The fact that the number of new contracts in the past few months has declined significantly is due to the high level of inflation.
(Photo: dpa)
It is nothing more than a cautious signal: Life insurers are once again paying their customers slightly more interest than in previous years. The long-term downward trend has come to an end: the market leader Allianz is now granting its customers 2.6 percent prospects for the bestseller instead of the 2.4 percent previously. A number of other providers are also increasing.
Nevertheless: A rush to representative offices in the country is not to be expected.
The fact that new contracts have declined significantly in recent months is due to high inflation, in which many people are more concerned with their daily needs than worrying about security in the event of death and in old age. Anyone who has to make high additional payments for electricity and gas often saves on their own security. In addition: The usefulness of life insurance does not really want to be opened up when the small interest rate increase for the money paid in closes the gap to double-digit inflation rates, at best in homeopathic doses.
Long-term reversal
On the other hand, insurers have the problem that they can only slowly turn their billion-dollar portfolios of life insurance premiums in such a way that they benefit greatly from the turnaround in interest rates. Allianz invests around one hundred million euros every day at better conditions.
Top jobs of the day
Find the best jobs now and
be notified by email.
With a portfolio with a current market value of almost 270 billion euros, however, it is easy to calculate how long it will take for significant effects to actually be recorded. It may be years before then. Like almost every asset class, life insurance suffers so much that the loss in value due to inflation cannot be made up for the time being.
Another sign is important. Life insurers are again much more active in marketing their products than in previous years. A number of providers had almost stopped doing business with the high single premiums popular with customers because they didn’t know where to invest these large sums of money. In the meantime, there are even significant interest rates here again.
More needs to be done to ensure that life insurance, which remains the most popular form of old-age provision for Germans, continues to have a chance on the market. Flexibility and sustainability in investments are particularly important to young customers. Coupled with protection and high security, interest should be high. Especially when the return is no longer eaten up by inflation in the long term.
More: Trend reversal for millions of life insurance policyholders – the year-long decline in interest rates is over