Domestic Insurance Stress Test
OCTOBER 29, 2021

The Domestic Insurance Stress Test represents the first step by the MFSA’s Financial Stability function to assess the domestic insurance sector resilience to an adverse scenario, triggered by an interest rate shock. Insurance undertakings’ vulnerabilities are assessed from a macro-prudential perspective, complementing other macro- and micro- risk oversight metrics applied within the Authority. In particular, the stress test tool presents a stand-alone assessment of insurance undertakings, assuming no financial support within the group structure or from the parent company. The framework is based on a Grouped t-Copula approach, with a Conditional Value-at-Risk (CoVaR) metric applied to calibrate and shape the scenario. Findings indicate that in a protracted period of extremely low interest rates, the post-stress assets-over-liabilities indicator is negatively impacted. Specifically, this is mainly driven by a surge in technical provisions (liabilities), accompanied by declines incurred within asset classes such as equities and CIUs, which exceed the gains observed on bond prices.