The Insurance Commissioner today released the latest figures for Luxembourg's insurance market, revealing a continued decline for Q3 2015.

The insurance market has previously experienced a significant fall in Q2 2015 and Q3 reported another decline, with all combined insurance premiums branches decreasing by 10.93% compared to the same period in 2014.

The overall flow recorded a 10.49% drop in the first nine months of 2015, with premiums decreasing 13.34% in life insurance and rising 10.76% in non-life insurance, or general insurance, branches.

In life insurance the 13.34% decline in the first three quarters of 2015 concealed divergent trends which depended on product type, with this regression brken down into a 44.54% decrease in the collection of guaranteed retursn products against a 19.65% increase in unit-linked life product. This phenomenon marks a continuation of that previously observed during the first two quarters, with the decline in business of guaranteed retursn partly explained on the one hand by likely lower yields on offer and also by the deliberate reorientation of customers towards unit-linked products.

The total technical provisions of life insurers stood at €142.89 billion at the end of September 2015, signifying an increase of 9.60% compared with the end of September 2014. Quarterly change denotes the first significant decline since Q3 2011, with a decrease of 2.32% as compared to the end of June 2015. The €3.39 billion decline in Q3 2015 is exclusively due to the value loss of life insurance contracts in account units, the result of negative developments in equity markets.

Non-life insurance increased by 10.76% over the first nine months of 2015, with insurers working mainly, if not exclusively, on the Luxembourg market reporting a 4.85% growth in their collection. With a 11.84% increase in their collection, companies operating abroad in non-life insurance branches outside of marine insurance registered significantly faster growth.

International business has maintained its growth rate above 10%, which has been regularly observed since 2012 but was temporarily abandoned in 2014. Figures for marine insurance are only available for the second quarter and are essentially the result of a few larger mutuals whose collection reflects the claim development which increased 19.72% during this period.