Analysis

• Private debt blues

  19 July 2017

  Private debt seems the perfect fit for insurance investors with its long-term horizon, better-than-average returns and graspable risk for those used to dealing with fixed income. Yet the regulatory stance on the asset has not been overly clear so far. Sarfraz Thind reports

  

• 'Bring it on': California commissioner bullish on fossil fuel divestment

  14 July 2017

  Commissioner Dave Jones was threatened with legal action from 12 Republican attorney generals who oppose his fossil fuel investments disclosure initiative. The threats appear to have spurred Jones on, however. Callum Tanner reports

  

• SimCorp on the investment technology drive

  12 July 2017

  As insurers push further into the asset management space, investment technology will become ever more critical to business performance. Klaus Holse, CEO of SimCorp, talks to Sarfraz Thind about how the firm is helping insurers grow their investment operations.

  

• MA optimisation: the experience at LV=

  07 July 2017

  The matching adjustment (MA) is a vital element of the Solvency II package to annuity underwriters, but making the most of it is challenging. In this article, James Sharpe, developer of optimisation tool OptiMA, and Ed Rayson of insurer LV=, describe how MA benefits have been improved in practice

  

• Why Aegon, Allianz, Aviva and NN are well prepared for rising rates

  30 June 2017

  Many loans and mortgages offer resilience to interest rate volatility, and with talk of rising rates becoming more frequent – whether through optimism or anticipation – IAR unmasks the largest life insurers' allocations to the lesser-used asset classes. David Walker Reports

  

• Solvency II filings reveal extent of life insurers' illiquid investments

  28 June 2017

  Insurance Risk Data, the data service offered by the publishers of IAR, examined the QRTs of Europe's largest life companies that together run €1trn of investments and found they had allocated €375.7bn to five illiquid asset classes. David Walker reports

  

• Low yields, high cost and underperformance: manager fees under the spotlight

  23 June 2017

  Paying high fees for your asset management is never welcome. In the current low return environment insurers are increasingly having to re-evaluate the charges they pay as fees eat into their profits. And not before time, too. Sarfraz Thind reports

  

• US accounting tweak could see insurers plough into bond ETFs

  07 June 2017

  BlackRock, State Street worked with NAIC to instigate new valuation treatment

  

• Five minutes with: Gjensidige's CIO Erik Ranberg

  31 May 2017

  Norwegian insurer's chief investment officer talks to Insurance Asset Risk about his concerns regarding real rates, a lack of duration in the bond market, regulatory ambiguity, political risk and the need for active management. Asa Gibson reports

  

• 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