Austrian insurance undertakings registered another fall in domestic premium revenues in the fourth quarter of 2012, with a drop of 3.92% to € 3.7 billion. In the life assurance segment premiums decreased by -6.5% to € 1.6 billion, primarily due to lower one-off premiums for fund and index-linked life assurance products. The non-life and accident insurance segments also registered lower premium revenues (-3.2% to € 1.6 billion). An increase in premiums in the health insurance segment (+3.6% to € 438 billion) could only provide marginal mitigation against the overall drop. Over the course of 2012 as a whole, Austrian insurance undertakings recorded a 1.19% year-on-year drop in domestic premiums, to € 16.34 billion. The news was disclosed in the Report on Q4 2012 Performance of the Austrian Insurance Sector, published today by the Austrian Financial Market Authority (FMA).
Thanks to a positive mood on the capital markets during the second six months of 2012, the technical insurance result rose to € 455 million at the end of the year. This represents a hike of 54.4% compared with 2011. In spite of falling revenues from capital investments and interest receipts, the financial result rose by 14.4% to over € 3.4 billion, with a large decrease in expenses from capital investments and interest payments. On this basis, in 2012 the sector achieved a further increase in the result from ordinary activities, which climbed by some € 233 million or approximately 20% to hit € 1.40 billion.
The total value (carrying amounts) of assets under management, excluding reinsurance and fund and index-linked insurance, rose to € 96.5 billion at the end of December 2012. This corresponds to a quarter-on-quarter increase of +0.45% and a year-on-year increase of +3.7%.
At the end of last year, hidden net reserves (the balance of hidden reserves and unrealised losses) revealed a significant hike of +10.4% compared with the previous quarter, amounting to € 13.4 billion, owing to the stabilisation of the economy and recovery of the financial markets. In a year-on-year comparison, this corresponds to an increase of 76.5%.
The core share ratio (listed shares, share-based investment funds, share risk in mixed funds) grew slightly in Q4 2012, climbing from the previous quarter’s value of 3.51% to 3.57%. 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 15.32% as at the end of September to 15.38% as at the end of December 2012.
Compared with the previous year, premium revenues received by Austrian insurance groups outside Austria rose by 8.5% to a total € 9.36 billion in 2012. 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 34.3% in 2011 to 36.4% as at the end of 2012. The financial result of foreign subsidiaries climbed to € 684 million in 2012, an increase of +40.1%.
Journalists may address further enquiries to:
Klaus Grubelnik (FMA Media Spokesperson)
+43 (0)1 24959 5106
+43 (0)676 882 49 516