Insurers across the EEA grew the volume of premiums they wrote in foreign EEA lands by 21% in 2021.
They wrote €106.8bn ($114bn) of gross direct premiums in EEA countries other than their own in 2021, compared with €88.6bn in 2020, according to figures published by the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (Eiopa).
The figures relate to premium volumes generated through "freedom to provide services" rules, or by foreign branches that insurers used.
Insurance groups in Ireland made the greatest use of the freedoms, by writing €36.6bn of foreign premiums within the EEA's borders.
Luxembourg's underwriters were the second most prolific, with €30.4bn of gross direct premiums written.
Together, these two countries' industries wrote over half of the €106.8bn total non-domestic premiums in Europe, in 2021.
No other European country's industry seriously rivalled the duo. Belgium's industry with just €8.1bn ran third, then France's €6.1bn and then Germany's €6bn.
In line with Eiopa's current practice, no data for UK insurers was presented.
The top rank of Ireland as a source of cross-border business largely reflects the prevalence of designated activity companies that non-Irish groups – such as Italy's Mediolanum, Arca Vita and Intesa San Paolo – establish in Ireland, to do work, remotely, for the parent.
Separately, annual Solvency II filings for 2021 also gave insight into the foreign reach of premiums written by insurance groups governed by those regulations. In the filings, groups name their five most prolific foreign countries for writing premiums.
Across the 140 groups analysed by Insurance Risk Data, the top five foreign lands for non-life premiums contained 64 different countries. And for life premiums, the list of the groups' most popular countries was 62 long.
- Details of insurers' foreign underwriting are found in quantitative reporing templates published annually by all groups and undertakings in the EEA. These are all archived in Insurance Risk Data, the insurance data and research arm from the publishers of InsuranceERM. To learn more about the offerings, contact [email protected]
