The European insurance industry had more than €8.5 trillion of assets under management at the end of 2013, representing a 3.2 percent growth over the previous year, according to Insurance Europe.
But concerns remain over how Solvency II will be implemented and how it will affect future investments in Europe.
Michaela Koller, director general of Insurance Europe, commented: “While the industry welcomes the move to a risk-based regulatory regime and recognises that the final version of Solvency II was improved to avoid a huge negative impact on long-term investments, aspects of the directive and how it is implemented will still require insurers to hold inappropriately high amounts of capital against their long-term investments.”
“This will make it more expensive for insurers to invest in long-term government and corporate bonds, as well as growth-stimulating activities, such as infrastructure projects. This could discourage insurers from making these vital investments, which would have a significantly negative effect on the European economy at a time when boosting growth is an overall policy objective.”
Developments in the total investment portfolio were mainly driven by the life business, since the investment holdings of the life insurance industry account for more than 80 percent of the total portfolio.
