We were able to further enlarge the investment portfolio despite the severe turmoil on capital markets. Notwithstanding sometimes appreciable declines in fair value, the positive development of our insurance activities as well as cash inflows from investments – assisted by a modest rally on the part of the US dollar – helped boost our asset holdings by EUR 1.7 billion or 2% to EUR 71.3 billion. This was accompanied by a slight shift in the asset mix: the decrease in the equity portfolio was more than offset by the increase in value of our portfolio of fixed-income securities and loans.
Based on our high diversification of risks within the scope of the investment strategy, the assets held by the Talanx Group broke down as follows as at the balance sheet date:
