with €1.5bn bond sales recorded in 2023, new figures published by DNB have shown.
In the preceding two years, Dutch insurers’ bond sales totalled €36bn. A large portion of the sales involved ‘safe’ sovereign bonds, such as those issued by Germany (€12bn) and the Netherlands (€5bn).
The net sales seen in 2021 and 2022 were meant in part to free up funds to meet the margin requirements that had gone up. But insurers also used the proceeds to purchase other investments, such as mortgages and investment fund units.
The proportion of bonds in insurers’ aggregate investment portfolio fell sharply. Whereas in 2019, 45% of their asset were allocated to bonds, this had fallen to 32% by the end of 2023.
In 2023, Dutch insurers’ total assets increased by €25bn to €445bn, whereas 2022 showed a strong decrease of €91bn. The increase was mainly due to price gains on shares and investment fund units (€10bn), bonds (€5bn) and derivatives (€4bn).
Insurers’ liabilities increased by €18bn in 2023.
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