Was treibt die Risikobericht­erstattung deutscher Versicherer: Aktuelle Publikation in The Journal of Risk Finance

In ihrem jüngst in The Journal of Risk Finance veröffentlichten Beitrag widmen sich Felix Schwartze und Michael Dobler (Professur für BWL, insb. Wirtschaftsprüfung und Steuerlehre) den Determinanten der Berichterstattung von deutschen Versicherungsunternehmen über Risiken und deren Management. Anders als bisherige empirische Untersuchungen in der Versicherungsbranche analysieren sie dazu die Risikoberichterstattung in den Solvency and Financial Condition Reports (SFCRs) von überwiegend nicht-kapitalmarktorientierten Versicherern. Die Befunde legen mithin nahe, dass sozio-politische Theorien das Ausmaß der Risikoberichterstattung erklären können und verdeutlichen die Bedeutung von Publizitätsanreizen selbst in einem stark regulierten Umfeld.

Der Beitrag ist als Open Access-Publikation verfügbar:

Schwartze, F. & Dobler, M. (2026). Determinants of narrative risk disclosure in the insurance sector: evidence from German Solvency and Financial Condition Reports. The Journal of Risk Finance, 27(1), 85–107. https://doi.org/10.1108/JRF-04-2024-0106

Abstract:

Purpose – This study aims to provide initial evidence on the determinants of insurers’ narrative risk disclosure in Solvency and Financial Condition Reports (SFCRs) as a new reporting instrument under Solvency II. 
Design/methodology/approach – We investigate the volume of risk disclosure collected from 1,510 solo SFCRs by 302 unique German (non-listed and listed) insurers over the reporting periods 2016–2020. Based on socio-political theories, we hypothesise that risk disclosure volume is positively associated with insurer size and status as a life insurer and negatively associated with the insurer’s solvency ratio and legal form as an insurer governed by public law. 
Findings – Our results support our hypotheses and suggest that socio-political theories explain the variations in risk disclosure volume in SFCRs. The key results remain unaltered when focusing on the disclosure of insurers’ risk profiles and hold for various robustness tests. Additionally, our study provides novel insights into how narrative risk disclosure relates to disclosure regulations and insurers’ institutional characteristics. 
Social implications – Our findings imply that public (social and political) pressure on insurers drives their narrative risk disclosure to the broad public. 
Originality/value – To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to explore the determinants of risk disclosure in SFCRs. By doing so, it enriches the limited research on risk disclosure in the insurance sector and overcomes the shortcomings of prior studies that focus on group-level evidence from the financial reports of listed insurers.