Conning's focus on small and mid-sized insurers has helped it swing a large client share in the US.

The company was particularly occupied with helping many of these smaller insurers get through the volatility of March 2020.

One client, an under-$1bn US property and casualty insurer hired Conning in 2019 to address its overexposure to collateralised mortgage-backed securities (CMBS).

Complicating matters, the CMBS were all non-agency, whose spreads are much more volatile than agency CMBS. The asset manager carefully sold a handful of its client's CMBS during the next several months. But when the pandemic struck, CMBS markets sold off dramatically in March and April 2020, causing the insurer serious concern about the sector's viability. Under Conning's guidance, the client stayed disciplined even as the securities painfully lagged the recovery in the agency CMBS sector for the remainder of the year. Overall, the client broke even on all the CMBS securities sold and now has a more reasonable 15% portfolio exposure to CMBS with an improved average quality of AA and no CMBS securities at risk to downgrade.

Conning was also able to work with another life insurance client to achieve a rating agency upgrade and assisted another to begin incorporating environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing principles in its portfolio.

"Conning believes that a deep understanding of the insurance business is critical in developing customized investment solutions for insurers," said Woody Bradford, chief executive of Conning. "The solutions we develop for our clients reflect our broad investment capabilities combined with our insurance industry experience. We appreciate that the award panel recognizes the value in our approach."