The results of the tests highlight potential vulnerabilities in the sector and foreshadow eagerly-anticipated stress test results - expected this month - for the continent's banking sector, when groups that fail will be named and shamed.
One in ten European insurance companies failed to cope with a series of damaging financial market and economic shocks under stress tests carried out in recent weeks.
However, European regulators said the industry’s finances were robust overall and that a shock applied to sovereign bond yields in Europe would cause problems for just 5 per cent of companies.
They did not test for a default by Greece or any other peripheral country.
A number of insurers, such as Aegon, Axa and Generali, have come under pressure in the markets, particularly in the credit derivatives markets that were a leading indicator of financial weakness among banks during the crisis. But most have relatively small exposures to bonds from weaker countries, especially compared with that held by some banks.
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