Balance sheet and income statement for the 2023 insurance market
Once a year, FINMA compiles data on business development within the insurance companies that fall under its supervision and provides an overview of industry key figures in the Insurance Market Report. You can find an overview of the findings here.
Private insurers based or headquartered in Switzerland received a total of almost 140.6 billion Swiss francs in premiums in 2023. Roughly 81 billion Swiss francs were returned to policyholders in the form of pay-outs for insurance claims. After factoring in all the other relevant positions, insurers were left with a profit of approximately 13.5 billion Swiss francs.
You can find a detailed overview of premium volumes within the Swiss direct insurance industry and how these are distributed across the individual branches here.
528 billion Swiss francs of assets invested
The balance sheet shows the assets and liabilities of the insurers. One of the largest positions are the underwriting reserves on the liabilities side of the balance sheet. These are potential, long-term payment obligations totalling roughly 505.6 billion Swiss francs on insurers’ books. These are exceeded only by the capital investments on the assets side used by insurers to guarantee the fulfilment of these obligations. These total 528.3 billion Swiss francs. This makes the insurance sector an important investor – including in the Swiss economy.
Private insurance demonstrates a high degree of solvency
Various key figures are used to review whether or not the obligations of insurers are guaranteed at all times. These include the coverage ratio, which indicates the extent (in per cent) to which obligations are covered by tied assets, which are subject to strict investment guidelines. With a cover ratio of 113 per cent, the target amount of 101 per cent is far exceeded.
Another key figure for assessing the extent to which obligations are fulfillable is the Swiss Solvency Test (SST). It assesses the capitalisation of insurers. With a solvency rate of 254 per cent in 2023, the available capital (risk-bearing capital) exceeds the required capital (target capital) many times over. Tied assets and the risk-based solvency regime under the SST guarantee a high degree of security for policyholders.
2023 Insurance Market Report
The annually published FINMA Insurance Market Report contains general information about the insurance market in Switzerland and sector-specific balance sheet and income statement data.
The sector-specific figures show the growth of premiums, the market shares of the largest companies in the Swiss industry and the development of equity and the annual result. In life insurance, the report also covers coverage capital and underwriting result. Since the 2019 annual survey, the report now also contains information relating to the ‘operating statements of occupational pension schemes’ and therefore replaces the ‘transparency report for occupational pension schemes’ from the previous year.
