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Mix-Ansicht- FT.com Kolumne zu deutschen Lebensversicherungen - EM-financial, 27.11.2003, 22:14
FT.com Kolumne zu deutschen Lebensversicherungen
-->Can anything be done to turn the German life assurance industry round? Caught between declining solvency levels, excessive payouts to policyholders and a problematic tax regime, life companies have faced severe pressure. One, Mannheimer Lebensversicherung, has even been allowed to fail.
Munich Re, parent of the Ergo group of primary life assurers, believes there are measures that can be taken to improve its subsidiaries' profitability. It has launched a €300m cost-cutting programme and has redesigned products to give a better return to shareholders. But it is also cutting bonus rates paid to policy holders. Its subsidiary Victoria Leben has slashed its bonus rate for 2004 to 3.3 per cent from 4.5 per cent this year.
Although 3.3 per cent is well above the new legal minimum rate of 2.75 per cent, which takes effect in January, it is less than the minimum guaranteed to holders of some older policies. It is also well below the industry average of 4.2-4.5 per cent predicted by the German insurance association. Without a further rise in bond yields, many life companies will remain under pressure.
All this leads to a widening of the gap between Allianz Leben and the rest of the German life industry. Allianz is already the market leader, with around a 20 per cent market share. It is more strongly capitalised than many others, and is gaining market share fast. Allianz, too, is expected to cut its bonus rates next month, but the forecast level of 4.8 per cent will still leave it with a significant edge.
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