Insurance funds managed to deal with the crisis, avoiding the sharp variations in the global markets and the large losses suffered by the bank stocks and government bonds last year.
The general trend lately has been the shift to lower risk funds that place their assets on deposits.
According to the latest figures from the Association of Insurance Companies, the assets of the large insurance funds recorded a decrease of 4% or €24 million to €836.7 million compared to €860.8 million last year.
The decrease in their assets compares favourably with the corresponding performance of the CSE general index, which recorded annual losses of 66%. It is also positively associated with the large losses recorded in the values of government bonds in countries of the South and in Cyprus.
The losses recorded in the assets of the funds are mainly attributable to outflows of money to smaller funds of lower risk.
The largest domestic insurance fund, the Gross of Eurolife, which is of medium risk, fell 3.4% to €325.8 million from €337.2 million last year.
According to Fund Manager of Eurolife, Constantinos Sophocleous, there was a slight shift to guaranteed funds in 2012 so that customers to have safer investments.
“Despite the financial crisis and the uncertainty, the reduction in the value of assets was very limited because insurance funds have large dispersion abroad and were not affected by large domestic pressures”, he said.
The transfer of investment to safer funds is evident in the case of the Eurolife guaranteed fund, which showed an increase in the value of its assets by 12.6% to € 32.1 million from €28.5 million mainly due to increased inflows of new capital into the fund.
Cyprialife, the third largest insurance fund, suffered a drop in its value by 12.7% to €83.6 million from €95.7 million, while the other Cyprialife fund, which is also of high risk, had a decline in its value of assets by 12.3% to €34.7 million from €39.6 million.
Losses of 1.5% were registered by the Secure of the same company, while the guaranteed of Cyprialife raised the value of its assets by 4.8% to €32.5 million from €31 million.
The general trend lately has been the shift to lower risk funds that place their assets on deposits.
According to the latest figures from the Association of Insurance Companies, the assets of the large insurance funds recorded a decrease of 4% or €24 million to €836.7 million compared to €860.8 million last year.
The decrease in their assets compares favourably with the corresponding performance of the CSE general index, which recorded annual losses of 66%. It is also positively associated with the large losses recorded in the values of government bonds in countries of the South and in Cyprus.
The losses recorded in the assets of the funds are mainly attributable to outflows of money to smaller funds of lower risk.
The largest domestic insurance fund, the Gross of Eurolife, which is of medium risk, fell 3.4% to €325.8 million from €337.2 million last year.
According to Fund Manager of Eurolife, Constantinos Sophocleous, there was a slight shift to guaranteed funds in 2012 so that customers to have safer investments.
“Despite the financial crisis and the uncertainty, the reduction in the value of assets was very limited because insurance funds have large dispersion abroad and were not affected by large domestic pressures”, he said.
The transfer of investment to safer funds is evident in the case of the Eurolife guaranteed fund, which showed an increase in the value of its assets by 12.6% to € 32.1 million from €28.5 million mainly due to increased inflows of new capital into the fund.
Cyprialife, the third largest insurance fund, suffered a drop in its value by 12.7% to €83.6 million from €95.7 million, while the other Cyprialife fund, which is also of high risk, had a decline in its value of assets by 12.3% to €34.7 million from €39.6 million.
Losses of 1.5% were registered by the Secure of the same company, while the guaranteed of Cyprialife raised the value of its assets by 4.8% to €32.5 million from €31 million.
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