WIFO Bulletin

The WIFO Bulletin is published online and focuses on

  • International and Austrian economic outlooks,
  • Recent economic developments,
  • Studies on European integration.

We offer single downloads.

Search for articlesAdvanced search

Details

Private Insurance Premium Income Declined in 2016
WIFO Bulletin, 2017, 22(14), pp.133-142
Online since: 08.11.2017 0:00
The volume of single premium payments (with long-run guarantees) almost halved in 2016. Positive effects of the tax reform were more than compensated by low interest rates, making private households increasingly shy away from contracts with long commitment periods. On the supply side, insurers were less willing to underwrite long-run guarantees. This caused premiums in the life insurance business to decline by 9 percent and the total premium intake to shrink by 1.8 percent. Robustly growing private health insurance (+4.7 percent) and a recovery in non-life and accident insurance (+1.7 percent) did not prevent a further drop of the insurance density to 4.9 percent of GDP. Forecasts for 2017 and 2018 expect that this development will continue, albeit at a slower pace. The first year of experience with Solvency II revealed some scope for interpretation across the member countries' supervisory bodies. Austrian insurers emerged from the stress test in 2016 with sufficient amounts of solvency capital.
Keywords:Private insurance, Solvency II, stress testing
Research group:Macroeconomics and Public Finance
Language:English

Contact persons

 

apl. Prof. Dr. Hans Pitlik

Function: Senior Economist, Editor-in-chief WIFO-Monatsberichte and WIFO Reports on Austria

Tamara Fellinger

Activities: Publications, website, subscriptions

Tatjana Weber

Activities: Publications, website, subscriptions