Life segment investments
| (€ million) | 31/12/2018 | Impact (%) | 31/12/2017 | Impact (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Equity instruments | 12,820 | 4.3% | 11,980 | 4.0% |
| Fixed income instruments | 266,502 | 88.5% | 268,895 | 88.7% |
| Bonds | 242,903 | 80.7% | 245,326 | 80.9% |
| Other fixed income instruments | 23,599 | 7.8% | 23,569 | 7.8% |
| Land and buildings (investment properties) | 8,827 | 2.9% | 8,752 | 2.9% |
| Other investments | 6,673 | 2.2% | 5,476 | 1.8% |
| Investments in subsidiaries, associated companies and joint ventures | 5,447 | 1.8% | 3,858 | 1.3% |
| Derivatives | 524 | 0.2% | 887 | 0.3% |
| Other investments | 702 | 0.2% | 730 | 0.2% |
| Cash and cash equivalents | 6,180 | 2.1% | 8,083 | 2.7% |
| General accounts investments | 301,002 | 100.0% | 303,186 | 100.0% |
| Investment back to unit and index-linked policies | 65,789 | 67,741 | ||
| Total investments | 366,791 | 370,927 |
At 31 December 2018, total investments in the Life segment showed a slight 1.1% decrease over 31 December 2017, amounting to € 366,791 million. General accounts investments amounted to € 301,002 million (-0.7%), while the investments back to unit/index-linked policies amounted to € 65,789 million (-2.9%).
The exposure in absolute terms to fixed income instruments decreased slightly, standing at € 266,502 million (€ 268,895 million at 31 December 2017), with a weight to total remaining essentially stable (from 88.7% to 88.5%), while exposure to equity instruments increased to € 12,820 million (€ 11,980 million at 31 December 2017). Investment properties of the Group did not substantially change, standing at € 8,827 million (€ 8,752 million at 31 December 2017). Finally, cash and other cash equivalents declined both in absolute terms and in relative terms, which stood at 2.1% (2.7% at 31 December 2017).
With reference to the bond portfolio breakdown, exposure to government bonds was slightly up, standing at € 142,144 million (€ 139,846 million at 31 December 2017), with a weight to bond portfolio equal to 53.3% (52.0% at 31 December 2017). The change in the period was due to purchases made in the period only partially offset by the reduction in value, mainly attributable to Italian government bonds.
The corporate bonds instead decreased to € 100,758 million (€ 105,479 million at 31 December 2017), with a relative weight of 37.8% (39.2% at 31 December 2017). The trend was mainly attributable to the fair value decrease in stock of the securities in the portfolio, caused by spreads. The average duration of the bond portfolio was 8.4 years (8.8 years at 31 December 2017), in line with the Group’s ALM strategy.
Life segment return on investments
| 31/12/2018 | 31/12/2017 | |
|---|---|---|
| Current profitability (*) | 3.1% | 3.2% |
| Harvesting rate | -0.1% | 0.6% |
| Profitability of the income statement | 2.9% | 3.4% |
(*) Net of depreciations.
The net current return on investments in the Life segment posted a modest decline, falling from 3.2% at 31 December 2017 to 3.1% with the relative income decreasing to € 9,489 million (€ 9,678 million at 31 December 2017).
The contribution to the result of the period from the harvesting transactions stood at -0.1% (0.6 at 31 December 2017), due to a greater impact of the impairment losses and a more prudent harvesting policy.