Insurance and Social Protection Area May 2014

Transcription

1 EUROPEAN NON-LIFE INSURANCE GROUPS' RANKING 2013 Insurance and Social Protection Area May 2014

2 Table of Contents: 1. Presentation 2. Comments about the ranking 3. Methodological aspects The information provided in this study may be reproduced in part, provided its source is acknowledged. 2014, FUNDACIÓN MAPFRE Pº de Recoletos, Madrid Tel:

3 1. Presentation FUNDACIÓN MAPFRE here presents the tenth yearly "European Non-Life Insurance Groups' Ranking, 2013." The classification has been based on the premium volume of each of the groups in 2013 in this business segment in all the countries where they operate. The information sources used have been the annual reports published by the companies themselves. The study also provides information on the groups' combined ratios, comments on the year's highlights and a table with the results posted by each group in its Non-Life lines. EUROPES' LARGEST NON-LIFE INSURANCE GROUPS IN 2013 Millons of euros Ranking by gross premium volume Nº Group Country Non Life premiums Combined ratio 1 % % D Rank ALLIANZ Germany 46,889 46, AXA France 31,359 32, ZURICH Switzerland 27,559 27, GENERALI Italy 21,296 20, ACHMEA 2 Netherlands 17,235 17, MAPFRE Spain 15,479 16, TALANX Germany 14,622 15, RSA United Kingdom 11,579 11, ERGO Germany 11,323 11, AVIVA United Kingdom 11,749 11, Total Top 5 Total Top , , , , Source: FUNDACIÓN MAPFRE. Internally prepared based on consolidated financial statement (under IFRS criteria) 1 The Combined ratio is the one presented by each company in its annual report. When Non-Life and Health ratios are given separately, we have used the Non-Life ratio 2 New name of Eureko. Combined ratio in the Non-Life segment in the Netherlands 3

4 2. Comments about the ranking Premium revenue of the 10 top European Non-Life insurance groups remained stable in 2013 vs. the previous year, showing a slight 0.4% increase with a total of 209,929 million euros. Six groups decreased euro premium volumes due to, in the case of Zurich and RSA, a rise of the euro against the US dollar and pound sterling. Talanx 1 and MAPFRE had the biggest increase, 5.4% and 5.2%, respectively. In general terms and regarding the respective domestic and European markets, certain factors persisted, e.g. high competitiveness and the continued negative economic situation which affected the decrease in demand. In some cases, this effect was compensated for by an increase in rates. However, the biggest European markets did not present a uniform behavior. Whereas in countries such as Germany and France the Non-Life segment increased revenue, in other countries, such as Italy and Spain, Non-Life premiums decreased. Regarding international business, most groups in the ranking saw an increase in local currency premiums (in emerging markets, there were even double-digit increases), but the rise of the euro against some currencies has led to less revenue growth for the groups whose results are reported in this currency. Allianz still leads the ranking, with a premium volume of 46,579 million euros, representing a decrease of 0.7% over 2012 caused by the negative impact of the exchange rate, specially the fall of the US and Australian dollar, the Brazilian real and the pound sterling against the euro. Aviva has dropped two places in the ranking, with RSA and Ergo climbing one position each. The rest of the groups remain in the same positions. Despite the high level of catastrophic claims, the claims ratio has improved for six of the groups, leading to a better technical result. The favorable progress of the claims frequency and severity has contributed to the improvement in the claims ratio. The catastrophic claims ratio was mainly due to poor weather conditions, which in some cases were compensated for by better-than-expected weather for the rest of the year. Some groups were greatly affected by these weather conditions, such as RSA, whose claims ratio increased by 3.5 pp. This increase in claims ratio, together with the problems in the Irish side of the business (due to accounting irregularities and the need to strengthen the reserves in the country), caused the group's technical result to get worse. 1 In previous rankings, Talanx group was not included due to a lack of the required information. 4

5 According to data from Swiss Re 2, natural disasters generated insured damages worth 37,000 million USD in 2013, much less than the average amount of the previous ten years. The biggest damages were caused by major flooding in Europe and Canada, sleet and storms in Europe, tornados and convective storms in the USA and typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines. Summer flooding in Central Europe was the single most expensive disaster of the year, followed by the sleet storms in July in Germany. Group % Claims ratio % Expense ratio % Combined ratio ALLIANZ ZURICH GENERALI MAPFRE AXA ERGO TALANX AVIVA ACHMEA RSA Source: FUNDACIÓN MAPFRE. Prepared internally based on the annual reports. Note: In ascending order by combined ratio for Continuing operations 2 Non-Life segment, Netherlands Expense ratios have remained unchanged for two of the groups, decreased for three and increased for the remaining five. As a result, six groups have a better combined ratio. Zurich is particularly noteworthy, as its combined ratio fell about 3 points due to an improvement in the underlying claims ratio and a lower number of serious disasters. Additionally, financial results remained stable regardless of low interest rates. Following from all of the above, the results of seven of the ten groups in this ranking 3 totaled 14,065 million euros in 2013, representing a 2.4% increase over We would like to note that Zurich's Non-Life segment rose 2.3% in USD, the currency in which its 2 Source: Sigma No. 1/ The segmentation of the Talanx, Ergo and Achmea groups means the results of the Non-Life lines cannot be calculated. 5

6 results are reported. We should highlight the remarkable increase in Generali's results, thanks to an improvement in the non-operating result due to increased net gains and reduced losses caused by depreciation of financial assets. As we explained earlier, the losses of RSA group are related to the effect on its balance sheet of bad weather conditions affecting the Scandinavian, Canadian and UK markets, as well as to irregularities in its Irish business. Non-Life result Millons of euros Group % Var. 2013/2012 ALLIANZ 4,942 5, AXA 3,147 3, ZURICH 2,372 2, GENERALI 688 1, MAPFRE 1,247 1, AVIVA RSA TOTAL 13,730 14, Source: FUNDACIÓN MAPFRE. Prepared internally from the annual reports 1 Result before tax and minority interest Finally, we look at the most significant acquisitions and disposals by some of the groups in 2013: German Allianz has strengthened its presence in the Turkish market by acquiring the multi-sector company Yapi Kredi Sigorta and its Life insurance and Pension subsidiary Yapi Kredi Emeklilik. With this operation, Allianz becomes the lead company in the Property & Casualty segment in Turkey. In April AXA closed an agreement with the shareholders of Tian Ping Auto Insurance Company Limited ( Tian Ping ) to buy 50% of the company. Together, AXA and the current shareholders of Tian Ping will control the company. AXA's current operations will be integrated into this new joint venture. With this acquisition, AXA will become the first foreign insurance company in China. Also, in November the AXA group announced that it had signed an agreement with Grupo Mercantil Colpatria to purchase 51% of the stock of their insurance operation in Colombia, Colpatria Seguros, one of the largest Colombian insurance groups operating in the General and Life insurance business. 6

7 In June 2013 Generali entered an agreement with the financial group Banorte for the sale of 49% of Generali's minority stock in the Mexican companies Seguros Banorte Generali and Pensiones Banorte Generali. In January 2013 the agreement between MAPFRE and Euler Hermes to jointly operate the credit insurance business in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Spain and Mexico came into effect. Each group holds 50% of the new company, Solunion. 7

8 3. Methodological aspects The ranking was prepared using gross premium volumes (direct insurance plus accepted reinsurance) in the Non-Life lines. It should be noted that the ranking does not include Health insurance premiums that are assigned to the Life insurance business 4, but it does feature those which are classified as part of Non-Life or explicitly differentiated. Due to the application of IFRS 8, some groups have varied the operating segments about which they provide separate information, causing difficulty in obtaining some of the figures analyzed in earlier editions of this ranking. However, whenever possible the criterion used in previous years has been retained. Groups whose main line of business is reinsurance are not included in the ranking. We have maintained the criterion of including accepted reinsurance premiums from groups that have reinsurance units, but do not rely on them as their main line of business. The earnings figures refer to the Non-Life sector, before taxes and minority interests. The report uses the term "operating result" to refer to earnings from insurance activities, including revenue from investments linked to this line of business. Losses or gains from other investments are included under the heading "non-operating result". The information on the solvency margin refers to all of the operations carried out by each group. The figure refers to the group's ratio of compliance with the mandatory solvency requirement. For comparative purposes, we have updated revenue and earnings figures for 2012 that were published by the insurance groups in their annual reports for CURRENCY Pound sterling (GBP) Dollar (USD) In general, in those cases in which Health insurance generates mathematical provisions, this line is classified as part of Life. 8