Analysis

• European real estate in 2016: keep calm and carry on

  26 January 2016

  Joe Valente looks at the state of the European real estate market for 2016 and finds it is attractive on a relative basis.

• Alternative credit: is the illiquidity premium sustainable?

  22 January 2016

  Antti Suhonen and Declan Canavan examine the growing alternative credit buzz and the validity of the corresponding illiquidity premiums.

• Aegon targets expansion of asset management division

  21 January 2016

  The investment management division of the Dutch insurer wants to meet the increasing demand for benchmark-agnostic active investment solutions. Benedicte Gravrand reports.

• Goodbye gilts as Solvency II shifts asset allocation

  20 January 2016

  Prompted by Solvency II, some insurers have moved out of government bonds and into swaps and short-dated government or corporate bonds. But the swap-based approach is not without its challenges, as Sarfraz Thind reports

• European high-yield debt and alternatives top J.P. Morgan's investment ideas

  14 January 2016

  Divergent markets are making it difficult for investors to pick an investment theme, but J.P. Morgan has identified some sectors with a brighter future for 2016. Benedicte Gravrand reports

• Why asset managers should care about TAS

  13 January 2016

  Complying with the FRC's technical actuarial standards is ultimately the responsibility of insurers but asset managers can help ensure that the data used in Solvency II calculations meets the TAS, explains Pamela Hellig

• Talanx's CIO Thomas Mann focuses on idiosyncratic risk

  08 January 2016

  Diversification 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

• Lower-carbon companies could command a premium after Paris deal

  23 December 2015

  Mike Fox gauges the impact of the climate agreement on investment decisions

• Generali embarks on more active investment policy

  21 December 2015

  Generali 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

• Asset management in the Solvency II transition

  11 December 2015

  Preparing 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