Austrian insurance undertakings once again recorded a slight drop in premiums in the third quarter of 2012, falling by -0.83% to € 3.7 billion. In the life assurance segment premiums decreased by -5.4% to € 1.5 billion, primarily due to lower one-off premiums among both traditional and fund and index-linked life assurance products. Slight increases in premiums in the non-life and accident insurance segments (up 2.3% to € 1.8 billion) and the health insurance segment (up 3.3% to € 433 million) helped in part to offset the drop experienced by the life assurance segment. Total premium revenues in the first nine months of 2012 registered a slight decline of -0.36% to € 12.66 billion compared with the same period in 2011. The news was disclosed in the Report on Q3 2012 Performance of the Austrian Insurance Sector, published today by the Austrian Financial Market Authority (FMA).
By the end of September 2012, the technical account balance had registered a year-on-year increase of +76.4% to € 387 million. The financial result rose by +14.9% to over € 2.5 billion compared with the same period in the previous year. Consequently, the result from ordinary activities once again climbed by around 14% (some € 131 million) to € 1.07 billion in the first nine months of 2012.
The total value (carrying amounts) of assets under management, excluding reinsurance and fund and index-linked insurance, rose to € 96.1 billion, which corresponds to a quarter-on-quarter increase of +0.85% as at the end of September 2012.
Hidden net reserves (the balance of hidden reserves and unrealised losses) recorded a significant hike of +43.8% compared with the previous quarter, to € 15.0 billion as at the end of the third quarter, due to the continued downwards trend in the interest rate curve. This corresponds to an absolute increase of some € 4.56 billion.
The core share ratio (listed shares, share-based investment funds, share risk in mixed funds) grew slightly in Q3 2012, climbing from the previous quarter’s value of 3.38% to 3.51%. The extended share ratio, which in addition to the core share ratio also includes non-listed shares, structured debt securities without capital guarantee and structured loans without capital guarantee, increased from 15.19% as at the end of June to 15.32% as at the end of September 2012.
Premium revenues received by Austrian insurance groups outside Austria rose by +2.6% in the first nine months of 2012 compared with the same period in 2011, to a total of € 6.86 billion. The share of the total volume of premiums that was attributed to the foreign subsidiaries of Austrian insurance groups as opposed to those generated within Austria rose marginally from 34.5% in the first three quarters of 2011 to 35.1% in the same period of 2012. In contrast to the Austrian market, the financial result of these foreign subsidiaries fell by -7% in the first nine months of 2012, to € 529 million. More than three quarters of the assets was invested in bonds and cash.
You can find the full Quarterly Report (in German) on the FMA website at: https://www.fma.gv.at/versicherungen/offenlegung/quartalsberichte/
Journalists may address further enquiries to:
Klaus Grubelnik (FMA Media Spokesperson)
+43 (0)1 24959 5106
+43 (0)676 882 49 516