The Impact of the Macroeconomic Environment on Insurance Companies

i Abstract: This thesis assesses the impact of economic, institutional and demographic factors on the life and non-life gross written premiums of insurance companies. A dynamic panel data regression using the system generalized method of mo- ments is applied on data of 29 European countries collected by EIOPA covering the period from 2005 to 2013. The results reveal that economic and institutio- nal factors drive both life and non-life insurance industry. On the other hand, we cannot confirm that demographic factors are significant determinants of the growth in GWPs. Subsequently, the hypothesis that there are substantial cross-countries differences among the importance of different macroeconomic determinants on the insurance sector development is explored and confirmed. This work shines new light on the development of the quantitative macro- prudential framework used to determine different economic scenarios affecting insurance companies' balance sheets. Moreover, a broader set of panel data and more variables explaining the growth in insurance sector bring new contributi- ons to the current discussion in academic literature