Total assets of euro area insurance corporations rise by €18bn to €8trn

Written by Adam Cadle

01/09/2023

Total assets of euro area insurance corporations amounted to €8,267bn in Q2 2023, €18bn higher than in Q1 2023, according to figures published by the European Central Bank (ECB).

Debt securities accounted for 34.2% of the sector’s total assets in Q2 2023. The second largest category of holding was investment fund shares (30.6%), followed by equity (14.3%) and loans (6.9%).

Holdings of debt securities increased to €2,829bn at the end of Q2 2023 from €2,827bn at the end of the previous quarter. Net purchases of debt securities amounted to €7bn in Q2 2023; price and other changes amounted to -€6bn. The year-on-year growth rate of debt securities held was -1.8%.

Insurance corporations’ holdings of investment fund shares increased to €2,526bn in Q2 2023, from €2,493bn in the previous quarter, with net purchases of €4bn and rice and other changes of €29bn. The year-on-year growth rate in Q2 of 2023 was -0.2%.

The annual growth rate of euro area money market fund shares held by insurance corporations was 0.7% in Q2 2023, with net purchases in the quarter amounting to €4bn. Concerning holdings of euro area non-money market fund shares, the annual growth rate was -0.4%, with quarterly net sales amounting to €2bn. For investment fund shares issued by non-euro area residents, the annual growth rate was 4.8%, with quarterly net purchases of €1bn.

Total insurance technical reserves of insurance corporations amounted to €5,934bn in Q2 2023, up from €5,907bn in Q1 2023. Life insurance technical reserves accounted for 88.1% of total insurance technical reserves in Q2 2023. Unit-linked products amounted to €1,548bn, accounting for 29.6% of total life insurance technical reserves.

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