Analysis

• Goodbye gilts as Solvency II shifts asset allocation

  20 January 2016

  Prompted by Solvency II, some insurers have moved out of government bonds and into swaps and short-dated government or corporate bonds. But the swap-based approach is not without its challenges, as Sarfraz Thind reports

• European high-yield debt and alternatives top J.P. Morgan's investment ideas

  14 January 2016

  Divergent markets are making it difficult for investors to pick an investment theme, but J.P. Morgan has identified some sectors with a brighter future for 2016. Benedicte Gravrand reports

• Why asset managers should care about TAS

  13 January 2016

  Complying with the FRC's technical actuarial standards is ultimately the responsibility of insurers but asset managers can help ensure that the data used in Solvency II calculations meets the TAS, explains Pamela Hellig

• Talanx's CIO Thomas Mann focuses on idiosyncratic risk

  08 January 2016

  Diversification is key to defending your company against the unknowns like the ones that Mann faced during the 2008 crisis. That experience was crucial. "You learn how to protect your assets," he tells Sarfraz Thind

• Lower-carbon companies could command a premium after Paris deal

  23 December 2015

  Mike Fox gauges the impact of the climate agreement on investment decisions

• Generali embarks on more active investment policy

  21 December 2015

  Generali has been seeking to expand its investment horizons in a bid to combat the impact of low European interest rates. But the pace of change is slow and Solvency II's stringent capital rules are partly to blame, as the company's EMEA CIO, Andreas Hoffmann, explains to Sarfraz Thind

• Asset management in the Solvency II transition

  11 December 2015

  Preparing for Solvency II is one thing, but living with it will involve further refinements in how insurers approach asset management, as participants in part one this InsuranceERM/Standard Life Investments roundtable attest

• Insurers' asset management arms target other insurers' assets

  01 December 2015

  Such are the yield and regulatory pressures, insurers are not necessarily deterred by asset managers' links to competing insurers. In fact, shared experience of the insurance business is a plus. And insurers' asset managers are looking further afield for new clients. David Turner reports

• Outsourced or in-house: the great asset management debate

  26 November 2015

  In part 2 of this InsuranceERM/bfinance roundtable, participants discuss their approaches to managing assets in-house and using external asset managers

• Designing asset strategies for the new business environment

  20 November 2015

  Many insurers have been reassessing their investment portfolios in light of low rates and Solvency II. In the first part of this InsuranceERM/bfinance roundtable, participants discuss concerns about diversification and liquidity, and whether they can be opportunistic enough in today's fast-moving markets