The Value of Curiosity
Liane Hirner, CFRO of VIG, has a strong belief in the merits of listening. It is a trait that has helped her navigate the shifts seen in life insurance in recent years, including macro volatility and the advent of trends
While the Hungarian insurance market is seen to grow, life reinsurance activity is still to take off. “Regarding accepted life reinsurance activity (any type of it) is basically not pursued by Hungarian insurers,” says Nagy. “Generally traditional reinsurance schemes are in place, to cover large risks or cumulative risks.”
The Hungarian product mix explains why these kinds of reinsurance are not so common in Hungary. Annuity insurance is rarely sold in the local market while unit-linked products are more widespread than traditional products.
“Overall the unit-linked reserve is more than three times higher than mathematical reserves – this also may be one reason that asset intensive reinsurance is not so common,” Nagy adds.
Despite the lack of activity in this kind of reinsurance, the MNB has been monitoring EIOPA’s reinsurance related work. One area which the MNB has seen some moves in is mass lapse reinsurance.
“Recently some life insurers started to apply mass lapse reinsurance, therefore the MNB pays a greater attention on the adequate treatment of this kind of reinsurance policies, for instance how they are considered regarding Solvency Capital Requirement calculations,” Nagy says. “In this work we mostly rely on the related EIOPA documents, like the Opinion on the use of risk mitigation techniques of mass lapse published in July 2025.”
