The pandemic and its impact on the insurance business in Spain
Fecha: noviembre 2021
Ignacio Blasco, Daniel Manzano, Aitor Milner
Insurance sector
SEFO, Spanish and International Economic & Financial Outlook, V. 10 N.º 6 (November 2021)
In 2020, the insurance sector sustained a real contraction in premium volumes of 1.3% compared to the prepandemic trendline growth of close to 3%, with much of this contraction concentrated in advanced economies. The decline in premium volumes in real terms was uneven across the various lines of business, with the life insurance segment falling by close to 4.5% in 2020. However, the non-life insurance business segment managed growth of 1.5%. As a result of this subsector divergence, non-life insurance business now outweighs the life insurance business. So far this year, momentum in non-life insurance remains strong, with particularly robust growth in the health and multi-risk lines, while the contraction in motor insurance is slowing. Turning to the Spanish insurance sector, signs suggest it is riding out the pandemic’s impact with relative ease, with the volumes for non-life recovering faster than initially expected. In this context, the trend in margins will be shaped by what happens to claims, which are expected to normalise. This is, however, based on the assumption that financial market stability continues.