German insurers paid out a record 50 billion euros ($65 billion) in claims in 2013, the GDV industry federation said on Monday. The amount represented an increase of 12 percent over the previous year and was the steepest rise in 25 years, GDV said in a statement.
"The reason for the massive increase in payouts was the unusual number of natural catastrophes," the federation explained. "The summer floods, as well as diverse storms and hailstorms alone caused some 7.0 billion euros worth of damage." At the same time, insurers booked a 3.1-percent rise in premium income to a total 187.2 billion euros last year. The German insurance industry is one of the biggest institutional investors in Europe with a total 1.4 trillion euros in capital investments, GDV said.