Assessing Systemic Risk of the European Insurance Industry

This paper investigates the systemic relevance of the insurance industry. We do it by analysing the systemic contribution of the insurance industry vis-á-vis other industries by applying three measures, namely the linear Granger causality test, conditional value at risk and marginal expected shortfall, to three groups, namely banks, insurers and non-financial companies listed in Europe over the last 14 years. Our evidence suggests that the insurance industry shows i) a persistent systemic relevance over time, ii) it plays a subordinate role in causing systemic risk compared to banks. In addition, iii) we do not find clear evidence on the higher systemic relevance of SIFI insurers compared to non-SIFIs.