The top ten Belgian insurers are slightly more dependent on the life segment in terms of gross written premiums (GWPs), in comparison with Europe – but the Belgium market has more balance than most European countries, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company. The country’s top ten players have 59% of their GWPs in the life segment and all ten players have premiums in both life and non-life insurance, while most European countries have at least two or three leading insurers with 100% of their premiums in life insurance.

Deblina Mitra Insurance analyst at GlobalData, commented: “The insurers with a higher dependency on the life market will be impacted by lower investment returns led by market volatility in the coming years. Insurers with more balanced books, and GWP across more product lines should be better placed to absorb the initial shock caused by COVID-19.”

Both Belgium’s life and non-life segments have GWPs concentrated among the leading ten insurers in each market. The top ten life insurers make up 86% of total premiums, while the top ten non-life insurers also account for 86%.

Mitra adds: “AXA Belgium and AG Insurance appear to be the most vulnerable insurers in the non-life segment, with the two combined holding 34.8% of the market. Insurers are expected to face challenges from potential claims related to business interruption and financial lines, due to COVID-19 lockdown restrictions.”