Archive

  • The continued lure of equity

    26 May 2017

    Solvency II has punished equity investment with its 39% capital charge. But the SCR restrictions are bringing out a plethora of equity structures designed to appeal to insurers with lower volatility and capital charges. Is this enough to attract new investors? Sarfraz Thind reports

  • Getting the measure of credit downgrade risk

    21 September 2016

    Investors are questioning the impact of credit downgrades on insurers' Solvency II balance sheets. Hugo Coelho investigates how firms are gauging this risk and why they resist putting a figure on it.

  • P&C insurers first to feel the pinch of negative yielding gilts

    11 August 2016

    Life insurers to hold on to long-dated bonds, despite BoE demand

  • Emerging market debt a logical extension for insurers

    26 May 2016

    The key driver for investing in emerging markets is the search for additional yield, and the hard-currency version seems a better fit for insurers' portfolio. But beware of the sovereign risks associated to some countries. Benedicte Gravrand reports