(Bloomberg) – British insurers have been left reeling after the country's surprise decision to exit the European Union jeopardized the value of at least $2.6 trillion of their investments.

Aviva Plc and Legal & General Group Plc, the U.K.'s largest managers of pension assets, tumbled more than 15% in London trading on Friday, helping to erase almost 14 billion pounds ($19 billion) from the industry's market value. Prudential Plc, which generates most of its earnings outside the U.K., was down 8%.

"Insurers are highly sensitive to the U.K. vote to leave the EU because of their sizable investments in financial assets," Charles Graham, a senior industry analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence in London, wrote in a report. They "held 1.9 trillion pounds of assets at the end of 2014, most of them held by long-term savings providers" and are held domestically, he said.

Want to continue reading?
Become a Free PropertyCasualty360 Digital Reader

Your access to unlimited PropertyCasualty360 content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:

  • Breaking insurance news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
  • Weekly Insurance Speak podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
  • Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
  • Critical converage of the employee benefits and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, BenefitsPRO and ThinkAdvisor
NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.

Agency Management
Commercial Lines
E&S/Specialty
Personal Lines
Reinsurance
Workers' Comp