Insurance production in Portugal rose 38% in 2021
The global production of insurance companies in Portugal increased by 8%, to 12,400 million euros, in 12,400 million euros, compared to 2020, reversing the fall of the two previous years mainly driven by the Life branch, protection this Tuesday the regulator .
According to the Insurance Sector and Pension Funds Report, published by the Insurance and Pension Funds Supervisory Authority (ASF), “the global production of direct insurance from insurance companies under the prudential supervision of the ASF showed a recovery of 38% during 2021, to 12,400 million euros, reversing the negative trend seen in the previous two years”.
According to the ASF, “this evolution was materially influenced by the behavior of the Life branch, which, after two consecutive years of decline, recorded, in 2021, an increase of 73.1%, reaching a level of production close to that recorded in 201” , in a recovery “justified by attracting a greater volume of investment/savings through insurance products linked to investment funds (linked unit)”.
Life production “maintained the continuous pattern of growth registered in recent years, with a date of No 6% in 2021 compared to the previous year”.
As for the technical result of the same group of insurance companies, increased in 2021 for the second consecutive year, to 831.3 million euros.
For this superior result of the value account, according to the ASF, which obtained the result of the technical account of the Life branch, which was higher than 2020, or the technical contact of the Non-Life lines, which recorded a positive evolution of 78.9 million euros.
With regard to the financial situation of insurance companies, there were “moderate equity variations” in the global and increasing values of assets and liabilities, with assets showing a decrease, while companies increased a “slight increase”, leading to a passive increase in shareholders’ equity of 1.5% over the previous year.
Regarding the solvency position, the ASF notes that “the national sector evolved favorably during 2021, with the global solvency capital requirement (SCR) coverage ratio expanding by 14.2 percentage points compared to the end of the year. the previous year, to 206.9%, and the global minimum capital requirement (MCR) coverage ratio to increase by 39.1 percentage points, reaching 576.2%”.
“In the cases – detailing the ASF – the growth due to its positive evolution of own funds, but justified by its positive evolution of own funds, but also by the cases, and driven above all, by the set of mixed companies exclusively, by the set of companies to operate in the Life business exclusively”.
In relation to insurance mediation, there was a further drop in the corresponding number of 221, for a total of 11,932 mediators at the end of the year, “accentuating an upward trend since 2008”.
The total remuneration earned by insurance intermediaries varies in the opposite direction, with an increase of 3.3% compared to the previous year, to 1,068 million euros.
In the pension funds sector, ASP reports that the global amount of assets under management exceeded 24,000 million euros at the end of 2021, 4.7% more than in 2020, “consolidating the upward trend seen since 2019”.
As for the sum of contributions and contributions to pension funds, there was a decrease for the second consecutive year, to 1,414 million euros, “reflecting the reduction of contributions to pension funds, since contributions to funds that finance individual plans continued to exhibit an increasing trend”.
Regarding the level of funding of defined benefit pension plans, “there were adjustments, both in terms of the funding scenario and the solvency scenario, to 102.4% and 109%, respectively, and, “in both the scenarios, the increase was due to the reduction, in global terms, of the value of liabilities, in parallel with the increase in the share of assets to financing”.
In the Pension Savings Plans (PPR), the total amount recorded increased by 0.6%, countering a negative trend of the previous year and standing at 21,200 million euros.
The ASF explains that this increase “reflects the growth of PPR in the form of investment funds and pension funds, capable of mitigating a drop in PPR in the form of life insurance”.
In the same vein, there was a reform of the total volume of premiums and contributions to the next level recorded in 2019, reaching 370 million euros, “reflecting the positive evolution in all types of fundamental vehicles”.
In a message from the president of the ASF, he states that the 2021 message “was marked by a situation of difficulty of elevation at a global level, given as constants of economic recovery in the face of the damage caused by the covid-19 pandemic”, noting that, even so, , , “The main performance indicators of the activity and of fund management with an overall positive trend throughout the year”.
The company’s president, Margarida Corrê, “evolved with the trajectory of life, following the trajectory of life, through growth, reflecting the strong bet on the offer of products, ascending, life to maintain an ascending trajectory” .
“There are also improvements in the profitability and solvency of the insurance sector, with both the Life and Non-Life business segments recording increases in their technical results, and with the growth in the level of the global coverage ratio of the capital requirement of solvency”, he adds.