The insurance intermediation sector in the EU
In almost all of the 20 EU Member States for which there exists detailed information on the relative importance of different insurance distribution channels, insurance intermediaries (agents, brokers, bancassurance and other non-direct sales distribution channels) are a very important channel, in all cases accounting for more than 50% of all premiums (life and non-life):
- Overall, in this group of 20 Member States, intermediaries accounted for slightly more than 80% of all insurance premiums (life and non-life) collected in 2008 (see Table 2)
- In 7 of these 20 Member States, intermediaries accounted for 80% or more of all insurance premiums.
- Moreover, in none of these Member States is the intermediaries’ share of total premiums (life and non-life) smaller than 50%.
In terms of the split between life and non-life insurance premiums, the intermediary channel in the group of 20 Member States is equally important in the life and non-life sectors, accounting in each for about 81% of total premiums.
However, as shown in the Figure 2, the relative importance of intermediaries in the life and non-life sectors varies markedly across the EU27.
- The intermediaries’ market share in life is larger than in non-life in Austria, Finland, France, Slovakia and Spain;
- The intermediaries’ market shares in life and non-life are broadly identical in Belgium, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland and United Kingdom;
- The intermediaries’ market share in non-life is markedly larger than in life in Bulgaria, Estonia, Ireland, Malta, Netherlands, Romania and Slovenia.
The relative importance of the agents and brokers’ channels within the intermediary channel varies across Member States.
In the case of life insurance, the agent channel is the most important one in the intermediary channel in 11 Member States (Bulgaria, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain) of the 16 Member States for which detailed information is available. In contrast, the broker channel is the most important one Austria, Belgium, France, Ireland and United Kingdom) (see Table 3);
Agents are also the most important intermediary channel in the case of non-life insurance in 11 Member States (Bulgaria, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain), 10 of which are also Member States where the agent channel is most important intermediary channel for life insurance. In contrast the broker channel is the most important intermediary channel in Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Lithuania and the UK.
Moreover, even if they are the most important intermediary channel for life and on-life insurance in many countries, typically the share of agents channel in the intermediary channel is somewhat smaller in the case of non-life insurance than for life insurance (see Figure 3). The main exception is France where the opposite pattern is observed.
