Press Release - New statistics on euro area insurance corporations and pensions funds
New statistics on insurance corporations and pension funds Each sector now shown separately
In the third quarter of 2016, insurers held total assets of €7,878 billion and pension funds €2,446 billion
The European Central Bank (ECB) has today released new euro area statistics on insurance corporations as of the third quarter of 2016 and pension funds as of the first quarter of 2016. The sectors are now shown separately and in more detail, reflecting enhanced data collection frameworks. Future releases will also be more timely than previous releases.
In the third quarter of 2016, total assets of euro area insurance corporations amounted to € 7,878 billion. Insurance corporations’ holdings of debt securities amounted to 44% of total assets. The second largest category of holdings was investment fund shares (23%), followed by loans (8%) and equity (9%).
Total insurance technical reserves of insurance corporations amounted to €6,067 billion, with life insurance technical reserves representing 91%. Total assets of euro area pension funds in the third quarter of 2016 increased to €2,446 billion from €2,402 billion in the previous quarter. Over the same period, the amount outstanding of pension entitlements, the main liabilities of pension funds, increased to €2,308 billion from €2,275 billion, owing partly to transactions amounting to €3 billion.
Looking at the breakdown of assets on the aggregated balance sheet of euro area pension funds, holdings of investment fund shares accounted for 43% of the sector's total assets at end-September 2016. The second largest category of holdings was debt securities, which made up 25% of total assets, while equity accounted for 12%.
Directorate General Communications
Sonnemannstrasse 20, 60314 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Tel.: +49 69 1344 7455, E-mail: media@ecb.europa.eu
Website: www.ecb.europa.eu
page source http://www.ecb.europa.eu/
