Analysis

• Dark clouds gather over secondary market for MA assets

  09 January 2017

  The prospect of a secondary market for MA assets has taken a number of blows as comparisons are drawn to the synthetic CDO market. That may be enough for regulators to stop even a small, illiquid market developing. Callum Tanner reports

  

• How to win mandates and influence asset allocation

  04 January 2017

  As the largest institutional investors in Europe, insurers represent a major market for asset managers, but they also bring Solvency II-shaped baggage. In this Q&A, Erik Vynckier breaks down the building blocks to winning the custom of European insurers

  

• The 2017 investment agenda

  30 December 2016

  With 2016 drawing to a close, investors on behalf of insurers can look back on what was a particularly challenging year. They will be keen to steady the ship and step up investment performance in 2017. Asa Gibson reports

  

• New rules to prompt US asset reshuffle

  22 December 2016

  US insurance is on a collision course with one of its biggest risk capital changes in years. It is a significant change for the long-term asset allocation strategy of US insurers and could herald a reshuffle in the fixed income portfolio. Sarfraz Thind reports.

  

• Adapting strategies to the new reality

  19 December 2016

  The arrival of Solvency II has already begun to reshape the relationship between insurers and asset managers, with optional add-ons becoming mandatory deliverables for insurance clientele. David Walker looks at the changing relationship between insurers and their investment partners.

  

• What are the ESG alternatives to renewables and divestment?

  14 December 2016

  Hot on the heels of the FSB's guide to incorporating climate risks in investment decisions, Environmental Finance's Peter Cripps examines some of the alternative strategies being executed by insurers to reduce their exposures to risks stemming from climate change.

  

• Investing in a changing climate

  12 December 2016

  The response by insurers' investment operations to climate change has been branded embarrassing. Environmental Finance's Peter Cripps investigates what the industry can do on the asset side of the balance sheet to mitigate climate change risks in the first of a two-part analysis.

  

• Raising the stakes in fund management

  07 December 2016

  Insurer-affiliated managers are punching above their weight in a competitive market, taking more than one-third of all fund managers' new business in the first three quarters. David Walker examines the evolving relationship between insurer-parents, affiliates and independent managers.

  

• Industry turns up the heat on MA reform

  05 December 2016

  The industry's opportunity to recommend changes to EU regulation in a post-Brexit world has delivered a comprehensive criticism of the MA. David Walker and Asa Gibson report.

  

• Equities and treasuries pumped on Trump

  01 December 2016

  As the dust settles after Donald Trump's surprise election win, investors and economists assess the likely consequences of his administration on financial markets. Asa Gibson reports