The Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway reports lower investment income and a reduced combined ratio for non-life insurers in the first half of 2025

The Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway published its first-half 2025 results report for insurance undertakings and pension funds, showing that weaker investment income led to lower returns for life insurers and pension institutions and reduced pre-tax results for non-life insurers, even as underwriting performance improved. For life insurers, negative valuation changes on equities were the main driver of lower investment income. Annualised returns in the collective portfolio fell to 6% from 7.6%, while returns in the investment choice portfolio declined to 10% from 18.8%. Fixed-income securities measured at amortised cost remained the largest share of collective portfolio investments, while the equity share increased by 4 percentage points from end-2024 to 26% as of 30 June 2025. Pension funds’ annualised collective portfolio returns fell to 7.6% from 11.2%, with private pension funds down to 7.4% from 12.3% and municipal pension funds down to 7.7% from 10.0%. Pension funds’ equity share in the collective portfolio was 42% as of 30 June 2025, broadly unchanged from end-2024. For non-life insurers, pre-tax results fell to 12.1% of insurance income from 22.1% due to lower investment income, while the insurance operations result improved from 6.5 to 12.6. The combined ratio fell to 88% from 94%, driven entirely by a lower claims ratio, and fixed-income securities measured at fair value accounted for 73% of total investments, unchanged from end-2024.