## Figure 1.18. Selected Euro Area Countries: Insurers’ Exposures to Sovereign, Bank, and Corporate Bonds

## Source details

**Canonical URL:** [Figure 1.18. Selected Euro Area Countries: Insurers’ Exposures to Sovereign, Bank, and Corporate Bonds](https://www.imf.org/-/media/files/publications/gfsr/2019/april/english/ch1data/charts/figure1-18.pdf)

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### Overview
- Insurers are important investors in sovereign and bank debt.
- Their holdings of lower-rated bonds have increased but vary significantly across countries.
- Some insurers also have significant holdings of riskier bank bonds.
- Insurers’ sensitivity to shocks differs and could be particularly problematic for insurers with lower solvency ratios.

### Panel 1 — Holdings of Euro Area Sovereign and Bank Debt by Issuer, 2018:Q2
- Chart axis labels: 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 (Percent of total debt stock).
- Country labels shown in figure: FRA, ITA, DEU, ESP, Others.
- Data sources used: Arslanalp and Tsuda (2014, update); European Central Bank; Haver Analytics; SNL Financial; and IMF staff estimates.

### Panel 2 — Sovereign and Corporate Bond Holdings by Ratings
- Chart axis labels: 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 (Percent of total bond holdings).
- Rating categories referenced in the figure: AAA to A rated; BBB rated; BB rated and lower; Speculative grade; Not rated.
- Time series markers in figure include years: 2008, 2011, 2014, 2017 (as indicated by "2008111417").

### Panel 3 — Asset Allocation to Low-Rated Credit, 2018:Q2
- Metric: (Percent of corporate bond holdings).
- Country order/labels embedded in the figure text (repeated sequences): ITA PRT ESP FIN NLD LUX AUT FRA IRL BEL DEU EU (presented in figure as concatenated ISO codes).

### Panel 4 — Asset Allocation to Bank Subordinated and Hybrid Debt, 2018:Q2
- Metric: (Percent of bank bond holdings).
- Chart axis labels: 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70.
- Country order/labels embedded in the figure text (repeated sequences): PRT ITA ESP FIN NLD BEL LUX IRL AUT FRA DEU EU.

### Panel 5 — Simulated Mark-to-Market Shocks to Assets, 2018:Q2
- Metric: (Percent of assets).
- Chart axis labels visible in figure: 0, 20, 40, 60, 80, 100.
- Shocks are applied to aggregate sector balance sheets of insurers as of 2018:Q2.
- The figure distinguishes "Mild downside" and "Severe downside" scenarios (labels present in source figure).

### Panel 6 — Solvency Ratios and Simulated Mark-to-Market Shocks to Assets in a Severe Downside Scenario, 2018:Q2
- Horizontal axis: Median solvency capital ratio (percent).
- Vertical axis: Mark-to-market shocks (percent of assets) with labeled ticks: –14, –12, –10, –8, –6, –4, –2, 0.
- Country labels shown in the figure: FRA, DEU, ITA, NLD, AUT, BEL, IRL, LUX, ESP, PRT, FIN.
- Additional numeric markers in figure text: 150, 200, 250, 300 (presented adjacent to country label sequences in source figure).

### Notes and data sources (as stated in the figure)
- Panel 1 uses EIOPA data for insurers’ holdings, Arslanalp and Tsuda (2014, update) for total sovereign debt, and European Central Bank data for bank bonds outstanding.
- Panel 2 includes non-euro area European countries and includes bottom-up estimates using data from SNL Financial on selected European life insurance companies between 2008 and 2014 and EIOPA in 2017 for European life and non-life insurance companies.
- Panel 3 includes financial and nonfinancial corporate bonds.
- Panel 4 uses data included in EIOPA’s Financial Stability Report, December 2018.
- In panels 5 and 6, shocks are applied to aggregate sector balance sheets of insurers as of 2018:Q2.
- The horizontal axis in panel 6 shows median solvency capital ratios for each country.
- Data labels in the figure use International Organization for Standardization (ISO) country codes.
- See Online Annex 1.1 for a detailed explanation.

*Sources: Arslanalp and Tsuda 2014, update; European Central Bank; European Insurance and Occupational Pension Authority (EIOPA); Haver Analytics; SNL Financial; and IMF staff estimates.*

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_Source: https://www.imf.org/-/media/files/publications/gfsr/2019/april/english/ch1data/charts/figure1-18.pdf_