Analysis

• Excess liquidity creates opportunities for insurers

  05 August 2015

  Low interest rates have put pressure on the investment portfolios of insurance companies, but exploiting liquidity to invest in alternative assets may help ease this strain, argues George Caffrey.

• Aviva Investors: flexibility and a broad perspective needed in fixed-income investment

  23 July 2015

  Quantitative easing in Europe, renewed risk from Greece and China and a predicted rate rise in the US are all giving fixed-income investors headaches. Spare a thought, then, for Aviva Investors' Colin Purdie, with £96bn of IG credit to oversee. Sarfraz Thind reports on his strategy

• German insurers are big winners from infra charges cut

  14 July 2015

  German firms are likely to benefit most from Eiopa's tentative proposals to reduce the Solvency II capital charges on infrastructure investment, which fell short of the hopes of the industry overall. The changes in the standard formula calibrations may also have implications for users of internal models, as Hugo Coelho reports

• Insurers juggle different approaches to combat low returns

  09 July 2015

  Patpatia's detailed survey of insurer asset management tracks the variety of approaches being used to combat the low-rate environment. Insurers are outsourcing more and expecting a wider range of services from third-party asset managers. Sarfraz Thind sifts through the data

• Investing £25bn in infrastructure not so easy for UK insurers

  29 June 2015

  Increased competition, compressed spreads on debt, construction risk and regulatory charges are just some of the factors that have helped to crimp progress on an ambitious programme of infrastructure investment that six UK insurers committed to in 2013. Mark Nicholls explains

• The bond market isn't a one-way bet

  24 June 2015

  Prepare for a very bumpy ride in the markets over the next few weeks, Kerry Craig advises

• Vermeir: "It took us one and a half years to prepare for infrastructure investing"

  19 June 2015

  Group head of investments at Ageas, Wim Vermeir, talks to Hugo Coelho about the pluses and minuses of investing in infrastructure loans, including proposals to revise the capital charges under the impending Solvency II regime

• LV= spices up traditional investments with commercial mortgages

  11 June 2015

  The vast bulk of LV='s assets are managed externally and produce solid returns but, as it looks for extra yield, the UK's largest friendly society is building up its commercial mortgage investments. Mike Leonard, investment solutions manager, talks to IAR

• Insurers and regulators still at odds over infrastructure investment

  05 June 2015

  Insurers' investment in infrastructure has stalled in the face of legal uncertainties over long-term commitments, proposed Solvency II capital charges that seem too high to the industry and growing competition for infrastructure assets. Sarfraz Thind explains

• Insurers should be nimble and flexible in fixed income

  26 May 2015

  After decades of a bond bull market and six years of central bank liquidity measures, is the fixed-income bubble bursting? Prashant Sharma examines what this would mean for insurers' portfolios, historically heavily weighted towards this asset class?