Do sustainability attributes play a role for individuals’ decisions regarding unit-linked life insurance? A survey research on German private investors

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to investigate the relevance of sustainable product attributes as compared to ongoing costs and risk–return profiles when individuals choose funds underlying unit-linked life insurances. Regarding sustainability attributes, we focus on the product classification according to the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation as a European regulatory transparency standard, and on sustainable investment strategies. We conduct two choice-based conjoint analyses using a German panel for unit-linked life insurances as well as fund savings plans as a financial product comparison. We estimate the relative importance, part-worth utilities, and the marginal willingness to pay for changes in product attributes. Our results suggest that private investors of unit-linked life insurances value sustainable product attributes and that they result in a slightly higher marginal willingness to pay, but risk–return indicators and especially ongoing costs are currently more relevant. We find further indications that sustainability attributes are less relevant in the setting of a unit-linked life insurance as compared to a fund savings plans setting.