The flood disaster and the corona pandemic also weighed on the insurance industry in 2021. GDV President Weiler calls for political solutions to protect against natural hazards.
The insurance industry can look back on a difficult year, particularly as a result of the devastating flood catastrophe in the summer with numerous deaths and devastated areas.
Accident insurers were in the red for the first time since 2013 due to the floods, the General Association of the German Insurance Industry (GDV) announced on Thursday. Accordingly, the sum of the benefits significantly exceeded the premium income: According to the GDV, the so-called damage-cost ratio for accident insurers rose to 102 percent last year – after almost 91 percent the year before.
“With insured damage to houses, household goods, businesses and motor vehicles of around 12.5 billion euros, 2021 is the most expensive natural hazard year in Germany since our statistics began in the early 1970s,” said GDV President Wolfgang Weiler. According to the president of the association, the insurance losses from the flood disaster in July alone amounted to eight billion euros.
Less life insurance
Meanwhile, demand for life insurance was sluggish. After the number of new contracts collapsed in 2020 due to the Corona crisis, it fell by a further 1.2 percent to 4.7 million new contracts last year. The total premium income of life insurers, pension funds and pension funds fell by 1.4 percent to almost 102 billion euros. According to GDV, one reason is the continuing difficulty in selling policies due to the restrictions in the pandemic.
An exception to this development was the demand for Riester contracts. Here, the number of new contracts concluded in 2021 increased significantly by twelve percent to 310,500. “This is the highest number of new Riester contracts since 2016,” said Weiler. “Our conclusion: In view of the ongoing political debate about reforms to private pension provision, many customers have secured a contract.”
Overall, however, according to Weiler, the sluggish business of life insurers is likely to continue in the current year. “We think premium growth of between one and two percent is realistic.” The association president was more optimistic with regard to the entire industry. “We are currently expecting premium growth of between two and three percent for the insurance sector as a whole in 2022,” emphasized Weiler. Last year, the contributions of the entire insurance industry grew by around one percent and amounted to 223.4 billion euros.
demands on politics
In the discussion about compulsory insurance against natural hazards, Weiler brought an objection solution into play on Thursday. According to this, the federal government should create the legal possibility for insurers to “convert all existing private residential building insurance contracts by a deadline”. The contracts then also included insurance cover against natural hazards – this would mean higher premiums for consumers.
“For homeowners who do not want this protection in the future, there is still the option of actively objecting,” said Weiler. “This is how we maintain freedom of choice.” The demand for natural hazard insurance increased significantly after the floods in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate. However, only about half of all homeowners are still appropriately secured, said Weiler. The association had rejected compulsory insurance last year.
Source From: Stern
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
