Analysis

  • Solvency II 2020 review: are green capital charges inimical to profitability?

    30 January 2020

    Finding ways to channel institutional investors' capital towards climate change-mitigating projects has become a priority. The European Commission has launched a review of its insurance regulation with a conference in Brussels. There, the question of green supporting capital charges was unavoidable. Vincent Huck reports

  • Curious and curiouser - the strange and painful case of negative yields

    23 January 2020

    Manulife IM investigates what was once only an alternate reality, of negative-yielding debt, for fixed income investors and gives some suggestions as to how investors can solve the problem. Sarfraz Thind reports

  • Comment: Unsustainable fatigue

    16 January 2020

    The WEF global risks report is out! So what? Vincent Huck asks

  • 2020 Asia Outlook: Unthreading the Asian patchwork

    15 January 2020

    Ever a patchwork of underwriting industries, the insurers of Asia will go their own ways when investing in 2020, as demands of performance, new regulation and even mild governmental cajoling come to play in varying degrees in the different jurisdictions. By David Walker

  • US Outlook 2020: an encore for investors

    15 January 2020

    Many had bet on the market staging a final whimper last year before recession. But the talk of a global downturn suddenly vanished in the last few months of 2019. Now investors are looking at the market with rosy spectacles and hoping for more rewards in 2020. Sarfraz Thind reports

  • Rating agencies' 2020 outlook: stable at best

    15 January 2020

    While Moody's and S&P's 2020 outlooks for the European insurance industry differ, both predict challenging times ahead for European underwriters. Vincent Huck reports

  • Asia Pacific: a chief economist perspective

    09 January 2020

    Clarence Wong, chief economist and head of economic research & consulting for Swiss Re in Asia-Pacific, talks to Vincent Huck about the current trends in Asia and why insurers have not yet harnessed the investment opportunities of the Greater Bay Area or the Belt & Road Initiative.

  • South Korean insurers in the low rates storm

    02 January 2020

    Some South Korean insurers are making 1% too little from their investments to cover their promises. David Walker reports on the investment challenges the industry faces, and how it is coping.

  • Conning: Sipping at the top table

    31 December 2019

    Insurance assets are the mine asset managers have been looking to tap into in the last few years. Conning has built out its business to do exactly that, and now takes a place on the top table. Chief executive Woody Bradford explains how. By Sarfraz Thind

  • Which way is the wind blowing in Hong Kong?

    24 December 2019

    In the last few months the narrative has changed in the pearl of Asia, and it is not all down to protests. Indeed, insurers are shifting their focus on what they perceive to be the biggest challenges and opportunities. Vincent Huck reports