Phoenix Group's acquisition of ReAssure Group has brought an additional £7bn of long-term cash generation and has enabled it to increase its 2020 cash generation target range from £800m-£900m to £1.5bn-£1.6bn

Aviva chief executive Amanda Blanc has hinted she could pull the insurer out of most of its international markets as she focuses the group on the UK, Ireland and Canada

MetLife's profit slid to $68m in Q2 2020, down 96% from a year earlier, on sluggish investment income, according to its latest financial results

The Talanx Group is further expanding its sustainable investment strategy with a credit-insured project bond of €250m, financing two Spanish solar projects with 50 MW capacity each

56% of insurers see data calculation as the biggest IFRS 9 challenge, a new survey from Clearwater has revealed

Asia Capital Reinsurance Group (ACR), a Singapore-headquartered reinsurance business, has implemented Clearwater for automated investment investment data aggregation, investment accounting and investment reporting

One hundred and forty environmental, indigenous and activist groups, whose signatories represent more than 24 million members, are urging insurers including Lloyd’s of London to drop their coverage of the Trans Mountain tar sands pipeline in an open letter

Allianz has announced a 19% Y-O-Y fall in operating profit for Q2 2020 to €2.6bn

Legal & General has reported a half-year operating profit of £1.13bn, slightly down on the £1.154m posted a year ago

Hastings has agreed to be bought by Finland’s Sampo and South Africa’s Rand Merchant Investment (RMI) in a cash deal valuing it at £1.66bn ($2.2bn)

The number of US life/annuity (L/A) companies considering non-interest-sensitive investment strategies in the last 10 years is more than double those deemed interest-sensitive, AM Best has said

Direct Line has seen its investment return fall by 45.4% between H1 2019 and H1 2020

Luxembourg’s insurance market saw premiums fall by 19.54% during Q2 2020 compared to the same period of the previous fiscal year

Insurance Europe has welcomed the European Commission’s (EC) objectives set out in its roadmap for the Capital Markets Union (CMU) action plan, but highlighted that priorities should remain around addressing regulatory barriers to long-term and sustainable investment

European insurers are calling for free access to credit ratings for internal and regulatory purposes

Shareholders in Cattolica Assicurazioni have approved its conversion into a joint-stock company

AIG’s net adjusted investment income has dropped $537m from a year ago to $3.2bn.

According to its latest financial results, the decrease was as a result of $276m in private-equity losses compared with $238m in private-equity income a year ago

Argo Group’s net investment income decreased 96.5% to $1.5m in Q2 2020, from $42.8m in Q2 2019

Covéa is to invest a total of €1.5bn with Exor and in special purpose reinsurance vehicles managed by PartnerRe

The yield to maturity on Hiscox’s fixed income portfolio is now at its lowest ever point at less than 1%, thus serving to reduce future expected returns

CNP Assurances saw its dividends received in its French arm fall by €283m in H1 2020, causing a €60m reduction in revenue from own-funds portfolios, and requiring €17m (net of hedging) to be set aside in the guaranteed yield reserve

The National Bank of Belgium is urging Belgian credit institutions and (re)insurers to suspend their dividend payments until at least 1 January 2021

Asset concentration risk constrains the ratings of Italian insurers, Fitch Ratings has said, however, this risk is partly offset by strong capitalisation, which is typically a credit strength for rated Italian insurers

The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) has launched its first Single Rulebook

Legal & General has agreed a £100m bulk annuity transaction with the Countrywide Farmers Retirement Benefits Scheme, securing the benefits of 360 deferred members and 712 retirees

Profitability of the investment portfolio is the key risk and challenge in terms of materiality for insurers, EIOPA has said.

The authority conducted a qualitative questionnaire among national competent authorities (NCAs) in order to assess the materiality of risks stemming from the COVID-19 shock to the financial stability of the insurance sector, and found that the solvency position, exposure to banks, underwriting profitability, concentration to domestic sovereign and cyber risk are the other main risks.

Chubb has reported a net loss of $331m in Q2 2020, compared with net income of more than $1.1bn in the same period last year, as net catastrophe losses reached $1.51bn due to COVID-19

AXIS Capital’s net investment income fell from $93m in Q1 2020 to $45m in Q2 2020, primarily as a result of negative returns from credit and real estate funds

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has updated its capital management guidance for banks and insurers, in particular easing restrictions around paying dividends as institutions continue to manage the disruption caused by COVID-19

The surplus for the private US P&C insurance industry dropped by $75.9bn in the first quarter of 2020—its largest-ever quarterly decline—as the stock market suffered a major downturn, according to Verisk and the American Property Casualty Insurance Association (APCIA)

The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has appointed Charlotte Clark as director of regulation, replacing Hugh Savill who is retiring at the end of the year

Hong Kong’s HKD552bn ($66bn) insurance industry is set to grow by just 1.46% in 2020, compared to 6.3% in 2019, due to the economic impact of COVID-19 outbreak

Insurance and reinsurance undertakings should now be in a condition to comply with the deadlines set out in the Solvency II framework, EIOPA has said

Fifty-eight per cent of insurers are unlikely to make external manager terminations based on disappointing 2020 performance, latest data has revealed

MAPFRE’s earnings at the end of June was €271m, 27.7% lower than the result obtained between January and June of the previous year due to the impact of COVID-19

A group of financial sector associations – including Insurance Europe – has written to the European Commission (EC) to warn against proposals to introduce a new definition of “sustainability preferences” across the delegated acts of MIFID II, the Insurance Distribution Directive (IDD) and Solvency II

Thailand's non-life insurance market is expected to contract by 5.6% in 2020, according to GlobalData, as a result of the "severe impact of COVID-19"

French life insurers recorded net inflows of -€0.7bn in June 2020

Beazley achieved strong growth of 12% in H1 2020 with premiums increasing to $1,663.9m (2019: $1,483.6m)

Fifty-one per cent (2,269) of the total number of US insurers (4,482) filing statements with the NAIC reported outsourcing investment management at year-end 2019

China’s banking and insurance regulator, CBIRC, is raising the equity investment cap for insurers to 45%, in an effort to bring more long-term funds into the capital market

SCOR’s total investments reached €28.8bn in H1 2020, up 4.6% on H1 2019 (€27.5bn)

Zurich, the lead insurer for Canada’s controversial Trans Mountain tar sands pipeline, has decided not to renew cover for the project

Fifteen per cent of insurers in the Americas have increased their allocations to municipal bonds and 25% increased allocations to investment grade (IG) credit, as COVID-19 continues to influence investment strategies and asset class allocations

WR Berkeley has taken a defensive position to enhance its liquidity by investing in high-quality shorter-term assets, including cash and cash equivalents

The Insurance and Reinsurance Stakeholder Group (IRSG) has elected Michaela Koller (Insurance Europe) as chair and Paul Fox (Finance Watch) as vice chair

Skandia’s life insurance arm saw a drop in AUM from SEK 508bn to SEK 492bn in H1 2020

The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) has published a supervisory statement on the Solvency II recognition of schemes based on reinsurance with regard to COVID-19 and credit insurance

The largest share of these losses is attributable to cover for major events, with a lower impact reported in life and health business as well as other lines of property-casualty insurance, including business interruption

The National Association of Insurance Commissioner’s (NAIC) executive committee has created a new task force focused on climate and resiliency

Jackson National Life Insurance Company has announced the completion of a $500m equity investment from Athene, in return for a 9.9% voting interest corresponding to a 11.1% economic interest in Jackson

ETF usage among insurers in Europe has increased by 13% since 2019

The European insurance industry is again calling for an increase in the supply of long-term sustainable assets to meet the needs of institutional investors, and has emphasised the need for carbon pricing to reduce emissions and to make green projects more financeable

Insurers’ total investments have increased (per quarter) on average by 1.15% while fixed income assets have increased on average by 0.91% in the last 15 quarters (last observation Q4 2019), according to latest figures published by EIOPA

The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) has highlighted the need for ensuring high-quality and user-friendly sustainability data as part of its response to the EC's consultation on a renewed sustainable finance strategy

EIOPA has calculated the ultimate forward rate (UFR) for 2021 in accordance with the methodology to derive the UFR

Nippon Life has begun impact investing, with a $20m investment in a private equity fund which seeks to generate competitive financial returns at the same time as creating and measuring environmental and societal impact while contributing to the achievement of the United Nations’ SDGs

US insurers increased their private equity holdings by 10% YoY to $81bn in 2019, AM Best has said

France’s financial regualtor L’Autorité de contrôle prudentiel et de résolution (ACPR) is urging the country’s largest insurers to split the roles of chairman and chief executive in order to improve governance and therefore reduce risks

The German Insurance Assocation (GDV) has questioned an investigation by the Federation of Insured Persons (BdV) into the position of German life insurers, as “not adequately justified” and “non-transparent”

Former CEO of Monte dei Paschi di Siena, Marco Morelli, has been appointed executive chairman of AXA IM and a member of AXA’s management committee

AM Best has assigned a negative market segment outlook to Chile’s insurance industry, citing contractions of premium volume, limited financial flexibility and regulatory changes that have diminished the attractiveness and profitability of the health and annuity segments, all of which are being exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic

Storebrand has recorded a group profit of NOK 808m in Q2 2020, a 40% growth YOY, its latest results have shown

MetLife has become the first US life insurer to adopt a policy restricting investments in coal, however campaigners from Insure Our Future argue the policy goes nowhere near far enough

Prolonged lockdown scenarios, a severe second wave of COVID-19, or fiscal policies that prove ineffective in insulating economies could lead to a permanent loss of production and additional financial market dislocations which could in turn weaken insurers’ asset portfolios and capital positions more severely than seen to date

Chinese insurance institutions should increase their investment in medium and long-term corporate bonds to help accelrate economic recovery folllowing COVID-19, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) has said

NN Group and Aegon have both seen their Solvency II (SII) ratios negatively impacted as a result of the Dutch regulator’s (DNB) decision to revise the required approach to calculating the SII ratio for an insurance-led Financial Conglomerate (FICO)

Insurance supervisors should “strengthen their efforts” in facilitating insurers to transition away from LIBOR, the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) has said

The ABI has confirmed both its board chair Jon Dye, chief executive, Allianz Insurance, and deputy chair Julian Adams, director, public policy and regulation, M&G have agreed to extend their current roles to serve the full two year term, ending summer 2021

Germany’s non-life insurance sector has had its outlook maintained at stable by AM Best, partly due to the industry’s conservative investment portfolios limiting exposure to COVID-19-driven financial market volatility

Global life insurance premiums are expected to contract by 6% in 2020 and non-life premiums by 0.1% due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Swiss Re has said, before volumes recover to pre-COVID-19 crisis levels in 2021

Scandinavian insurance company Tryg has seen its SCR fall by approximately DKK 400m in Q2 driven by the FSA approval of the new partial internal model

Prudential Retirement, part of Prudential Financial, closed $1.7bn in new longevity reinsurance transactions during the first half of the year

Total deposits among life and non-life Italian insurers and EEA insurance undertakings operating in Italy amounted to €149.9bn in 2019, an increase of 3.4% compared to 2018, Italy’s Institute for Insurance Supervision, IVASS, has said

AXA XL has appointed Sean McGovern as CEO UK & Lloyd’s market subject to regulatory approval

The European insurance industry supports the EC’s sustainability objectives and generally welcomes the amendments to integrate sustainability into insurers’ prudential framework and sales processes, Insurance Europe has said

France’s top ten insurers largely depend on the life insurance sector for their premiums, generating 84% of their business from this area, according to GlobalData, leaving them exposed to high claims as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic

CNP Assurances has adopted a definitive plan to exit thermal coal in its investment portfolio by 2030 in the EU and OECD countries, and by 2040 in the rest of the world

The matching adjustment (MA) has functioned as intended thus far throughout the COVID-19 crisis, the PRA has said, but areas remain where clarifications are needed to ensure consistency in firms’ interpretation of the regulator’s policy

Improvements to Solvency II are needed if investment is to be encouraged, particularly in SMEs, Insurance Europe has said

Aviva has announced the appointment of Amanda Blanc as chief executive officer with immediate effect

US insurers’ cash and invested assets reached $6.99trn at year-end 2019, an increase of 6.9% to year-end 2018

French insurers have made a commitment to the public authorities to support the country’s economy affected by the health crisis and have decided to set up a €1.5bn investment programme with Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations

Lloyds Banking Group general insurance and protection director Craig Thornton has been appointed as the new chair of the ABI’s General Insurance Council (GIC)

The European Commission (EC) has launched a consultation on the review of the EU’s prudential rules for insurance and reinsurance companies (the so-called ‘Solvency II Directive’) with the aim of publishing reforms in summer 2021

The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA), together with the Financial Supervisory Authority of Romania (ASF), have announced the start of the balance sheet review of the Romanian insurance sector in the second semester of 2020

PRA-regulated firms should have fully embedded their approaches to managing climate-related financial risks by the end of 2021, deputy governor for prudential regulation and CEO of the PRA Sam Woods has said

MAPFRE AM, the asset management arm of Spain's largest insurance group, and Global Social Impact Investments SGIIC (GSI) are joining forces to launch the Global Social Impact Fund (GSIF)

Willis Towers Watson’s Willis Pension Scheme has entered a longevity swap deal with Munich Re to manage longevity risk in relation to £1bn of pensioner liabilities

CNP Assurances has successfully placed €750m worth of notes due 30 June 2051 and paying interest at 2.5% until 30 June 2031. The notes qualify as Tier 2 capital under Solvency II

An “urgent need for clarity” is needed on how EIOPA’s Solvency II (SII) risk-free rates (RFR) will be amended to reflect the transition away from IBOR rates, Insurance Europe has said

Rothesay Life has insured the pensioner liabilities of IPC Media Pension Scheme through a £290m pensioner buy-in, which was completed in May 2020

Seventy-eight per cent of insurers are confident their asset managers can navigate the current financial crisis caused by COVID-19, according to a survey published by State Street Corporation

Generali is to issue a green bond of up to €600m ($674.6m) and buy back some notes in a move that will lower interest expenses on its debt

US insurance companies for a fourth-straight year increased their private equity holdings—by nearly 10% in 2019 to $81.3bn, according to AM Best

The Hartford has appointed Amy Stepnowski to the position of chief investment officer of and president of Hartford Investment Management Company (HIMCO) effective 1 August

Gefion Insurance is entering liquidation following the Danish Financial Supervisory Aiuthority’s (DFSA) refusal to grant it an extension of three months of recovery period concerning its solvency capital requirement (SCR)

Natixis and La Banque Postale have signed an agreement to combine their fixed-income and insurance-related asset management businesses, creating a European leader with over €415bn in assets under management for large institutional clients.

UK pension superfunds could encroach on life insurers' bulk purchase annuity (BPA) market, Fitch Ratings has said

Insurer Talanx has dropped support for Canada’s controversial Trans Mountain pipeline while Munich Re’s support is in doubt after it unveiled a new tar sands policy earlier this year, emails to Canadian NGO Stand.earth have revealed

(Re)insurance market dynamics including increased pricing, years of accumulating catastrophic losses, investment market losses and the significant losses expected from the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic have led to reinsurers’ push for further price increases, Fitch Ratings has said

The Norwegian Financial Supervisory Authority (NFSA) has notified Insr Insurance Group ASA that it is considering making a decision to revoke the company's license to conduct non-life insurance business

Taiwan’s general insurance industry is expected to contract by 1.7% in 2020 for the first time since the global financial crisis of 2008-2009, according to GlobalData

High common stock leverage among each of Japan’s major non-life insurers brings systematic equity price risk into greater consideration, given the current COVID-19-driven stock market volatility, according to an AM Best special report

US life/annuity (L/A) insurance companies continued to increase their exposures to commercial mortgage loans in 2019 and now hold more than $522bn, up significantly from $382bn in 2015, according to a new AM Best special report

NN Group has recorded an Solvency II ratio of around 227% at the end of May 2020 and its “conservative asset mix heavily geared to high quality government bonds” means it has low sensitivity to interest rate and credit spread risks

The Solvency II (SII) regime is “unnecessarily conservative” and a “net reduction in aggregate capital levels is justified”, Insurance Europe has said in a submission to the EC, setting out its views on the holistic impact assessment exercise carried out by EIOPA between March and June 2020 to inform its technical advice on the 2020 review of the SII regulatory framework

Lemonade has commenced the initial public offering of its common stock

Generali Group has agreed to buy a 24.4% stake in Cattolica Assicurazioni in a move that will boost Cattolica’s capital position amid the coronavirus crisis, the two firms announced today

The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) has today issued amendments to IFRS 17 Insurance Contracts aimed at helping companies implement the standard and making it easier for them to explain their financial performance.

The UK government is planning to bring forward a review of certain features of Solvency II (SII) to ensure that it is “properly tailored to take account of the structural features of the UK insurance sector” and expects to publish a call for evidence in Autumn 2020

Macquarie Infrastructure Debt Investment Solutions (MIDIS) has raised £2.7bn in commitments from predominantly UK corporate pension schemes, local authority pension schemes and insurance companies in the latest round of fundraising for its UK infrastructure debt strategy

The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) has published its second Discussion Paper on Methodological Principles of Insurance Stress Testing

Kommunal Landspensjonskasse (KLP) has sold its wholly-owned pensions subsidiary, KLP Bedriftspensjon AS, to DNB Livforsikring AS, the bank’s life insurance arm for an undisclosed amount

Eighty per cent of institutional investors in Germany now use sustainable strategies in their investment activities – the highest level ever recorded, a survey published by Union Investment has shown

Phoenix Group has appointed Michael Eakins from ReAssure into the newly created role of chief investment officer, subject to regulatory approval and completion of the ReAssure acquisition

Travelers grew gross written premiums in its global renewable energy practice by nearly 30% year over year, its 2019 Sustainability Report has shown

MetLife has become the first US-based life insurer to join the United Nations Global Compact, the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiative

Worldwide regulated open-ended fund assets decreased by 10.8 per cent to €47.1trn in the first quarter (Q1) of 2020, the European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA) has revealed

Spanish insurance company MAPFRE has announced an investment of €250m in private equity through a new co-investment fund for institutional investors

Global insurers are still accessing debt capital markets at favourable coupon rates, despite higher credit spreads triggered by the COVID-19-induced recession, and around $140bn (or 20% of total outstanding debt) is coming for call or maturity by 31 December 2021, S&P Global Ratings (S&P) has said.

Former executive director and chief financial officer of RSA Ireland Insurance DAC (RSAII), Rory O'Connor has been disqualified for 8 years 4 months and fined €70,000 by the Central Bank of Ireland for his admitted participation in a breach of financial services law by RSAII

The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged international insurance company AmTrust Financial Services and its former CFO Ronald E. Pipoly Jr. with failing to disclose material facts about how the company estimated its insurance losses and reserves. They have agreed to pay a combined $10.5m to settle the SEC’s charges

US insurance companies will have to boost the capital held against their CLO holdings to $384m from $145m if rating agencies go ahead with a one-notch cut, UBS has said

Metropolitan Tower Life Insurance Company, a subsidiary of MetLife, has completed its first UK longevity reinsurance transaction with PIC

Fidelis has announced the closing of its offering of $300m aggregate principal amount of 4.875% senior notes due 2030

Forty-six per cent of insurance firms have cited climate change as a key risk, significantly up from 18% last year, a new LCP report has revealed

Prudential has reached agreement with Athene, a leading retirement services company, for its subsidiary Athene Life Re to invest $500m in Prudential’s US business in return for an 11.1% economic interest for which the voting interest is 9.9%

The life insurance industry in Japan is expected to contract by 1% in 2020, as compared to 2% growth registered in 2019, according to GlobalData

Italian insurers lost 25 points from their solvency ratios in Q1, Italy’s insurance watchdog IVASS has said

The UK insurance sector was robust to downside stresses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic during April, the PRA has said, with the highest uncertainty centred on certain general insurers’ liabilities

Just a quarter of leading insurance companies have committed to a 1.5°C global warming target according to Unfriend Coal research

Insurers and other pension risk transfer (PRT) providers are "ready" to invest up to £190bn of pension money into UK infrastructure over the next decade, analysis by Legal & General (L&G) has founD

The US life/annuity (L/A) insurance industry saw pre-tax operating income rise by 34% in 2019 to $63.4bn, driven by a decline in transaction-driven volatility compared with previous years and favourable equity markets for the year, according to a new AM Best report

Schroders has announced the promotion of Andy Howard to the position of global head of sustainable investment, taking on the leadership of the sustainable investment team

Fitch Ratings took negative rating actions on 34% of rated EMEA insurance groups (including reinsurers) as a result of the portfolio review it carried out between 19 March and 2 June 2020 in light of the coronavirus pandemic

Legal & General (L&G) is planning to issue restricted tier 1 debt in order to "capitalise on favourable market conditions", it stated today

India’s general insurance industry is set to grow by 4.0% in 2020, compared to the 10% in 2019, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company

Specialist global insurer Hiscox has announced the appointment of Christian Nielsen as chief financial officer (CFO) for Hiscox London Market and Hiscox Syndicates Limited (HSL)

US life insurers are more vulnerable to an economic downturn compared to their UK counterparts, due to the fact they have almost three quarters of their investments in corporate bonds, GlobalData has said

Institutional investor data and analysis provider CAMRADATA has launched a new feature within its CAMRADATA Live research platform to enable investors to easily review an asset manager’s ESG capabilities and compare asset managers on a like-for-like basis

MAPFRE AM the asset management arm of Spain's largest insurance company has announced that its range of ESG funds has so far brought in a total of €62m this year, despite extreme volatility in the markets caused by the global pandemic

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has issued a final decision notice under the audit enforcement procedure and imposed non-financial sanctions on KPMG  in relation to the statutory audits of the financial statements of Foresight 4 VCT plc (“the Company”) for the 2012/2013, 2013/2014 and 2014/2015 financial years

LV= is exploring a sale of its life insurance and pensions units, examining whether it is in the best interests of its 1.3 million member customers

The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) is to issue a proposed Accounting Standards Update (ASU) granting US insurance companies that issue long-duration contracts, such as life insurance and annuities, an additional year to implement its standard that improves financial reporting

Four global insurance companies – Liberty Mutual, HDI Global, XL Australia and Aspen Re – are underwriting work on Adani's Carmichael coal project, according to leaked information from an employee of Adani’s insurance broker Marsh & McLennan

The long-term nature of insurance business should be better reflected in the prudential framework, a report by the High Level Forum (HLF) on capital markets union has said

Fidelis has executed agreements to raise a further $500m of equity capital from existing investor relationships

Cryptoasset insurance company Evertas has received its licence from the Bermuda Monetary Authority to start operating from the jurisdiction

A group of financial services trade associations – including Insurance Europe – has called for the creation of a centralised public register for Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) data in the EU

Zurich has announced the successful placement of €750m of dated subordinated notes

The monitoring of liquidity risks in the insurance sector needs to be improved, the European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB) has said, and the Pillar 2 provisions in the Solvency II regulatory regime should be enhanced in the medium term to enable supervisors to require (re)insurers with a vulnerable liquidity profile to hold a liquidity buffer

A total of 109 investors, representing €11.9trn in assets under management or advice, have written to European leaders highlighting the need to ensure the economic response to the COVID-19 pandemic delivers a sustainable recovery

The investment management industry is split over the mood of institutional investors following the market turmoil caused by the pandemic, a report by Cerulli has found

The US life/annuity (L/A) industry posted a $23.1bn net income loss in the first quarter of 2020, driven mainly by a 51% increase in expenses over the same prior-year period

Finnish mutual pension insurance company Varma is joining a global real estate and construction industry initiative that advocates for carbon-neutral buildings

ERGO Group has announced the signing of a shareholder’s agreement and capital increase agreement to take a 24.9% stake in Taishan Property & Casualty Insurance (Taishan Insurance), a Shandong-based nationwide P&C insurer in China

Bank-owned French insurance businesses deliver higher profitability than other insurers and therefore entered the COVID-19 crisis with solid Solvency II capital ratios, which will enable them to easily absorb the impact from falling asset prices, Moody’s has said

US insurance companies with significant exposures to municipal bond markets are set to feel the negative market effects stemming from COVID-19, and therefore selecting appropriate exposures will be “critical” to insurers’ ability to manage through this tumultuous cycle, AM Best has said

Cattolica Assicurazioni has announced the closing of the acquisition of 40% of Cattolica Life from Banca Popolare di Vicenza in compulsory administrative liquidation and the simultaneous sale of 100% of the same company to the Monument Re reinsurance group

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced settled charges against Bermuda-based insurance company Argo Group International Holdings for failing to fully disclose perquisites and benefits provided to its former chief executive officer, Mark E. Watson III 

German insurer Allianz is in talks with Chinese regulators to obtain a licence to be able to offer broad asset management services in the country

French mutual insurance company MACIF is strengthening its commitments to end its exposure to thermal coal worldwide from 2030

A round-up of why BMO Global Asset Management took home the award at this year's Asset Management Awards

Voya Investment Management (Voya IM), the asset management business of US insurance company Voya Financial has announced it has been selected by Assurant to manage a $6bn tranche of Assurant’s general account

Both corporates and the financial services industry have jumped ahead of the government in the development of strategies and solutions to climate change, UN Special Envoy for Climate Action and Finance, Mark Carney, has told delegates in his keynote address at PIMFA’s inaugural Virtual Fest today

French insurer AXA plans to cut its dividend by 50% from €1.43 per share to €0.73 per share in order to preserve cash during the COVID-19 pandemic

AM Best has assigned a negative market segment outlook to the Spanish life insurance market

The Carlyle Group and T&D Holdings have completed their acquisition of a 76.6% interest in Fortitude Group Holdings, whose group companies include Fortitude Re, from American International Group

After more than 14 years as CFO, Immo Querner is to leave the boards of management of Talanx AG and HDI V.a.G. on the best of terms and by mutual agreement effective 31 August 2020

Italian insurer Cattolica Assicurazioni has been asked by Italy’s insurance regulator IVASS to strengthen its capital by €500m and to draw up a plan to boost its solvency and liquidity position

A number of measures contained in Solvency II (SII) have “effectively mitigated” the pro-cyclical effects caused by the disruption to financial markets from COVID-19, and the insurance industry as a whole has responded “extremely well” to the operational challenges that have arisen from the pandemic, Bank of England executive director of insurance supervision Charlotte Gerken has said

Austria’s life insurance market has shrunk by more than 25% over the past decade, and now faces subdued profitability meaning it will continue to shrink, Fitch Ratings has said

Försäkringsaktiebolaget Liv-Alandia has transferred its life insurance portfolio to Aktia Life Insurance

French non-life insurance premiums grew strongly by 4.7% in 2019, up from 3.3% in 2018, according to latest figures published by the Bank of France

Italian insurance companies saw an average reduction in their asset values of 7% in Q1 2020 due to a decline in stock prices and the widening of credit spreads on debt securities, according to the Institute for Insurance Supervision, IVASS

SCOR has strengthened its sustainable actions towards a low-carbon economy within its investment portfolio and has joined the Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance

Norwegian non-life insurance companies had a pre-tax profit of -18.2% (non-annualised) of premium income for own account in the first quarter of 2020, latest figures published by the Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway have shown.

European reinsurers have shown capital and liquidity resilience during coronavirus, Fitch Ratings coronavirus pandemic stress test has shown

A refreshed investment strategy is helping LV=’s smoothed managed funds reduce the effects of stock market volatility caused by coronavirus

CNP Assurances has announced its withdrawal from tobacco by signing up to the Tobacco-Free Finance Pledge

South Korea's non-life insurance sector has had its market segment outlook revised to negative from stable due to the sector's deteriorated loss ratios in major business lines, escalated pressure on investment earnings amid a historic low interest rate environment and increased asset risk due to capital market volatility

The PRA has today published a supervisory statement (SS) setting out its expectations of firms in accordance with the requirements under the Prudent Person Principle (PPP) under the Solvency II (SII) Directive

The global reinsurance sector will fail to earn its cost of capital in 2020 amid the coronavirus crisis, Fitch Ratings has said following a sector ratings review

Thirty-eight state Massachusetts senators and representatives have called on Boston-based insurance company Liberty Mutual to address its role in driving climate change and cut ties with fossil fuel projects and companies

Lloyd’s of London has received approval from the High Court of England and Wales for its Part VII strategy for notifying policyholders about the proposed transfer. This includes detailed plans to ensure customers understand the transfer process, as well as providing assurance of the validity of their policies being transferred to Lloyd’s Insurance Company S.A. (Lloyd’s Brussels)

The US property/casualty (P&C) industry’s surplus level decreased by 9.3% to $744.9bn in the first quarter of 2020, compared with year-end 2019, based on preliminary results published by AM Best

Legal & General Group, Scottish Widows and Just Group have had their outlooks revised to negative from stable in light of the coronavirus pandemic, Fitch Ratings has said

Austrian insurer UNIQA has witnessed a 11.7% decline to € 89.7m in its investment income caused by COVID-19 related capital market turbulence

Italian insurance company Generali has today announced a first quarter net profit of €113m despite taking a €655m investment hit caused by the COVID-19 pandemic

Insurance premiums In Thailand will decline for the second consecutive year by 1.6% in 2020 owing to the prevailing challenges aggravated by the macroeconomic impact of COVID-19, new data has revealed

Aviva’s life new business sales rose 28% to £12.3bn in Q12020 (Q12019: £9.6bn) and general insurance net written premium gained 3% to £2.4bn (Q12019: £2.3bn)

Aviva has appointed George Culmer as non-executive chairman with effect from 27 May 2020

Canada Life Reinsurance has entered into a long-term longevity reinsurance agreement with NN Life covering €5.3bn of in-force liabilities

The US insurance industry has reduced its hedge fund investments for a fourth straight year, by $2.6bn in 2019 to $11.9bn, with the property/casualty segment reporting a year-over-year reduction of 22%, the largest among the major industry segments, according to AM Best

Market perceptions of the European insurance sector remain at a medium level, albeit deteriorating, EIOPA has said

NN Investment Partners (NN IP) has appointed Marcin Adamczyk as head of emerging market debt (EMD), as of 1 July 2020

Beazley has raised gross proceeds of approximately £247m (US$300m) by conducting a placing of new ordinary shares and via shares subscription

Three German insurance groups have had their outlooks revised to negative in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, Fitch Ratings has said

Lloyd’s of London will pay out in the range of $3bn to $4.3bn to its global customers as a result of the far-reaching impacts of COVID-19

Seventy-one per cent of insurers now have some exposure to emerging market debt (EMD), with the prospect of higher returns a particularly attractive element to them

The risk adjusted capitalisation of Italian insurers is “generally at a good level”, evidenced by an average SCR coverage ratio for life and non-life of 228%, but warnings must sound over exposures to Italian government debt, particularly with increases in bond spread levels having increased by over 35% in a single day, AM Best has said

by Daniel Finn, Head of Risk Solutions, North America, Conning and Matt Lightwood, Director, Risk Solutions, Conning

Catalina Holdings has announced the appointment of Philipp Waldstein to the position of group chief investment officer

Aegon's Group Solvency II (SII) ratio increased from 201% to 208% during the first quarter of 2020, and remained above the target zone of 150% to 200%

The Indian life insurance industry is expected to contract in 2020, declining by 0.9% in 2020 as compared to 8.8% growth recorded in 2019

The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) has published the list of Internationally Active Insurance Groups (IAIGs) headquartered in the EU

French insurer Covéa has pulled the plug on its planned $9bn purchase of PartnerRe, the Bermuda-based reinsurer owned by Exor, the holding firm of Italy’s Agnelli family

European insurers Lloyd’s, Zurich and Munich Re are the biggest supporters of Canada’s Trans Mountain pipeline, it has emerged, with the former underwriting $460m in total

BaFin’s President Felix Hufeld has praised the flexibility offered by Solvency II (SII) especially during the coronavirus pandemic

Allianz’s solvency ratio has dropped to 190% in Q1 2020 down from 212% at the end of last year, with CFO Giulio Terzariol stating it may fall below the insurer’s 180% limit

No evidence exists to support the theory that smart beta strategies have been adversely affected by a crowding effect, a new paper has revealed

Swedish insurance company Folksam has invested SEK 350m in a microfinance fund, The SEB Impact Opportunity Fund, that lends capital on market terms and at the same time benefits from lending to individuals and companies that are outside the traditional banking systems

Phoenix Group’s Solvency II surplus increased by £0.9bn from £3.1bn as at 31 December 2019 to £4bn as at 24 April 2020, according to latest figures

Insurance premiums in Luxembourg declined by 21.31%, from €11.861bn to €9.333bn when comparing Q1 2020 to Q1 2019, according to latest statistics published by Luxembourg’s supervisory authority, the CAA

Munich Re’s net balance of derivatives rose to €1,600m (–€ 231m) in Q1 2020 as a result of hedging against interest-bearing investments and equities, which gained significantly in value due to developments in the capital markets

The PRA has postponed the launch of its climate and insurance stress tests due to current pressures on insurance firms due to COVID-19

Prudential Financial has lost $271m for Q1 2020 due to lower investment spreads amid market turmoil tied to the new coronavirus

The German life insurance industry reported an "adequate" solvency ratio at around 360% as of 31 December 2019, compared to 327% in 2018, according to latest figures published by the Association of the German Insurance Industry (GDV)

Widening of credit spreads has impacted Direct Line's available-for-sale (AFS) asset valuation, with the insurer seeing AFS reserves dropping from £138m net of tax at at 31 March 2020 to £55m, net of tax at 1 May 2020

French insurer AXA has said the coronavirus crisis would have a “material” impact on its 2020 earnings, although the claims it received in March in relation to the COVID-19 outbreak were limited

The solvency ratio of Finnish pension insurance provider, Varma, has remained high, despite suffering investment losses in Q1 2020

German institutional investors, investing in spezialfonds (special funds), have increased their investments in government bonds, according to analysis by Universal Investment

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway recorded a $49.7bn loss in Q1 2020, as the sharp sell-off in global stock markets hammered its investment portfolio

US insurers may turn to loans from the Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLB) to bolster liquidity as the COVID-19-led economic turmoil grows.

AM Best Rating Services associate director, research and analytics, Jason Hopper said: “Not just anyone is able to borrow from FHLB. Companies must own capital stock to be able to access borrowing funds. Capacity is determined by a mix of collateral and assets

EU member states are affected by climate change differently and there is therefore no one-size-fits-all solution to national climate change adaptation, Insurance Europe has said

Royal London Group has joined the International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN) as part of its commitment to promote and support high standards of corporate governance

Allianz has updated its coal insurance restrictions and will now no longer offer property and casualty insurance for companies whose business model is largely based on coal and which do not have a clear coal exit path from 2023

EIOPA, in close coordination with the European Commission, has decided to deliver its advice to the European Commission at end December 2020, to take into account the importance of assessing the impact of the current COVID-19 situation on the Solvency II Review

The PRA has published a supervisory statement (SS) setting out its expectations in respect of the Solvency II groups provisions

Swiss insurer Helvetia has slowed the fall of its SST ratio though increased hedging of equity positions

Insurers must champion a green and fair recovery from the COVID-19 crisis because as professional risk managers they have a unique understanding of global threats, international NGOs supporting the Unfriend Coal campaign have said in a letter to industry associations

US life insurance death benefit claims will increase as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, according to Moody’s, however if the total number of deaths remains within the rating agency’s projections, the uptick should represent a modest decline in capital from death benefits

SCOR delivered a strong return on invested assets of 3.1% in Q1 2020, benefiting from capital gains, whilst pursuing the de-risking of its portfolio started in 2019

Swedish ICMIF member Länsförsäkringar has announced it has made an additional investment of SEK 540m ($55m) in socially-oriented bonds to mitigate the health and economic effects of Covid-19 in the Nordic countries and in Africa

MetLife’s board of directors has declared a second quarter 2020 common stock dividend of $0.46 per share, an increase of 4.5% from the first quarter common stock dividend of $0.44 per share

Nasdaq has launched an upgraded version of its Risk Modelling service for the reinsurance industry

Cincinnati Financial has recorded a Q1 2020 net loss of $1.226bn, or $7.56 per share, compared with net income of $695m, or $4.22 per share, in Q1 2019, after recognising a $1.303bn Q1 2020 reduction in the fair value of equity securities still held

New York City comptroller Scott Stringer has called on AIG, Berkshire Hathaway and Liberty Mutual to end all business with the coal industry – including ceasing to underwrite coal projects and divesting from coal companies – on behalf of the city’s pension funds

Municipal bonds (Munis) now make up 13% or $272bn of P&C insurers’ cash and invested assets or 7% ($492.6bn) for all US insurers, but special revenue bonds which make up 6% of P&C insurers’ cash and invested assets are most at risk, new research has shown

Admiral is temporarily withholding a special dividend to shareholders

Danish insurance and pension provider, Topdanmark, has revealed it made a loss of DKK 193m in the first quarter of 2020, as a result of the financial impact of coronavirus

The Austrian general insurance market is set to increase GWP at a CAGR of 2.2% to 2023, down from 3.6%, according to latest data

MAPFRE has launched a three-year guaranteed mutual fund with a bond issued by the Madrid local government exclusively for the fight against COVID-19 as its underlying asset

Credit ETFs track not only the performance of their underlying assets but also the liquidity of these assets, new research has shown.

Legal & General (L&G) is launching a GBP-denominated benchmark Tier 2 subordinated debt issuance, to capitalise on favourable debt market conditions thus providing optionality for further new business activity over the remainder of the year

EIOPA, EBA, and ESMA have issued a consultation paper seeking input on proposed ESG disclosure standards for financial market participants, advisers and products

The winners of the Asset Management Awards 2020 were announced last night via an online video presentation

The Asset Management Awards 2020 winners will be announced at 7pm tonight, 23 April, via an online video presentation

Global reinsurers are facing a 5% hit to their capital base, around $30bn pre-tax, as a result of COVID-19, estimates have shown

Swedish pension and insurance company, Länsförsäkringar, has made it easier for it members to identify low carbon funds by adding a green leaf symbol next to them on its funds list

Infrastructure fund manager F2i SGR and Ania, the National Association of Insurance Companies have announced the acquisition of a 92.5% stake in independent freight operator Compagnia Ferroviaria Italiana (CFI)

Talanx Group has withdrawn its outlook for the financial year 2020, in view of the ongoing corona pandemic and the considerable uncertainty around how the economic and capital markets environment will develop

Beazley has reported an investment loss for the three months ended 31 March 2020 of $55m or 1%, as the insurer reduced its exposure to a number of capital growth assets, temporarily lengthened the duration of its fixed income investments and turned to US Treasury securities in order to control the impacts of volatile markets and COVID-19

French life insurers’ profits are expected to decline by close to 5% in 2020 as a result of a decline in equity markets which has reduced the amount of outstanding reserves for unit-linked products

The Asset Management Awards 2020 winners will be announced at 7pm tomorrow, 23 April, via an online video presentation on the awards website

Net sales of UCITS and AIFs saw a decrease between January and February 2020 of €95bn, from €137bn down to €42bn, the European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA) has revealed

The European ETF industry has been hit by the coronavirus pandemic with record outflows in March 2020 of €25.4bn and assets under management in the industry decreased from €839.9bn to €719.2bn due to market conditions

Hong Kong’s life insurance industry is expected to slow down, with an expected annual growth of 3.9% in 2020 as compared to the 6.6% in 2019

Scandinavian insurance company Tryg has posted a DKK980m investment return loss for Q1 2020, driven by “extremely negative financial markets characterised by losses on most asset classes”

Swiss Re has recorded a “very strong” solvency of 232% in Swiss Solvency Test (SST) 2020, well above the target of 220%, but down from 251% in 2019

US life insurer Independence Holding Company (IHC) intends to commence a tender offer by the end of this month to purchase up to 1,000,000 shares of its common stock at a price per share of $27

Scandinavian non-life insurer Tryg has seen a DKK1.1bn hit on its investment income due to turbulent capital markets

HSBC Global Asset Management (GAM) has announced the appointment of Maria Ryan to the newly created role of head of institutional sales for the UK, Scandinavia and the Middle East

Australia’s insurance industry is projected to decline by 1.3% from AUD115.7bn (US$80.5bn) in 2019 to AUD114.1bn (US$77.5bn) in 2020 due to a challenging business environment and COVID-19

Annual buy-in and buyout volumes by UK defined benefit pension schemes will hit £25bn in 2020, LCP has predicted

The Austrian insurance industry noted a 2.1% growth in premium income to €17.7bn in 2019, with a rise in P&C insurance premium volumes reported

South Korea’s life insurance market is set to decline by 1.2% from KRW112.3trn (US$96bn) in 2019 to KRW110.9trn (US$92.3bn) in 2020, according to GlobalData

Legal & General Capital (LGC) has announced it has taken a 36% stake in The Kensa Group, one of the UK’s largest players in the ground source heat pump technology sector, as it scales up its investments in addressing decarbonisation

The US’s National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) has seen the total fair value of its investments rise from $108m to almost $123m between 2018 and 2019, according to latest figures

EIOPA’s board of supervisors has elected two new members to its management board

UK insurer, Aviva, has announced that executive directors and the Aviva leadership team will not be considered for any bonus for 2020 until dividend payments are restarted for ordinary shareholders, and any basic pay increases for executive directors and the Aviva leadership team, due to come into effect on 1 April 2020, will be paused until dividend payments are restarted for ordinary shareholders

Most US life insurers are expected to pass the test of managing their market-sensitive liabilities amid COVID-19, due to their improved hedging practices since the last financial crisis, but this current climate will “undoubtedly showcase any weaknesses in an insurer’s hedging framework”, S&P Global Ratings has said

The Co-operative Pension Scheme (Pace) has completed a £400m buy-in with the Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC), covering liabilities for around 2,000 members in the bank section of the scheme

Sompo International Holdings, a Bermuda-based specialty provider of property and casualty insurance and reinsurance, announced today that as part of the ongoing transformation of Sompo International, the insurer will be consolidating its London presence into one company market platform

Insurers’ boards in India should “critically examine their capital availability and solvency margin” in the context of COVID-19 pandemic, and “devise strategies to ensure that they have adequate capital and resources available with them”, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has said

UNIQA has revised its forecast for 2020 and expects negative earnings before taxes in the low double-digit million euro range for the first quarter of 2020

Prudential Financial has announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with KB Financial Group, a Korean financial services provider, to sell The Prudential Life Insurance Company of Korea

Australia's second largest insurer, QBE Insurance Group, is pre-emptively boosting its capital through an equity raising to stave off the impact from the coronavirus outbreak

The IASB has proposed further amendments to IFRS Standards in response to interest rate benchmark reform

Peak Re has entered into definitive agreements to acquire 100% of the capital of Lutece Holdings Ltd. and its subsidiary Lutece Investment Management Ltd. (“Lutece”)

Financial literacy and promoting sustainability awareness are “somewhat sidelined” in a consultation on the Renewed Sustainable Finance Strategy released by the European Commission

The German life and non-life insurance sectors are expected to see slower gross written premium growth post-COVID19, but a sharp rise in life and health insurance claims will see those sectors struggle with profitability, according to GlobalData

EIOPA has published an Opinion on the supervision of remuneration principles in the insurance and reinsurance sector

Aviva’s board of directors has agreed to withdraw its recommendation to pay the 2019 final dividend to ordinary shareholders in June 2020

One-fifth of institutional asset owners plan to increase or significantly increase their dedicated allocation to China’s equity markets in the next three to five years, latest research has shown, but many continue to hold back due to low trust in China’s government (67%) , negative perceptions of corporate governance policies (65%), and questions about market access (49%)

Ageas UK CEO Andy Watson has decided to step down from his role at the end of June 2020, to embark on the next stage of his life including further education and securing a small portfolio of non-executive roles

Talanx Group is investing €200m in international debt financing amounting to €2.1bn for a fibre-optic project involving fast internet in France

The Romanian insurance market recorded a volume of underwritten premiums of RON 11bn (EUR 2.3 bln) in 2019, up 8% compared to 2018

Legal & General (L&G) has confirmed its current intention to pay the 2019 dividend despite giving consideration to the PRA’s letter of 31 March

Insurers, AXA and FBD, have both postponed their shareholder meetings in light of the COVID-19 outbreak and the resulting restrictions

US life insurers’ growing commercial mortgage portfolios may face unique challenges during the coronavirus pandemic

Slovenian insurance-financial group, Triglav Group, has said its insurance and investment portfolios are sufficiently resilient and that the capital position is appropriate to cope with the increased risks arising from the COVID-19 pandemic situation and the financial markets

EIOPA is urging (re)insurers to temporarily suspend all discretionary dividend distributions and share buy backs aimed at remunerating shareholders due to the impacts of COVID-19 in financial markets and the economy

China’s insurance industry is beginning to recover from the losses incurred due to the COVID-19 outbreak, with a compound annual grwoth rate (CAGR) of 6.1% between 2019-2023

Aon has completed the move of the jurisdiction of incorporation for the firm’s parent company to Ireland

The PRA’s proposals around the modelling of IPRE loans within insurers’ Solvency II internal models, and expectations in respect of the use of internal credit assessments for assigning fundamental spreads for illiquid, unrated assets have generally been welcomed by the industry, however a number of clarifications have been outlined

China Re could be considering setting up a move into the US to establish a business entity based on global strategy and the implementation of the Sino-US phase one trade deal

The Romanian Supervisory Authority and EIOPA have decided to postpone the start of the balance sheet review of the Romanian insurance sector

Two WPP sponsored pension schemes have completed a further combined £250m buy-in with the Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC)

UK insurers’ boards considering any distributions to shareholders or making decisions on variable remuneration “must pay close attention to the need to protect policyholders and ensure their firms can play a full part in supporting the real economy throughout the economic disruption arising from COVID-19”, PRA deputy governor and CEO Sam Woods has said

Munich Re has withdrawn its previous 2020 profit guidance of €2.8bn and discontinued its previously announced share buy-back of up to €1bn until further notice

The initially planned transfer of all Legal & General mature savings policyholders to ReAssure on 6 April 2020 for £650m will no longer take place

The UK life and Italian life insurance sectors have had their outlooks changed to negative from stable, Moody’s has announced

India’s reinsurance market is set to reach US$7.8bn by 2024, driven by offshore investments, GlobalData has said

French Insurance Federation members are committing to contribute €200m to the Solidarity Fund, set up by the public authorities to support micro-enterprises and the self-employed, sectors that have been particularly affected by the economic, financial and social consequences of the COVID-19 virus

US private equity firm Genstar Capital, has partnered with insurance industry executives to establish Obsidian Insurance Holdings, a new fronting insurance holding company, with $100m of capital

esure Group has announced that its founder Peter Wood is to step down as chairman and will be succeeded by Andy Haste

QBE has withdrawn its 2020 financial targets in light of the “unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic and uncertain economic and investment market outlook”

AM Best has assigned a long-term issue credit rating of “a-” to the new $300m 5.25% 10-year senior unsecured notes due April 2030 recently issued by American Financial Group (AFG)

The IAIS is to utilise the framework it has developed in recent years for forward-looking risk assessment to undertake a targeted assessment of the impact of COVID-19 on the global insurance sector, and will review the 2020 timelines for the implementation of the holistic framework for the mitigation of systemic risk in the global insurance sector

The Danish Financial Supervisory Authority, Finanstilsynet, has ordered Gefion Insurance A/S to cease writing business with immediate effect

J.P. Morgan Asset Management (JPMAM) has appointed Bryan Wallace as head of international fixed income insurance and pensions, replacing Prashant Sharma who are seven years with the firm, has decided to pursue opportunities elsewhere

Lloyd’s of London has today confirmed that the market is in a “strong position” to respond to the impacts of COVID-19, with net resources increasing by 8.6% to £30.6bn in 2019 and a central solvency ratio of 238%

Insurers issuing hybrid capital instruments that have coupon deferral requirements tied to a regulatory solvency ratio must monitor the sensitivity of their regulatory solvency ratios to equity or credit spread movements, S&P Global Ratings has urged

A wide group of financial associations – including Insurance Europe – has called for a delay in the compliance dates for initial margin requirements for non-centrally cleared derivatives to account for problems companies face due to the COVID-19 pandemic

Institutional investors that are not obliged to trade are waiting for the right moment before they step into the markets, according to Danish consultancy firm Kirstein

Premium income from life and non-life Italian insurance business amounted to €107.2bn at 30 September 2019, of which €79.7bn was life insurance

The value of worldwide regulated open-ended fund assets increased by 3.1 per cent to €52.7trn in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2019, according to the European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA)

French life insurers recorded net inflows of €1.4bn for February 2020, up from €0.5bn for January 2020

The PRA has outlined its approach to regulatory reporting for UK insurers in response to COVID-19 and EIOPA’s ‘Recommendations on supervisory flexibility regarding the deadline of supervisory reporting and public disclosures – coronavirus/COVID-19’

An upward shift of 100bps in the yield of Italian sovereign debt would reduce the value of insurance companies’ own funds by 28%, the IMF has said

US property and casualty insurers will be able to remain strong and solvent during the current period of lower interest rates and other financial impacts from COVID-19, Insurance Information Institute CEO Sean Kevelighan has said

A group of ten financial associations, including Insurance Europe, have written to several European and national policymakers to emphasise the importance of keeping European financial markets open during the COVID-19 pandemic

Sompo International Holdings, a Bermuda-based specialty provider of property and casualty insurance and reinsurance, has announced that subject to applicable regulatory approval, Christopher Donelan, currently the deputy CEO of Sompo International (SI) Reinsurance will assume the position of CEO of SI Reinsurance

The think tank, 2 Degrees Investing Initiative (2DII) has developed stress tests based on COVID-19 scenarios to assess the financial risks of the virus

Insurers in Japan remain financially stable to weather market volatility given their robust balance sheet fundamentals, AM Best commentary has said

EIOPA has issued its recommendations on supervisory flexibility regarding deadlines of supervisory reporting and public disclosure by insurers in light of the COVID-19 developments

Financial Risk Solutions (FRS) has announced that Acorn Life has deployed the Invest|Pro™ platform to manage its life assurance book of business.

Net sales of UCITS and AIFs totalled €137bn, up from €70bn in December 2019, according to the European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA)

Mutual life pensions and investments group, LV=, has reported a swing in profit before tax from continuing operations figure of £15m for FY 2019, from a £90m loss in FY 2018, reflecting adverse reserving changes of £67m (FY 2018: £10m favourable) and favourable short-term investment fluctuations of £129m (FY 2018: £66m adverse)

AM Best is developing stress testing that it will conduct on its rated insurance companies’ balance sheets to gauge the impact of the COVID-19 virus fallout on their risk-adjusted capital levels, investment portfolios, reserve adequacy and other aspects of the risks borne by rated entities

The Bank of England (BoE) has announced a further cut to the UK’s base interest rate from 0.25% to 0.1%

The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) has decided on a new effective date for IFRS 17 of 1 January 2023

The UK life insurance sector outlook has been revised to negative from stable in light of the coronavirus outbreak, Fitch Ratings has said

Italy’s government has reduced the requirements for applying a country-specific volatility adjustment to strengthen Italian insurers’ regulatory Solvency II ratios

EIOPA is extending the deadline of the holistic impact assessment for the 2020 Solvency II Review by two months, to 1 June 2020

AMP Life Limited (AMP Life) has paid a penalty of $275,500 and AMP Capital Investors Limited (AMP Capital) has paid a penalty of $250,500 to comply with infringement notices issued by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC)

The US life insurance industry has had its ratings outlook revised to negative from stable

Illiquid assets accounted for around 15% of European insurers’ investments at the end of 2018, having risen by about 1% a year over the previous three years, Moody’s has estimated

The Life Insurance Association of Malaysia continued to record an encouraging growth in 2019, registering new business total premiums of RM11.8bn, an increase of 14.19% compared to RM10.3bn in 2018

Solvency II (SII) capital strain resulting from adverse house price movements or a revision of house price inflation assumptions is a key short-term risk for insurers with equity release mortgages (ERMs) in their asset portfolios, Fitch Ratings has said

German insurer, Talanx, has seen its net investment income grow by 15% to €4.3bn in the financial year 2019, partly due to a one-time effect in the life/health reinsurance segment resulting from the restructuring of the shareholdings in the Viridium Group

Fitch Ratings is ranking institutions and sectors and regions most to least vulnerable to the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak, as part of its portfolio assessment process

The Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) has published a policy statement providing feedback on the responses it received to a consultation paper surrounding Credit Union rules

Just Group has reported a £300m hit after restructuring its lifetime mortgage proposition in 2019 to accelerate its alignment with new regulatory requirements

Generali has announced it is creating a €100m fund dedicated to combating the coronavirus emergency

The total volume of premiums in Baloise’s non-life business rose in 2019 by 4% to CHF 3,542.1m thanks to the acquisition of Fidea and the related increase in premiums of CHF 112.6m

Swedish insurer, Folksam, will no longer invest in companies operating in the gaming industry

Dutch insurers have reduced their equity investments in gas and electricity, raw materials and the petrochemical industry from 24% in 2012 to 17% seven years later

The Bank of England’s (BoE) announcement of a 50 basis point cut in its base rate to 0.25% “will weigh on UK life insurers’ capital ratios under the Solvency II regime, however a separate BoE measure allowing life insurers greater transitional relief from their Solvency II capital requirements will provide some counterbalancing uplift”, Moody’s has said

The Bulgarian insurance sector is currently heavily concentrated on the non-life sector, which accounted for over 80% of estimated BGN2.9bn (€1.5bn) gross written premiums for 2019

The Bank of England (BoE) has announced an emergency cut to the base interest rate to stabilise the economy amid the coronavirus outbreak

Thirty-eight out of 75 of the world’s largest asset managers are stalling on taking action on environmental, social and governance issues, according to latest research published by ShareAction

Credit rating upgrades for the US life/health industry outpaced downgrades in 2019, marking a turnaround from the previous three years, according to AM Best

The estimate for reinsurance capital provided by the insurance-linked securities (ILS) market ranges from $88bn to $93bn, according to a new AM Best commentary

US insurance giant, State Farm, has recorded a 2019 net income of $5.6bn, down from $8.8bn of net income in 2018 as a result of higher losses and lower premiums from its P&C business

The main threat to European insurers’ credit quality from the coronavirus is the resulting disruption to financial markets, Fitch Ratings has said

Aon and Willis Towers Watson (WTW) have announced a definitive agreement to combine in an all-stock transaction with an implied combined equity value of approximately $80bn

Prudential is planning to sell or carry out a partial float of its American insurance business, according to latest reports

The Americas remained the world’s leading region in 2019 in terms of M&A activity, accounting for 43% of the global total, according to latest research published by Clyde & Co

EIOPA has set out the main methodological elements and principles of and guidelines for an EU-wide stress-test (ST) exercise

Insurance firm, Admiral, has appointed Milena Mondini de Focatiis as its first female chief executive

Aviva’s general insurance net written premiums are up 2% to £9.3bn, and life PVNBP are up 12% to £45.7bn, latest figures show

European life insurers are gradually shifting away from traditional guarantees towards more capital-light products, transferring part of the investment risk to policyholders, Fitch Ratings latest report has said

Marsh, the world’s largest insurance broker, will tomorrow discuss ending support for the giant Carmichael coal mine in Australia after more than a year of trying to arrange insurance cover for the Adani Group’s controversial project

The PRA is re-emphasising the need for Solvency II firms to engage a “broad set of qualities and competencies when recruiting to the management/governing body” and for this purpose to “put in place a policy to promote diversity of the management body”

L&G has seen its insurance GWP rise by 6% to £2,729m up from £2,580m in 2018, and profit after tax up 16% to £1,700 in the same period

Bermuda-based global reinsurer, PartnerRe, is to be sold to French mutual insurer, Covéa, for a total cash consideration of $9bn plus a cash dividend of $50m

Total net assets of UCITS and AIFs grew by 3.3% in Q4 2019 to €17.7trn within the European investment fund industry, bringing the annual growth figure to 16.8% for 2019

Everest Re Group has announced that Sanjoy Mukherjee, executive vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary, and current managing director and chief executive officer, Everest Reinsurance (Bermuda), Ltd. will transition from his Bermuda role on 1 April and return to his full time duties as general counsel and corporate secretary of Everest Re Group, Ltd

The lack of transparency around non-bank investors in leveraged loans and CLOs remains a key risk for the financial sector, according to the latest leveraged lending exposure report from Fitch Ratings

The current disruption in the US capital markets caused by the coronavirus outbreak is increasing the risk profile of all US life insurers, Fitch Ratings has said

Bermuda headquartered insurer, Hiscox, has seen its gross written premiums (GWP) rise from $3,778.3m in 2018 to $4,030.7m in 2019, and reported a strong investment return of $223m in 2019 compared to $38.1m the previous year

French life insurers recorded net inflows for January 2020 of €0.5bn, compared to €2.2bn over the same period in 2019, according to the French Insurance Federation

Insurance company failures in the UK and the EU are rare, policyholders have almost always been paid, and European solvency rules have effectively reduced the number and size of failures since the Solvency I capital adequacy regime was introduced in 2004 and expanded by the Solvency II regime, according to a new study produced by KPMG

Swiss Life has reported a net profit of CHF 1.2bn, a rise of 12% from 2018, according to latest results from the firm

AIG has appointed Lloyd’s director of performance management Jon Hancock as its CEO, international general insurance

Insurance firms seeking to transfer their EU liabilities to an EU-authorised insurer under a Part VII transfer are not guaranteed to have it sanctioned by Court, or that it will be sanctioned within firms’ intended timeframes, PRA executive director, insurance supervision, Anna Sweeney has said

Overseas investment by Korean insurers is likely to continue to rise in the search for higher investment returns and longer asset duration to match the asset-liability gap, although hedging costs could remain a burden, Fitch Ratings has said in a new report

German life insurers have granted “significantly” more loans for housing construction and housing purchase in 2019, with payments of mortgage loans increasing by 5.8% to €8.9bn

Eight-one per cent of institutional investors expect the use of leveraged investment strategies to increase over the next five years, new research from ETF provider GraniteShares has revealed

RSA Insurance Group has reported a statutory profit after tax of £383m for 2019, up from £372m in 2018

Credit markets have been “largely resilient” since January, despite coranavirus fears, Charlene Malik of TwentyFour Asset Management’s portfolio management team has said

Generali has developed its first Green Insurance Linked Securities Framework (Green ILS Framework), in line with the group’s sustainability strategy

The 2020 outlook for the UK P&C insurance sector is stable, reflecting resilient capitalisation, good operating performance, and the expectation that the sector will be able to manage the pressures from rising claims costs, low for longer interest rates, and regulatory uncertainty

The European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA) has said that 2019 was a “good year” for the European investment fund industry after a “challenging 2018”

Arch Capital has entered into a share purchase agreement with Natixis regarding the acquisition of a 29.5% stake in French credit insurer, Coface, worth $520m

Less than 0.5% capacity in the world’s insurance market currently exists to cover the value of cryptoassets globally, Evertas has said

Insurance companies operating in Argentina’s insurance market are facing the potential for a contraction in growth resulting from capital controls, along with volatile interest rates and the government’s restructuring of public debt

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) is to amplify its efforts against climate change

Allianz, AXA, Swiss Re, Munich Re and Zurich are going further than most of their global peers in reducing their underwriting and investment exposure to fossil fuels, and thermal coal in particular, thus reducing stranded asset risk, a new report from Moody’s has said

Italian insurers are urging the IASB to fix the IFRS 17 annual cohort requirement, as it is “inconsistent” with life insurance business

Russian life insurance premiums decreased by 9% compared with 2018, from 478bn rubles to 433.2bn rubles

Any potential acquisition of a reinsurer of a size of Partner Re, by Covéa, would "weaken Covéa's balance sheet but it would "not eliminate Covéa capital and leverage strengths relative to other Aa-rated peers", Moody's has said

The largest US life insurers are entering private debt markets, as banks refocus on commercial banking against a backdrop of unconventional monetary policies and tighter bank regulations, according to a new research paper published by the Federal Reserve

Swiss Re’s net income increased 73% to US$727m from US$421m in 2018, according to its full-year results for 2019

ThreeSixty Investments has received Bank of Italy’s regulatory authorisation to operate as an asset manager (Società di Gestione del Risparmio) under Italian law

Higher capital requirements introduced by the Nigerian insurance regulator will “necessitate consolidation” among insurers and could ultimately be “credit-positive” for the industry, Fitch Ratings has said

The Financial Supervisory Authority of Romania (ASF) and EIOPA are to launch an independent assessment of the Romanian insurance sector through a balance sheet review

Munich Re has become the 19th asset owner to join the United Nations-Convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance, bringing the Alliance’s total assets under management to US$4.5trn

The 2020 sector outlook for the German life insurance industry has been revised to negative from stable

The UK Sustainable Investment & Finance Association (UKSIF) has announced that its CEO, Simon Howard, is to step down after seven years

Nearly half (43 per cent) of Nordic institutional investors are investing in impact strategies, new research has found

Four global reinsurers, Munich Re, Swiss Re, Hannover Re and SCOR, benefit from a competitive advantage by being leading players in life and health insurance, Fitch Ratings has said

Europe saw the biggest increase in M&A activity between 2018 and 2019, with the number of deals increasing by 27% as transactions previously put on hold due to Brexit finally made it over the line

Finnish mutual pension insurance company, Varma, saw its investments yield a return of €5.2bn or 12% in 2019, the best year for investment returns since 2009

Robeco’s assets under management (AuM) reached €20bn at the end of 2019, an increase of €5bn between 30 September 2018 and 31 December 2019

Zurich UK has today reported a 59% rise in earnings to £413m from £260m in 2018, and growth in premiums

Moody’s Analytics has announced the launch of its discount curve service for IFRS 17

Talanx Group is financing Germany’s biggest offshore wind farm, providing €321m of the €511m project bonds

Premiums in Luxembourg’s insurance sector for 2019 increased by 44.51% compared to 2018, with non-life rising by 186.41% and life insurance growing by 18.61%

Eight French (re)insurers have decided not to apply the International Capital Standard (ICS) during the five-year monitoring period preceding its implementation

The Merchant Navy Officers Pension Fund (MNOPF) has converted its pensioner longevity swap into a £1.6bn buy-in with the Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC)

EIOPA has launched a new discussion paper addressing for the first time the subject of the ongoing changes to the new benchmark rates (or IBOR transitions)

EXOR NV, the holding company of Italy’s Agnelli family, has confirmed it has entered exclusive discussions with Covéa regarding a possible all-cash acquisition of Partner Re

The German non-life insurance market remains stable for 2020, reflecting expectations that insurers will achieve some premium growth, while maintaining strong underwriting discipline

The European Insurance and Occupational Pension Authority (EIOPA) has launched a Consultation Paper on proposals for Solvency II 2020 Review - Review of technical implementation means for the package on Solvency II Supervisory Reporting and Public Disclosure

The Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) recommendations should remain “voluntary” standards, Insurance Europe has recommended

French life insurers are under pressure to cut bonus rates as low interest rates bite

The Indian government is to float part of the country's largest life firm, LIC

Nippon Life has signed a syndicated loan agreement for an offshore windfarm project to be implemented in Akita Prefecture by Akita Offshore Wind Corporation, a special purpose company (SPC) formed primarily with investments from Marubeni Corporation and Obayashi Corporation

A looser EU-UK trade agreement would be credit negative but "manageable" for UK insurers, Moody’s has said, however a ‘no-deal’ outcome would be "more severe", especially for UK life insurers

The total investment portfolio managed by insurers in Europe decreased 1.5% in 2018 to €10,186bn, according to latest figures published by Insurance Europe

Total insurance premiums in Europe increased 6.2% in 2018, to €1,311bn, due to relatively strong growth in all business lines.

The President of the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA), Gary Dransfield, has announced that Rob Whelan will be leaving his position as CEO

The priority now for the UK's "world-leading insurance and long-term savings sector" is to "shape a new relationship with the EU and global partners based on serving customers, common regulatory approaches and being able to meet the challenges of our fast-changing world", ABI director general Huw Evans said

Norwegian authorities may set a lower limit for estimated loss given default (LGD) to ensure that insurers are subject to approximately the same capital requirements as banks for their exposure to mortgage loans

The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has held the Bank Rate at 0.75%

Thai life insurers’ capitalisation may face greater strain from investments in riskier assets as they have increased their holdings of higher yielding assets to counter a prolonged period of subdued investment returns, Fitch Ratings has said

Solvency II, one of the world’s most prudent and conservative prudential regimes, according to Insurance Europe president and CEO and chair of UNIQA Insurance group Andreas Brandstetter, “does not need prudential enhancements”

European Commission executive vice president Valdis Dombrovskis has called for every EU country to have insurance guarantee schemes to plug a gap in EU insurance law

Risk exposures for the European insurance sector have remained overall stable, according to data from Q3 2019, despite macro risks continuing at a high level

AXA Investment Managers, BNP Paribas Asset Management, Mirova and Sycomore Asset Management have collectively launched a call for a partner to develop and implement an innovative tool that could measure the impact of investments on biodiversity

EIOPA has published its annual report on the use of exemptions and limitations from the regular supervisory reporting during 2018 and the first quarter of 2019 by national competent authorities (NCAs) under Solvency II

More work is needed to achieve the aims of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), according to trade body, Insurance Europe

France’s ministerial decree stating that profit-sharing reserves may be used to absorb losses in certain severe stress scenarios is credit-positive for the country’s life insurers, according to Fitch Ratings

The Dutch Association of Insurers, Verbond van Verzekeraars, has urged EIOPA to make a more balanced proposal for modifying the European Solvency II supervisory framework

Net inflows in the French life insurance market hit €1.1bn in December 2019, according to the French Insurance Federation

AIG Life & Retirement, a division of American International Group and a leading provider of annuities, has announced the launch of its new AB All Market Index

Swiss insurance group, Helvetia, has announced the acquisition of a majority holding in the Spanish insurer, Caser

HM Treasury has appointed Christopher Woolard as interim chief executive of the FCA, following advice from the FCA Board

Norwegian insurance company, Gjensidige Forsikring ASA, has reported a strong result for the fourth quarter of 2019, driven by gains on its sale of Gjensidige Bank

Fitch Ratings has announced its global bank rating Outlooks are still negatively skewed, although to a lesser degree than they were six months ago

Natural disasters in 2019 resulted in economic losses of $232bn, with private sector and government-sponsored insurance programs covering $71bn of the total, according to a new report published by Aon

Italian insurance group, Generali, has been added to the United Nations-convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance, bringing the total assets managed by Alliance members to over $4.3trn

A group of financial associations have written a letter to the European Commission that raises concerns over the approach being taken to fix problems with the regulatory technical standards of the Packaged Retail Investment and Insurance-Based Products (PRIIPs)

Amundi has announced a new 10-year strategic partnership with Spanish banking group, Banco Sabadell, that includes the 100% acquisition of Sabadell Asset Management, a leading asset manager in Spain

Nomura Asset Management (NAM), the core company within the Asset Management Division of Nomura Group, has announced it is to manage a European corporate bond fund incorporating ESG factors in a foreign investment trust