ECB: Statistics on euro area insurance corporations and pension funds

06 January 2016

In the third quarter of 2015, the total financial assets of euro area insurance corporations and pension funds decreased to €9,037 billion. The amount outstanding of insurance technical reserves, which are the main liabilities of insurance corporations and pension funds, increased to €7,524 billion.

Regarding the breakdown of the assets of the aggregated balance sheet of euro area insurance corporations and pension funds, holdings of debt securities accounted for 41% of the sector's total financial assets at end-September 2015. The European Central Bank (ECB) statistics show that the second largest category of holdings was investment fund shares/units, which contributed 27% to the total financial assets. Finally, shares and other equity accounted for 11% of the total financial assets.

Turning to transactions in the main breakdowns of the insurance technical reserves, the net equity of households in life insurance reserves increased by €25 billion in the third quarter of 2015. The net equity of households in pension fund reserves increased by €15 billion in the same quarter, while transactions in prepayments of insurance premiums and reserves for outstanding claims increased by €1 billion.

Regarding the contributions of the two sub-sectors, insurance corporations' total financial assets accounted for €6,898 billion at end-September 2015, representing 76% of the aggregated balance sheet of the insurance corporations and pension funds sector, while the pension funds' total financial assets amounted to €2,139 billion.

Press release


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