The Insurance Risk Dashboard, based on Solvency II data, summarises the main risks and vulnerabilities in the European Union’s insurance sector through a set of risk indicators. The data is based on financial stability and prudential reporting collected from insurance groups and solo insurance undertakings.
The reference date for company data is Q2-2025 for quarterly indicators and 2024-YE for annual indicators. The cut-off date for most market indicators is the end of September 2025. The Level (color) corresponds to the level of risk as of the reference date, the Trend is displayed for the 3 months preceding the reference date and the Outlook is displayed for the 12 months after the reference date. The latter is based on the responses received from 23 national competent authorities (NCAs) and ranked according to the expected change in the materiality of each risk (substantial decrease, decrease, unchanged, increase and substantial increase).
Macroeconomic risks remain stable at a medium level, with constant outlook. GDP growth projections across major geographical regions slightly increased to 1.1% (from 0.8%) for the next four quarters and global inflation forecasts are around 2.1%, slightly higher than last quarter 2%. In parallel, monetary policy remained broadly stable in Q3-2025. The weighted average of 10-year swap rates for key currencies slightly increased relative to the prior quarter (from 2.8% to 2.9% in Q3-2025). Fiscal balances for major economies slightly narrowed from -3.7% in Q4 2024 to -3.2% in Q1 2025, while the credit-to-GDP gap hover around from -18.2% in Q1-2025. Unemployment rates slightly increased (to 5.7%) based on the most recent data from Q2 2025.
Credit risks remain steady at a medium level. As of end of September 2025, credit default swap (CDS) spreads somewhat decreased. In Q2 2025, insurers’ median exposures to government and financial bonds remained broadly unchanged, while their exposures to non-financial bonds slightly increased. As of Q2 2025, insurers’ median investment allocations as a share of total assets stood at approximately 26.5% in government bonds, at 1.5% in financial secured bonds and 9.0% in financial unsecured bonds while it slightly increased to 10.4% (from 9.7%) in non-financial bonds. The indicator on fundamental credit risk in the non-financial corporate sector was unchanged, based on Q1 2025 data. Insurers’ exposure to mortgages and loans remained around 0.3% in Q2-2025 and the household debt-to-income ratio in the Euro area declined slightly to 82.7%, based on Q1 2025 data. Overall, the credit quality of insurers’ investments remains high, with the median credit quality step (CQS) around 2, equivalent to an AA rating from S&P. The median share of low-rated investments (CQS > 3) was around at 1.2% in Q2 2025.
Market risks remain elevated, with stable risk outlook. Bond market volatility decreased compared to previous assessment but remain at a level that still requires attention, and equity volatility slightly decreased however price to book ratio increased. Insurers’ median exposure to bonds remained at 51.3% and to equities at 6% of total assets in Q2 2025. Residential property prices kept increasing in Q1-2025, while no new data for commercial real estate prices was available at the time of the update. Insurers’ median investments to property remains limited overall, with a median of 3% of total assets. Asset concentration measured by the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index is stable.
Liquidity and funding risks remained at medium level. In Q2 2025, insurers’ median cash holdings slightly increased to 0.8% of total assets, while the median liquid asset ratio was around 46% of total assets. Deaspite a slight increase in the laps rate, the sustainability of tghe cash flow position shows improvements over all the distribution. In the catastrophe bond market, the issuance volumes increased in Q2 2025 compared to the previous year and the multiplier (spread/expected annual loss) decreased. All other annual indicators remained unchanged.
Solvency and profitability risks remain stable at a medium level. In Q2 2025, the median solvency ratios increased for insurance groups (from 197.8% to 202.5%) and for life (to 231.4%), and remain broadly unchanged for non-life (211.3%). The median of Tier 1 own funds to toal own funds median slightly increased from 86.2% to 87.1%. In terms of profitability, the median non-life combined ratio remained broadly unchaged around 95.1% in Q2-2025. Return on investments for life remained broadly unchanged between 2023 and 2024. Other profitability measures such as the return on assets and return on excess of Assets over Liabilities increased compared to the previous assessment with regards to the median values.
Interlinkages and imbalances risks remained stable at a medium level. Insurers’ median exposure to banks slighlty increased back to 14.1% and to other financial activities to 23.3% of total assets, while the median exposure to other insurers remained unchaged at 1.6% . Insurers’ median exposure to domestic sovereign debt and derivatives also held steady at around 7.3% and 0.3% of total assets, respectively. The median share of premiums ceded to reinsurers slightly decreased from 5.6% to 5.1% in Q2 2025.
Insurance risks remain stable at a medium level but with decreasing trend. Year-on-year premium growth for life remained strong and decreased to 10.8% from previously too high growth value, which is associated with a lower level of risks. Year-on-year premium growth for non-life business also remained strong and slightly decreased to 6.2% (from 7.9%). The median of the loss ratio slightly deteriorate, increasing from 59.8% to 61% in Q2 2025.
Market perceptions remain at a medium level with decreasing trend. Life and non-life insurance stocks performed in line with the market over the last three months. The median price-to-earnings ratio for insurance groups decreased in the same period. The distribution of insurers’ CDS spreads remained broadly stable, while there were four positive changes in external rating outlooks for insurance groups in the sample.
Digitalization and cyber risks remain at a medium level, with an increasing outlook. The materiality of these risks for the insurance sector, as assessed by supervisors, remain elevated in Q3 2025. Cyber negative sentiment slightly increased during the same quarter. Global cyber attacks remained broadly unchanged based on the latest data of Q1-2025. In the current geopolitical context, cyber threats are significant concern as insurers are not only exposed to operational risks but also face the growing challenge of underwriting cyber risks, which adds complexity to their risk management strategies.
Note: Text analysis based indicator, calculated from earning calls
transcripts from listed insurers.
Source: Refinitiv, EIOPA
calculations.
Note: Number of publicly disclosed global cyber attacks over time and
changes.
Source: University of Maryland CISSM Cyber Events Database,
EIOPA calculations.
Arrows for the Trend show changes for the 3 months preceding the reference date, while arrows for the Outlook show expected developments for the next 12 months.
This category depicts developments in the macro-economic environment that could impact the insurance sector. This category is based on publicly available data on macro variables that may be used for broader macroprudential monitoring and analysis.
The category assesses the vulnerability of the insurance sector towards credit risks. To achieve this aim, credit-relevant asset class exposures of the insurers are combined with the relevant risk metrics applicable to these asset classes.
The risk category depicts the main risks insurers are exposed to on financial markets and the level of asset returns and costs (e.g. administrative, investments and other). For most asset classes these risks are being assessed by analysing both the investment exposure of the insurance sector and an underlying risk metric. The exposures give a picture of the vulnerability of the sector to adverse developments; the risk metric, usually the volatility of the yields of the associated indices, gives a picture of the current level of riskiness.
This category aims at assessing the vulnerability of the European insurance industry to liquidity shocks. The set of indicators encompasses the lapse rate of the life insurance sector with high lapse rate signaling a potential risk, holdings of cash & cash equivalents as a measure of the liquidity buffer available, and the issuance of catastrophe bonds, where a very low volume of issuance and/or high spreads signals a reduction in demand which could form a risk.
The category scrutinizes the level of solvency and profitability of the European insurance industry. Both dimensions are analyzed for the overall industry (using group data) and include a breakdown for the life and non-life companies (using solo data). In detail, the solvency level is measured via solvency ratios and quality of own funds. Standard profitability measures for the whole industry are complemented by indicators such as the combined ratio and the return on investments specifically applied to the non-life and life industry respectively.
Under this section various kinds of interlinkages are assessed, both within the insurance sector, namely between primary insurers and reinsurers, between the insurance sector and the banking sector, as well as interlinkages created via derivative holdings. Exposure towards domestic sovereign debt is included as well.
As indicators for insurance risks gross written premiums of both life and non-life business are an important input. Both significant expansion and contraction are taken as indicators of risks in the sector; the former due to concerns over sustainability and the latter as an indicator of widespread contraction of insurance markets.
This category encompasses the financial markets’ perception of the healthiness and profitability of the European insurance sector. For this purpose, relative stock market performances of European insurance indices against the total market are assessed, as well as fundamental valuations of insurance stocks (price/earnings ratio), CDS spreads and external ratings/rating outlooks.
This risk category aims to capture potential financial stability
risks related to an increased digitalisation, which exposes the
insurance sector to risks both from an operational resilience
perspective (as insurers themselves can be targets of cyber-attacks) and
from an underwriting perspective (related to the provision of cyber
insurance products). The set of indicators encompasses the supervisors’
assessment of digitalization & cyber risks considering different
aspects such as cyber security risks, cyber underwriting risks and
Insurtech competition, the year-on–year change in the frequency of cyber
incidents as reported in the Hackmageddon.com database and, finally, the
negative sentiment of European insurers against cyber risk. This section
will be further developed as new data becomes available.
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