European insurers’ investment portfolio grows by 1.6% to €10.6trn

Written by Adam Cadle

22/03/2022

The total investment portfolio managed by European insurers in 2020 grew by 1.6% to €10,627bn, after a 4.9% increase in 2019, according to latest figures published by Insurance Europe.

Insurance Europe said this result was influenced by the pandemic, which has a two-fold effect on investments. On the one hand, premiums written in 2020 declined 4%, thus reducing the inflow of fresh capital, and on the other, stock markets either fell or grew only modestly, although in all cases they recovered strongly at the end of the year after heavy earlier losses.

In the largest European countries, the investment portfolio was broadly stable: there was no change in France, a slight decrease in Germany (-1.4%) and more solid results in the UK (+4.6%), Italy (+4.7%) and Sweden (+5.7%).

In Sweden, the increase was a result of strong gains in the Swedish and US stock markets. In terms of composition of the Swedish portfolio, the proportion of traditional life insurance assets has been declining in recent years in favour of unit-linked investments, including deposit insurance.

Smaller shifts were seen in Finland, where the portfolio grew 2.9%, with growth in equities particularly strong, and in Switzerland and Portugal, where the portfolios shrank 4.5% and 3.4% respectively.

Total gross premiums written in the European countries in which Insurance Europe has members totalled close to €1.3trn in 2020, down 4% on 2019. P&C premiums increased 2.8% and health premiums 3.4%, but life premiums fell 9.6% year-on-year.

The full figures can be viewed here.

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