The value-at-risk conception is becoming a more and more global standard for the measurement and control of the market risk of banks active in trading, paying special consideration to the use of derivative instruments. Therefore, it seems a timely question if and under which conditions a corresponding application of this concept might be possible within the framework of risk control of the asset portfolio of an insurance company.In order to get an answer to this question the present paper first develops the basic conception of the value-at-risk approach. The structural parallelity of the risk-theoretical approach to solvency control is emphasised. Next, the applications in the case of banking institutions (capital requirements, risk limits, risk-adjusted performance control) as well as the bank-specific realisation of the VaR-conception are discussed. These considerations form the basis to show the difference in the case of insurance companies and to draw conclusions regarding the specific necessities implementing the VaR-conception for insurance companies. The main differences must be seen in the motivation of holding the financial assets (not for trading purposes) for investment and risk-management only), the term of the relevant time horizon, the relevant categories of value (balance sheet and book values, not only market values) as well as in the specific asset/liability context of insurance companies.