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Friends Life CIO values his investment banking skills
13 April 2015At Friends Life Robert Groves has brought an innovative approach to the role of CIO from his previous career in banking. Right now his biggest challenges are ensuring Friends Life's assets are eligible for the matching adjustment and sourcing higher-yielding investments, as Sarfraz Thind explains
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Insurers see the gold in green
09 April 2015Green bonds are looking increasingly attractive to insurance companies which want to meet their risk and return objectives while producing a positive environmental or social impact. But there are concerns about the definition and capacity of the market, as Mark Nicholls explains
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Navigating the hard realities of policy divergence
31 March 2015The European Central Bank (ECB) unleashing quantitative easing just as the US Federal Reserve sits at the cusp of tightening is causing global currency spasms and market angst. Iain Stealy describes how insurance companies investing in bonds might react to these developments
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Insurers stick with bonds despite ECB buying spree
26 March 2015The launch of QE has sent bond yields tumbling but duration mismatches and capital charges on alternatives discourage reallocation, explains Hugo Coelho
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How insurers can make fixed income work harder
18 March 2015Diversifying portfolios into new sectors and markets within fixed income is just one approach that can help insurance companies squeeze out better returns in an environment dominated by low yields and tighter capital demands from regulators, argues Euan MacLaren
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European insurers should not settle for less than nothing
12 March 2015Moving along the yield curve may offer increased yield and dramatically expand the universe of investible instruments for insurers, Eugene Dimitriou and Michael Story explain.
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Asset diversification gains in popularity among insurers
05 March 2015The benefits of diversification under Solvency II are becoming clearer. But should insurers try to reap these benefits with in-house solutions or the help of external multi-asset funds? Sarfraz Thind reports
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Solvency II data requirements have global implications
25 February 2015The last-minute rush to comply with the impending new EU regulatory framework has drawn in insurers and asset managers outside Europe as these firms hasten to revamp their data management, governance and monitoring systems. John Legrand explains
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Insurers still face barriers to investing in infrastructure debt
17 February 2015Standardised reporting, documentation and benchmarks, coupled with credit enhancements and more flexible regulation, would make this asset class more attractive, argues Patrick Liedtke
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Insurers juggle the attractions and drawbacks of illiquid assets
12 February 2015With quantitative easing reducing the chance of any rise in interest rates soon, insurers are even more interested in higher-yielding illiquid assets to bolster their paltry returns from fixed-income, but Solvency II capital charges remain a problem. Sarfraz Thind reports