Euro area insurance corporation statistics: fourth quarter of 2021 – European Central Bank

2 March 2022

Total assets of euro area insurance corporations amounted to €9,231 billion in fourth quarter of 2021, €52 billion higher than in third quarter of 2021
Total insurance technical reserves of euro area insurance corporations rose to €6,947 billion in fourth quarter of 2021, up €36 billion from third quarter of 2021

Total assets of euro area insurance corporations increased to €9,231 billion in the fourth quarter of 2021, from €9,179 billion in the third quarter of 2021. Debt securities accounted for 37.8% of the sector’s total assets in the fourth quarter of 2021. The second largest category of holdings was investment fund shares (30.0%), followed by equity (11.9%) and loans (7.0%).

Holdings of debt securities decreased to €3,487 billion at the end of the fourth quarter of 2021 from €3,519 billion at the end of the previous quarter. Net sales of debt securities amounted to €4 billion in the fourth quarter of 2021; price and other changes amounted to -€27 billion (see Chart 1). The year-on-year growth rate of debt securities held was -0.9%.

Looking at holdings by issuing sector, the annual growth rate of debt securities issued by euro area general government was -1.0% in the fourth quarter of 2021, with net sales in the quarter amounting to €7 billion. As regards debt securities issued by the private sector, the annual growth rate was -2.1%, and quarterly net purchases amounted to €2 billion. For debt securities issued by non-euro area residents, the annual growth rate was 1.1%, with quarterly net purchases of €1 billion.

Chart 1

Insurance corporations’ holdings of debt securities by issuing sector

(quarterly transactions in EUR billions; not seasonally adjusted)

Data for insurance corporations’ holdings of debt securities by issuing sector

Turning to insurance corporations’ holdings of investment fund shares, these increased to €2,769 billion in the fourth quarter of 2021, from €2,686 billion in the previous quarter, with net purchases of €37 billion and price and other changes of €46 billion (see Chart 2). The year-on-year growth rate in the fourth quarter of 2021 was 6.5%.

The annual growth rate of euro area money market fund shares held by insurance corporations was 1.0% in the fourth quarter of 2021, with net sales in the quarter amounting to €9 billion. As regards holdings of euro area non-money market fund shares, the annual growth rate was 6.7%, with quarterly net purchases amounting to €42 billion. For investment fund shares issued by non-euro area residents, the annual growth rate was 11.9%, with quarterly net purchases of €4 billion.

Chart 2

Insurance corporations’ holdings of investment fund shares by issuing sector

(quarterly transactions in EUR billions; not seasonally adjusted)

Data for insurance corporations’ holdings of investment fund shares by issuing sector

In terms of main liabilities, total insurance technical reserves of insurance corporations amounted to €6,947 billion in the fourth quarter of 2021, up from €6,911 billion in the third quarter of 2021 (see Annex, Table 1). Life insurance technical reserves accounted for 90.6% of total insurance technical reserves in the fourth quarter of 2021. Unit-linked products amounted to €1,610 billion, accounting for 25.6% of total life insurance technical reserves.

For queries, please use the statistical information request form.

Notes:

“Other assets” includes currency and deposits, insurance technical reserves and related claims, financial derivatives, non-financial assets and remaining assets.
“Private sector” refers to euro area excluding general government.
“Investment funds” includes money market funds and non-money market funds.
Hyperlinks in the main body of the statistical release and in the annex table lead to data that may change with subsequent releases as a result of revisions. Figures shown in the annex table are a snapshot of the data as at the time of the current release.