Continued Development of the Private Insurance Economy in Turbulent Times

Premium earnings within the Austrian insurance sector experienced the extreme cyclical movements taking place over the past few years only weakly. After stagnating during the crisis-ridden year 2009, premiums displayed growth in 2010 that did not keep up with the expansion of nominal GDP. Accordingly, insurance market penetration in 2010 dropped below the value of the previous year. For 2011, the industry expects a slight decline in premium dynamics. The most recent WIFO surveys are even more pessimistic. Due to increased returns from capital investments, insurance firms accelerated both their actuarial profits and their results from ordinary operations.