A growing number of insurers are announcing in recent years new or upgraded sustainable investment strategies. This report looks at what lies under the bonnet of those announcements; what are the drivers behind insurers' sustainable strategies; where do they see opportunities and what are the hurdles to implement such strategies? Is it unanimously accepted across the firm or driven by a few?
This report is based on a global survey of insurers. In total, 53 underwriters responded to an online survey. This was complemented by 14 interviews with chief investment officers and heads of responsible investments at insurance companies of all size and all line of business. Although the majority (70%) of respondents were based in Europe, responses from North America and Asia provided some flavour of geographical differences.
Both the survey responses and the interview comments were anonymised to offer a greater level of frankness in responses.
Answers uncovers the junction insurers have reached and the key question they need to find the answer to: shall we go back to school and learn new skills and how to use new tools, or are we trying to figure out what new products we want to sell?"
Produced by Insurance Asset Risk and sponsored by JP Morgan Asset Management, the report is free to download.
