Mushroom management Fortis

Keep them in the dark and feed them shit. That was my feeling when I was trying to understand the crisis of the Fortis bank- and insurance company. I have simply not enough information to create – even a start of – an opinion. Below you will find a start of my quest for an overview of the current situation by showing the OECD facts of the major official insurance statistics for all OECD countries.

  • Total number of companies, 2007 (Excel file): Includes all insurance companies licensed or authorised in the reporting country, including professional reinsurers, whether or not these are controlled, but excluding any statutory system of social security administered by the State.
  • Number of life companies, 2007 (Excel file): Life and non-life categories follow the definitions used under national law.
  • Number of non-life companies, 2007 (Excel file): Life and non-life categories follow the definitions used under national law.
  • Number of composite companies, 2007 (Excel file): A composite company is a company which deals with both life and non-life business.
  • Number of reinsurance companies, 2007 (Excel file)
  • Number of employees, 2007 (Excel file): Employees of insurance companies include staff (full-time or part-time) employed in the insurance industry. Employees of intermediaries include brokers or agents and their staffs, excluding intermediaries who may sell insurance but are not directly involved in the insurance industry (e.g. bank managers, solicitors, garage owners).
  • Total gross premiums, 2007 (F) (Excel file): Gross premiums, which represents total insurance premium written in the reporting country, is a major indicator of the importance of insurance industry in the economy of each country.
  • Market share in the OECD, 2007 (F) (Excel file, Life / Non-life): This indicator measures the importance of the national insurance market of each OECD country as compared to the whole OECD insurance market.
  • Density, 2007 (F) (Excel fileTotal density): This indicator is calculated by dividing direct gross premiums by the population and represents the average insurance spending per capita in a given country.
  • Penetration, 2007 (F) (Excel fileTotal penetration): This is the ratio of direct gross premiums to gorss domestic product, which represents the relative importance of the insurance industry in the domestic economy.
  • Life insurance share, 2007 (F) (Excel fileFigure): This is the ratio of gross life insurance premium to total gross premium, which measures the relative importance of life insurance as compared to non-life insurance.
  • Premiums per employee, 2007 (Excel file): This indicator of the relative efficiency of a national insurance inductry is calculated by dividing direct gross premiums by the number of employees in insurance companies.
  • Retention ratio, 2007 (Excel file): This is the ratio of net written premiums to total gross premiums. This ratio represents the proportion of retained business and thus, indirectly, the importance of reinsurance for domestic insurance companies.
  • Ratio of reinsurance accepted, 2007 (Excel file): This is calculated by dividing reinsurance accepted by total gross premiums and provides an indication of the significance of reinsurance accepted in the national insurance market.
  • Market share of foreign-controlled companies and branches/agencies of foreign companies in the domestic market, 2007 (Excel file): Gross premiums basis.
  • Market share of branches/agencies of foreign companies in the domestic market, 2007 (Excel file): Gross premiums basis.