Based on a representative sample of life- and non-life insurers, it appears that in 2014 insurers increased their activity and maintained their profitability and solvency despite a still gloomy macroeconomic environment.
As regards life insurers, overall net inflows almost doubled in 2014 (+80% to 9.2 billion euros) but more than tripled for unit-linked contracts. Unrealised capital gains on investments nearly doubled, mainly reflecting the decline in interest rates in 2014. Consequently, the solvency ratio under Solvency I showed a strong increase, hitting 464% (+162 percentage points (pts)), and economic wealth1 has improved considerably.