Euro area insurance corporation and pension fund statistics....ECB

 1 April 2016                                PRESS RELEASE

Statistics on Euro Area Insurance Corporations and Pension Funds: Fourth Quarter 2015 

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In the fourth quarter of 2015, the total financial assets of euro area insurance corporations and pension funds increased to €9,133 billion, from €9,016 billion in the previous quarter. Over the same period, the amount outstanding of insurance technical reserves, which are the main liabilities of insurance corporations and pension funds, increased to €7,585 billion, from €7,521 billion. This increase was mainly due to transactions amounting to €55 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 40% of the sector's total financial assets at end-December 2015. The second largest category of holdings were investment fund shares, which contributed 28% 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 €32 billion in the fourth quarter of 2015. The net equity of households in pension fund reserves increased by €28 billion in the same quarter, while transactions in prepayments of insurance premiums and reserves for outstanding claims decreased by €6 billion. Regarding the contributions of the two sub-sectors, insurance corporations' total financial assets accounted for €6,956 billion at end-December 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 €2,176 billion.

page source http://www.ecb.europa.eu

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