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Talanx's CIO Thomas Mann focuses on idiosyncratic risk
08 January 2016Diversification 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
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Lower-carbon companies could command a premium after Paris deal
23 December 2015Mike Fox gauges the impact of the climate agreement on investment decisions
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Generali embarks on more active investment policy
21 December 2015Generali 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
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Asset management in the Solvency II transition
11 December 2015Preparing 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
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If European securitisation grows, it's likely to be despite EC regulation
17 November 2015Regulation and stasis comes ahead of dynamism and free movement of capital in draft rules from Brussels on securitisation, and there will be a big increase in compliance costs. David Shearer explains
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Insurers need change in mindset to embrace ETFs fully
29 October 2015The attraction of exchange-traded funds to insurance investors is increasing but further growth may be slowed by regulatory worries and resistance from proponents of an active approach to portfolio management. Sarfraz Thind reports
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What asset managers should do about Solvency II
16 October 2015Asset management firms are keen to assist insurers in their solvency capital calculations, but some of their contributions are more helpful than others, as Andries Beukes and Pamela Hellig explain
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Managing illiquid assets needs banking-like skills
16 October 2015In part two of this InsuranceERM/Insurance Asset Risk and Standard Life Investments roundtable on illiquid assets, experts discuss the management capabilities required and how the assets fit into Solvency II
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Smoothing the flow in illiquid assets
09 October 2015Illiquid assets have the potential to boost the yield and diversification of insurers' investments, but they are not a shoo-in to the portfolio, as discussed in part one of this InsuranceERM/Insurance Asset Risk and Standard Life Investments roundtable
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Insurers face up to the asset test of Solvency II
23 September 2015As solvency ratios come under pressure and the introduction of Solvency II with its higher capital charges for some asset classes looms, insurers are taking a hard look at the risk in their asset portfolios, as Sarfraz Thind explains