Analysis

  • Folksam CIO: "There is simply no reason not to continue investing in green bonds"

    29 September 2017

    Michael Kjeller, chief investment officer of Swedish pensions and insurance provider Folksam, discusses his firm's decision to raise its target for green bond investment

  • Insurers target improved ALM and private assets to enhance investment profits

    27 September 2017

    Blackrock's 2017 Global Insurance Survey reveals some telling figures regarding insurers' attitudes towards the role of the investment function, and how they plan to manipulate their activities to improve profitability. Asa Gibson reports

  • New tools for understanding the impact of investment decisions on capital

    22 September 2017

    Insurers are under increasing pressure to manage the sensitivity of solvency ratios to their asset mix, but even sophisticated internal models may not be up to this task. Steven Morrison describes an alternative approach using proxy modelling

  • Size does matter when evaluating core fixed income returns

    13 September 2017

    Scott Skowronski explores how core fixed income strategies are far from a commoditised space, and how the size of the asset manager has an influence on returns

  • Q&A: Why Swiss Re chose ESG benchmarks

    08 September 2017

    The group's chief investment officer, Guido Fürer, explains why he feels that adopting the ESG benchmarks has been the most meaningful and strategic step in its journey to integrate ESG considerations

  • The calm before the storm: 'Investors should be worried'

    06 September 2017

    Some investors and analysts have been surprised by the calmness of financial markets at a time of political and economic uncertainty. Sarfraz Thind talks to seven senior investment professionals working with insurance assets about their prognosis for the future.

  • Between a rock and a hard place: Japan's life insurers must invest wisely

    30 August 2017

    With negative-yielding domestic bonds, a back book with high return guarantees and a prudential solvency regulation on the horizon, Japanese life insurers are caught between a rock and a hard place. David Turner reports.

  • 'A new breed of strategically positioned CIOs is emerging'

    18 August 2017

    Former CRO at Police Mutual, non-executive director and independent risk management advisor Vicky Kubitscheck discusses the evolving role of the investment function and the CIO against a changing regulatory and governance landscape.

  • M&A: tipping the scales

    09 August 2017

    With a squeeze on fees and increased competition, the asset management world is realising the need for scale. Insurers have already started on the M&A trail, but there appears to be much more on the way. Sarfraz Thind reports

  • End of the road for ground rents?

    03 August 2017

    Ground rents were talked up as a great diversifier for insurers, with stable and very long term cashflows, but the UK government's consultation paper and media scrutiny in the past week may be a death knell for the asset class. Asa Gibson reports