Investments, shareholders’ equity and underwriting provisions
Investments
A brief presentation of the investments is included in the notes to the consolidated financial statements starting on page 100.
Breakdown of investments 2022
Total investments, including cash and cash equivalents, were EUR 34,399.3 million as of 31 December 2022 (31 December 2021: EUR 37,266.1 million). The decrease compared to the previous year is primarily due to price drops, particularly for fixed-income securities, caused by the interest rate increase.
The investments include property, shares in at equity consolidated companies and all financial assets, using the look-through approach for consolidated special funds, as well as other fund investments allocated to the asset classes. Financial instruments for unit- and index-linked life insurance are not included. In 2022, these decreased by 16.0% from EUR 8,525.3 million in 2021 to EUR 7,164.1 million, mainly due to the difficult situation on the capital markets.
Shareholders’ equity
Shareholders’ equity decreased by 20.8% to EUR 4,434.2 million in 2022 (2021: EUR 5,597.9 million). This development is primarily due to the decrease in unrealised profits and losses from financial assets available for sale – triggered by negative stock market prices as a result of the rising interest rates, particularly with regard to fixed-interest securities. The shareholders’ equity attributable to shareholders decreased accordingly from EUR 5,478.2 million in 2021 to EUR 4,223.8 million in 2022.
Underwriting provisions
A detailed disclosure of underwriting provisions is included in Note 10. Underwriting provisions in the notes to the consolidated financial statements.
Underwriting provisions were EUR 31,987.9 million as of the reporting date 31 December 2022 (2021: EUR 32,546.2 million). This is a decrease of 1.7% over the previous year. Here, the decrease in the provision for premium refunds, which was primarily due to negative price developments for the financial assets, could not be offset by the first-time consolidation of the Aegon companies.