Premium payments to life and pension insurance increased by SEK 23bn in Q2 2024, representing a 32 per cent increase compared to the same period last year, Swedish insurance and occupational pensions association, Svensk Försäkring, has revealed.

The group said that the increase was primarily driven by the fact that premium payments for occupational pensions, which have been mediated via the election centre, have increased sharply, while premium payments to private endowment insurance have also increased.

It also pointed out that occupational pensions via election centres have increased more than usual in some of the last quarters, partly due to the fact that premiums that were previously mediated annually have been transferred to quarterly or monthly in a couple of agreement areas.

Indeed, according to the data, premiums paid to occupational pensions via election centres increased by almost SEK 12bn, a 63 per cent increase compared with the same quarter last year.

For occupational pensions outside the election centre, contributions increased by just over SEK 2bn, or 12 per cent, while premium payments to private endowment insurance increased by just over SEK 8bn, marking a 28 per cent increase on Q2 2023.

This also means that it is the second quarter in a row that payments to private endowment insurance increase after a period of negative development.

In addition to this, Svensk Försäkring pointed out that the provision for occupational pensions has increased for most municipal and regional employees.

Commenting on the latest data, Svensk Försäkring statistician, Linda Wahlman, explained: "The increased provision and the fact that both annual premiums and monthly or quarterly premiums have been mediated in one and the same quarter all together mean that we have seen higher rates of increase recently.”

In total, over the past four quarters, premium payments to competitive insurance policies in pension and life insurance amounted to SEK 358bn, of which contributions to occupational pensions accounted for 56 per cent, around SEK 200bn, of premium payments.

Payments to private endowment insurance accounted for SEK 14bn, corresponding to 41 per cent of the premiums paid, while the remaining SEK 11bn consisted of premiums for private pension insurance and other life insurance, such as premium waiver insurance, group life insurance and certain health insurance.

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