A minor reduction in premium volume by 0.01% to € 3.91 billion – compared to the corresponding period in the previous year – was observed by Austrian insurance undertakings during the fourth quarter of 2018. In 2018 as a whole, the premium volume amounted to € 17.18 billion, an increase of 1.19% compared with the preceding year. These findings have emerged from the Report on the Austrian Insurance Sector for the fourth quarter of 2018, which was published today by the Austrian Financial Market Authority (FMA).
The volume of premiums in the 4th Quarter of 2018 consisted of € 1.95 billion in the non-life/accident insurance sector (+4.07%), € 1.41 billion in the life insurance sector (-6.64%) and € 553 million in the health insurance sector (+4.45%). For the full year in 2018, premium volume in life insurance fell by -3.76% to € 5.52 billion. The sectors non-life and accident insurance and health insurance were able post increases of +3.59% to € 9.44 billion and +4.27% to € 2.22 billion respectively.
The technical result fell by -12.81% to € 506.54 million in 2018, while the financial result fell by -10.18% to € 2.53 billion. This led to an decrease by -6.1% in the result from ordinary activities to € 1.17 billion.
The total of all assets at market value (excluding investments in the area of unit-linked and index-linked life insurance) stood at € 106.91 billion at the end of 2018, a decrease of -1.9% or – € 2.07 billion below the corresponding value at year-end 2017.
Hidden net reserves (the balance of net reserves and net losses) at year-end 2018 stood at € 21.88 billion a decrease of -5.19% over the value at the end of the preceding quarter. Compared to year-end 2017 they have fallen by € 3.07 billion or -14.04%.
With regard to the solvency requirements pursuant to the Insurance Supervision Act 2016 (VAG 2016; Versicherungsaufsichtsgesetz 2016), more than half of all insurance undertakings had an SCR solvency level of over 230%; i.e. holding more than double the amount of own funds as required. The Solvency Capital Requirement (SCR) measures whether the insurance undertaking is able with 99.5% probability within the next twelve months to absorb unexpected losses as well as to be able to meet its obligations towards policyholders. For around half of all insurance undertakings the MCR solvency level was in the range between 561% to 948%. The Minimum Capital Requirement (MCR) is the minimum amount of own funds that the insurance undertaking is required to hold in any case and at all times.
The full quarterly report may be found (in German only) at: https://www.fma.gv.at/versicherungen/offenlegung/quartalsberichte/
Journalists may address further enquiries to:
Klaus Grubelnik (FMA Media Spokesperson)
+43/(0)1/24959-6006
+43/(0)676/882 49 516