Leading German insurers less focused on life than European counterparts but risks remain

Written by Adam Cadle

12/08/2020

The top ten insurers in Germany are reliant on life insurance, generating 77% of their GWP from life and health products, but may have more diversified books than other European contemporaries.

According to GlobalData, four of the leading ten insurers are exclusively involved with life insurance, while one is centred on life products. "This is fairly diversified, when compared with Denmark, where nine out of ten of its leading insurers have at least 90% of their GWP in life insurance," it said. Similarly, only two of the top then insurers in France had the majority of their GWP in non-life products.

Deblina Mitra, insurance analyst at GlobalData said there are risks across the German sector however.

"Germany’s biggest insurer Allianz Lebensversicherungs-Aktiengesellschaft is 100% life insurance and holds 20.7% of the entire GWP of the life insurance sector in Germany, which makes it particularly vulnerable to rising claims.

"Its written premiums may fall in the short-term as life insurers become more cautious about taking on new business in these risky times, but it should be a temporary lull until the pandemic is over.”

The top ten insurers listed in Germay by written premiums are Allianz Lebensversicherungs-Aktiengesellschaft, Allianz Versicherungs-Aktiengesellschaft, Daimler Pensionsfonds, Debeka Krankenversicherung, R + V Lebensversicherung, Aachen Lebensversicherung, DKV Deutsche Krankenversicherung, HDI Global SE, Bayerischer versicherungsverband versicherungsaktiengesellschaft and R+V Allgemeine Versicherung.

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