Archive

  • More than 10% of bonds held by German insurers downgraded in 2020

    21 April 2021

    Frank Grund says one-third of bonds still on negative ratings watch

  • Insurers' GA - cost or opportunity for affiliated asset managers?

    14 April 2021

    Unlike banks, insurers enjoy a close relationship with their affiliated asset managers, to the point that an insurer's CIO can also be the manager's CEO. Although not prohibited by law, this arrangement raises ethical concerns - ones that regulators are well aware of. Vincent Huck reports

  • BaFin warns of "significantly" more painful 2021 for German CIOs

    16 March 2021

    Frank Grund foresees commercial property- and credit-risks on horizon

  • German life firms risk capital inadequacy, Frank Grund warns

    25 February 2021

    BaFin's top insurance regulator predicts more insurers will face "intensive supervision" from COVID-19

  • Interview with BaFin director of insurance and pension funds supervision Frank Grund

    04 January 2021

    He spoke with Insurance Asset Risk's David Walker about ESG, low interest rates and supervising an industry through a pandemic

  • BaFin's Frank Grund rebuffs risk of instrumentalising ESG

    29 December 2020

    Germany's top insurance regulator calls sustainability "social and cross-generational topic"

  • Germany's ZZR remains a conundrum for insurers

    29 December 2020

    Calculating pay-ins in Germany's Zinszusatzreserve (ZZR) was overhauled in 2018 to reduce pressure on German insurers to build the reserve too quickly by selling valuable investments just to satisfy mandatory contributions. Has the reform been just a 'one-year wonder'? David Walker investigates

  • German insurers could be even greener if proportionality is applied better

    04 November 2020

    GDV paper on Solvency II concept will be published this week

  • BaFin praises sustainability taxonomy for undermining greenwashing "ploys"

    17 August 2020

    Taxonomy is making it harder to falsely market green investment products

  • Regulators have the sustainability power

    12 August 2020

    JP Morgan Asset Management and Insurance Asset Risk have joined forces to understand what lies under the bonnet of insurers' responsible investment announcements. Findings were compiled in a report. We present some of the key high- level discoveries, with part one focusing on regulation. Vincent Huck reports