Market insight

• Top Investment Considerations for Insurers in 2026

  Mercer's Top Considerations spotlights insurers' challenges, questions assumptions and maps how investors can adapt to sector shifts and emerging technologies.

  

• Sub-IG infra debt: Exploring risk spectrum for insurers

  Infrastructure debt has moved beyond toll roads to sectors like data centers and battery storage. For insurers, sub-IG infra debt can offer stability, yield and capital efficiency and can help achieve both financial and strategic objectives in today's market.

  

• Insuring the future: The case for diversified private credit

  Europe's insurers are navigating a number of headwinds. Interest rates, inflation and diversification challenges are reshaping asset allocation decisions. Private credit may offer a fresh path forward. However, understanding the opportunities and hurdles is key

  

• Key insights into insurer-focused investment ideas and regulations

  Our latest paper provides insights into three key areas of investment markets; insurer-focused investment ideas; and regulatory updates.

  

• Three reasons insurers should consider real estate debt

  Early 2025 saw property investors shift to risk-on, but uncertainty has led to a risk-off stance. U.S. policy ambiguity adds volatility, likely delaying recovery. Despite this, European real estate debt remains a compelling opportunity for insurers for three key reasons.

  

• What is a CLO?

  CLOs provide an efficient, scalable way of investing in floating-rate loans while offering structural protection that has historically performed well through multiple credit cycles.

  

• STS ABS: Opportunities and expectations for European insurance investment portfolios

  The Simple, Transparent and Standardised asset-backed security (STS ABS) market can offer attractive potential risk-adjusted returns to complement an exposure to high-quality corporate and government bonds.

  

• Infrastructure debt: The long game

  A core asset class for insurance balance sheets throughout the economic cycle.

  

• Portfolio Finance: An Opportunity for Enhanced Spreads Through IG Credit

  Portfolio finance offers a number of potential benefits for insurers seeking to generate enhanced spreads at scale in a growing market.

  

• How insurers can harness prime opportunities within direct lending

  Conditions within the rapidly growing direct lending market have changed in recent times, opening up prime opportunities for insurers at the more conservative end of the spectrum