According to FINMA figures, the private insurance industry can look back on a successful 2023, with premiums growing by 1.9 per cent in the non-life business. ‘This trend is not just due to ongoing cost increases in the past year, but also robust societal demand,’ said Urs Arbter, association director, commenting on the development. While the growth in liability and property insurance is largely due to higher repair costs and the appreciation of the goods insured, wage growth and, not least, new insurance products – such as cyber insurance – led to a higher premium volume.
 

Supplementary health insurance also experienced a slight uptick in portfolio size: Premium volume grew by 1.8 per cent while premiums themselves only increased slightly. The picture is rather different for the field of daily sickness benefits, which expanded by 9.6 per cent. This was primarily caused by wage increases and the fact that premiums needed to be adjusted upwards following higher benefit payments. 

After a sharp decline in premium volumes in some areas of life insurance business from 2020, growth in unit-linked insurance products and capital redemption transactions in the individual life segment in 2023 brought an overall premium volume that was almost on a par with the previous year’s level. Single premiums in particular are seeing growth in comparison with previous years. However, group business continues to decline.

The Swiss reinsurance market grew by 4 per cent in 2023. This is just above the long-term average of 3 percent per year. The volatility of the premium volume in reinsurance business can be explained primarily by the fact that the market is very international and the premium volume depends heavily on internal retrocessions, which are adjusted, for example, in the event of changes to tax regulations.