The Financial Market Authority’s Quarterly Report shows growth in premiums and result for the first nine months of 2024
Despite considerable insurance claims as a result of the storms in Austria and its neighbours in September, Austrian insurance undertakings have had a stable earnings situation with a continuing increase in premium volume and improved solvency. The claims from the storms have however, as expected, results in a considerable increase in the expenses in relation to insured events as well as a negative technical result in non-life and accident insurance. These findings have emerged from the Report on the Austrian Insurance Sector for the third quarter of 2024 published by the Austrian Financial Market Authority (FMA).
Income from premiums has increased by +4.19% to € 5.29 billion compared with the 3rd quarter of 2023. This increase is broken down as follows for the individual insurances classes: non-life/accident insurance +3.65% to € 3.30 billion, life insurance +1.26% to € 1.19 billion as well as health insurance +11.38% to € 799 million. Expenditure for insured events increased by 16.48% or € 739 million to € 5.22 billion in the three months until September compared against the corresponding quarter of the previous year. This increase can be attributed more or less exclusively to non-life/accident insurance.
Strong earnings situation and solvency
The technical result fell significantly – compared to the corresponding period in the preceding year – in the first nine months of the year by € 115 million (-31.6%) to € 249.64 million, driven in turn by non-life/accident insurance, the technical result of which has now slipped into negative territory (- € 12 million). In contrast, the financial result increased by € 216.83 million (+11.32%) to € 2.13 billion. Despite the claims from insured events, the result from ordinary activities (EGT; Ergebnis der gewöhnlichen Geschäftstätigkeit) increased slightly by € 61.23 million (+5.63%) to € 1.15 billion during this period.
The total of all assets at market value (excluding investments in unit-linked and index-linked life insurance) of insurance undertakings stood at around € 108.45 billion at the end of September, around approximately € 4.68 billion higher than in the preceding year. In contrast, the hidden reserves of capital investments (excluding unit-linked and index-linked life insurance) increased by € 1.73 million or 14% to € 14.09 billion compared with the previous quarter. As a result, the reserve ratio therefore stood at 15.2% at the end of the reporting period.
The solvency of Austrian insurance undertakings remains very stable. Around nine out of ten insurance undertakings (87.5%) had an SCR solvency level of over 200% at the end of September, thereby having twice as higher own funds as necessary. The median SCR stands at 263.49%, compared with 259.65% in the middle of the year.
The full quarterly report can be found on the FMA website (in German only) at https://www.fma.gv.at/versicherungen/offenlegung/quartalsberichte/
Journalists may address further enquiries to:
Boris Gröndahl (FMA Media Spokesperson)
Telephone: +43 (1) 249 59-6010
Mobile: +43 676 8824 9995
E-Mail: [email protected]