Analysis

• Outsourced or in-house: Zurich's CIO on finding the right balance

  26 April 2017

  Urban Angehrn oversees Zurich Insurance Group's $190bn asset book. With no pure asset management business in the group, he talks to Asa Gibson about selecting managers, deciding when to manage in-house and the importance of responsible investment.

  

• Climate risk: how insurers are failing to join the dots on the investment side

  12 April 2017

  The quantification of climate-related risks is strategically important for insurers in terms of underwriting and investing performance, but the industry is accused of not leveraging its underwriting expertise to benefit its asset allocation strategy. Environmental Finance's Peter Cripps reports

  

• Diversified Growth Funds - manna or mania?

  07 April 2017

  Diversified growth funds promise equity-like returns with fixed income-type capital charges. It certainly looks an interesting proposition for insurers in the current low yield world. But how well do the promises stack up? Sarfraz Thind reports

  

• Alternatives shine for Lloyd's syndicates

  05 April 2017

  Following the insights gleaned on rising manager fees and falling yields for Lloyd's syndicates, David Walker shines light on the well-performing fraction of alternative investments made by the sector in 2015.

  

• The Solvency II mandate race

  29 March 2017

  Solvency II has turbo-boosted the move to insurance asset outsourcing. Asset managers are beefing up their capabilities to win market share—but what can you do to make yourself stand out from the crowd? Sarfraz Thind reports

  

• Wraps - a gift to infrastructure investment?

  24 March 2017

  Insurance 'wraps' can boost the credit rating on infrastructure debt to make the asset more attractive to investors, especially underwriters grappling with Solvency II. Christopher Cundy reports

  

• Yes, no, maybe: the PRA responds to industry's Solvency II reform agenda

  17 March 2017

  The UK regulator has made a point-by-point rebuttal to the Association of British Insurers' agenda for Solvency II reforms and confirmed its priority to review the reporting requirements. Christopher Cundy reports

  

• The insurance asset management gold rush

  15 March 2017

  Enticed by lucrative revenues, insurers are pushing into the asset management business like never before. Insurer-affiliated managers are currently some of the fastest growing in the world. With regulations and low rates driving increased insurer third-party asset outsourcing, the industry is in a prime position to pick up more business. Sarfraz Thind reports

  

• Premiums 4 Good: QBE's unique approach to responsible investment

  10 March 2017

  Insurance Asset Risk this month will feature a number of analysis and thought leaderships on responsible investment. In this article, Tom Herbstein and Andrew Voysey from the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership discuss QBE's initiative that allows its customers to have up to 25% of their premiums invested responsibly.

  

• Insurers need to heed their own ESG experience when investing

  08 March 2017

  Jessica Ground, global head of stewardship at Schroders, argues insurers are a natural fit for ESG investing – if they can harness pricing expertise on the investment side.