Status: 12/07/2022 4:24 p.m
There are signs of a trend reversal among life insurers. Germany’s second-largest life insurer, R+V Leben, will increase the total interest rate significantly in 2023. Industry leader Allianz had already pushed ahead.
The turnaround in interest rates has positive consequences for the millions of life insurance policyholders in Germany. The old-age provision that is popular in this country will soon offer higher interest rates again. The second largest life insurer in Germany, R+V Leben, wants its five million customers to participate in rising interest rates.
More leeway for the insurance industry
The total return on the “Safe+Smart” pension insurance policies from the Wiesbaden provider, which dominate new business, will rise by 0.75 percentage points to 2.75 percent in 2023. There, however, only part of the savings goes into the security assets with guaranteed interest rates.
For the “performance” products with lower guarantees, R+V Life pays a total interest rate of 2.4 percent (2022: 1.85 percent), the current interest rate included therein increases to 1.75 from 1.55 percent. “Interest rates have risen very quickly and very sharply in the current year,” explained R+V-Leben boss Claudia Andersch.
Allianz raises interest for the first time in 15 years
At the beginning of the week, the market leader Allianz Leben also increased the total return for its “Perspective” product line, which is comparable to “Performance”, by 0.3 percentage points to 3.5 percent.
The example could set a precedent, believes life insurance expert Reiner Will from the rating agency Assekurata in Cologne. Industry-wide, however, he only expects increases of 0.1 to 0.15 percentage points on average, “maybe even a snap more”. The financial effect for customers should be limited. “No insured person will notice that in their portfolio.”
Interest rate turnaround by the ECB gives the impetus
However, against the background of the interest rate turnaround by the European Central Bank (EBZ), the industry-wide decline in policies for years has apparently come to an end. The ECB ended its zero interest rate policy this year and raised the key interest rate several times, most recently by 0.75 percentage points to 2.0 percent in November.
For next week’s council meeting, experts expect the pace of monetary policy tightening to slow down: on average, economists expect an interest rate hike of 0.5 percentage points.