2007 Another Year of Weak Growth for the Private Insurance Sector

Thomas Url
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Thomas Url: WIFO

WIFO Monatsberichte (monthly reports), 2008, vol. 81, issue 10, pages 761-770

Abstract: After a moderate increase in premium volume in 2006, stagnation of premium income in life insurance resulted 2007 also in sluggish revenue growth (+2.1 percent) for the insurance industry. Insurance penetration dropped to 5.8 percent of gross domestic product. The structure of premium income shifted from life insurance (40.3 percent) to health insurance (8.3 percent) and property-liability insurance (51.3 percent). In this respect, the Austrian insurance market differed significantly from the rest of Europe, where strong growth in the life insurance segment more than compensated for sluggish developments in the non-life branches. According to current forecasts, growth will remain weak in 2008, although recent WIFO surveys among insurance companies are significantly more optimistic for 2008. To a small extent, the Austrian insurance market is influenced by direct selling of foreign insurance companies based on the freedom of establishment and the freedom of services: 4.3 percent of the total volume of premium income is absorbed by foreign companies.

Keywords: Versicherungswirtschaft; Lebensversicherungen; Solvabilität; II (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008

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