Insurance Asset Risk Awards 2023 - UK & Europe

Investment team of the year - re/insurer: Wesleyan

Wesleyan's 24-member investment team, comprising fund/property managers, investment analysts, socially responsible investment experts and communications and admin, runs about £8.5bn, and while it acknowledges last year's testing markets, it remains focused on "maximising the long-term investment returns for our members and customers" and "not getting thrown off course by short-term market volatility. When others are selling, we are more likely to be buying for the long-term benefit of our funds and investment clients".

In 2021, assets growing 8% included a near-13% return from its with-profits fund – capping a 114% performance over a decade.

Doing well is complemented by doing good at Wesleyan, including in investing. One charity supporting victims of domestic abuse was afforded concessionary rent terms in Birmingham, for example.

That doesn't mean a 'free ride' for outsourcing partners. Its SFCR notes decisions on trading investment trusts included assessing "costs of management, including remuneration factors", and "any long-term investment underperformance [of a fund], for example from excessive portfolio turnover costs, would be identified as part of ongoing performance monitoring carried out by our investment team. Should this situation arise, the units would be liquidated and reinvested as appropriate".