China's reinsurance market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.8% during 2019-24, according to GlobalData, following the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission's (CBIRC) recently proposed revisions to the reinsurance regulatory regime

Phoenix Group has become the first UK insurer and the largest insurer to date, to join the Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials (PCAF)

Insurance Europe has published its response to a roadmap consultation by the European Commission on its supervisory data strategy for the EU financial system

Insurance Europe and Invest Europe have published a joint position paper calling on the European Commission to make improvements to SII to remove unnecessary barriers that undermine insurers’ ability to invest in long-term equities

The US Department of Justice (DoJ) has filed a civil antitrust lawsuit to block Aon’s proposed $30bn (£21.5bn) acquisition of Willis Towers Watson (WTW)

The Taskforce on Innovation, Growth and Regulatory Reform (TIGRR) has reported its recommendations to the Prime Minister on how the UK can reshape its approach to regulation

The Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) is planning a Quantitative Impact Study (QIS) for the Solvency II review, and has warned insurers of the high-quality data they will soon be expected to share in a tight window

Phoenix Group has discontinued talks regarding the potential sale of its European businesses, Phoenix Europe

Sam Woods has been reappointed by Her Majesty the Queen as deputy governor of the Bank of England with responsibility for prudential regulation, and chief executive of the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA)

Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM) will divest from four companies, including insurer AIG, due to their insufficient action to address the risks posed by climate change

Moody’s Investors Service has changed its outlook for the global life insurance sector to stable from negative for 2021

Eighty-four per cent of European institutional investors are starting to adopt thematic approaches in their portfolios, according to a survey by Vontobel Asset Management

Six US insurers in Q1 2021 picked up shares of digital currency investment vehicles offered by Grayscale Investments, LLC, S&P Global Market Intelligence has said

Insurance commissioners Mike Kreidler of Washington and Ricardo Lara of California have formally asked all insurers that are currently required to report to them annually on climate change to start reporting their climate risks in alignment with the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD)

Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC) has provided £175m (€203m) of senior secured
debt funding, as sole investor, for a further 18 solar parks

Investors managing more than $41trn in assets have released a new joint statement to all world governments urging a global race-to-the-top on climate policy and warning that laggards will miss out on trillions of dollars in investment if they aim too low and move too slow

State Street has appointed Jason Knight as global head of the firm’s insurance segment

Varma has invested €230m in the Sustainable Climate Corporate Bond Funds of State Street Global Advisors

Private debt is to take on a “more significant role” in investors’ portfolios in 2021, according to NN Investment Partners (NN IP)

Aon’s $30bn bid for Willis Towers Watson is expected to get the EU antitrust go ahead by early July, according to reports

French insurers, Covéa and SCOR, have announced the signing of a settlement agreement following a series of legal battles

The regulatory risk-based capital (RBC) ratios of non-life insurers in Sri Lanka is expected to normalise in the medium-term, according to Fitch Ratings

Schroders and German insurer, Gothaer, are to jointly offer an ESG orientated open real estate fund

Legal & General has agreed a £17m full scheme buy-in transaction with John Good & Sons Limited Pension Scheme

Two insurance regulators have called on US insurers to start reporting their climate risks in alignment with the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD)

United Nations (UN) Secretary-General, António Guterres, has said that Glasgow COP26 must “signal the end” of coal

Phoenix Group has announced the appointment of Michela Bariletti as new chief credit officer within its asset management team

French mutual insurer, Macif, has confirmed its intention to raise Euro subordinated debt in the capital market to finance part of its Aviva France acquisition

The Bank of England (BoE) has published details of its Climate Biennial Exploratory Scenario (CBES) to explore the financial risks posed by climate change for the UK’s largest banks and insurers

Insurers are supporting French tech companies with investments that will reach €3.2bn by the end of 2021, according to the French Insurance Federation

Aegon UK has announced that it has now moved more than £5bn of its workplace default assets into ESG strategies

The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) has declared that Danish firm, Gefion Insurance, has failed

The total cost facing the global insurance industry to implement IFRS 17 is estimated to be between $15bn and $20bn, according to Willis Towers Watson (WTW)

The US property & casualty (P&C) industry saw its net underwriting income fall in first-quarter 2021 by 53% as compared with the same prior-year period, according to preliminary financial results

DWS Group and Assicurazioni Generali SpA are among the suitors that have submitted initial bids this week for the asset management arm of NN Group NV

The demand for equity funds reached an all-time high in Q1 2021, according to the European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA)

French net life insurance inflows were positive for the month of April 2021, at €1.6bn, and reached €6.4bn for the first four months of the year, the French Insurance Federation has said

The trend of alternative investment managers (Alt IMs) partnering with and/or investing directly in life insurance companies is expected to continue, Fitch Ratings has said

Trans Mountain insurer and Lloyd’s of London syndicate Argo Group has pledged to cut ties with the existing Trans Mountain tar sands pipeline when its current insurance policy expires on 31 August 2021, and to not insure the Trans Mountain Expansion Project

Intact Financial Corporation (Intact) has announced the successful completion of its joint bid with Tryg A/S (Tryg), to acquire RSA Insurance Group for a total cash consideration of approximately £7.2bn

Insurance Europe’s general assembly has unanimously voted to extend the mandate of Andreas Brandstetter as president for a further three years

PPM America (PPM) has announced the addition of senior managing director, Andrew Coupe, who will lead the firm’s newly expanded US Insurance distribution efforts

Groupama Asset Management has appointed Xavier Hoche as chief investment officer (CIO)

The Association of Mutual Insurers and Insurance Cooperatives in Europe (AMICE), has announced that Galit Saar, head of group regulatory affairs and senior adviser for the Swedish mutual Länsförsäkringar AB has been elected to the AMICE Board by AMICE’s Annual General Meeting of members

Germany’s life insurance coverage ratio has been recorded at 374%

Large Swiss banks and insurance companies will now have to provide qualitative and quantitative information about risks they face from climate change, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) has said

NFU Mutual has selected Invest|ProTM from Financial Risk Solutions (FRS) to support the investment administration of its £6bn unitised life insurance business

Tokio Marine Holdings has announced its new initiatives for achieving carbon neutrality for its business activities by 2050 by reducing CO2 emission toward 2030 and by increasing the share of renewable sources in its power consumption

US insurance companies had $36.9bn in ETFs in general accounts as of 31 December, an 18.4% increase from the year before, according to a report from S&P Dow Jones Indices

The European Council has appointed Petra Hielkema as the chairperson of EIOPA

The UN-convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance has announced the addition of five new members managing nearly US$1trn of assets between them

American International Group (AIG) has named Geoff Cornell chief investment officer, replacing Douglas Dachille who is leaving the company, effective 30 June

Superior capital-adjusted returns under Solvency II and resilient performance during the COVID-19 crisis is making Asian investment grade bonds particularly attractive to European insurers

Insurance companies are lagging behind the finance sector’s push to embrace ESG investment, with few of the world’s largest insurers considering climate change, biodiversity loss and human rights violations in their underwriting decisions

Over three quarters (78%) of European institutional investors and wealth managers expect to see an increase in the use of ETFs to access Chinese asset classes over the next three years

The availability of data is the single greatest test UK financial sector firms expect to face over the next five years in order to address climate risk, according to a survey of leading financial institutions by Willis Towers Watson (WTW)

Allianz Holdings CEO Jon Dye is to step down after eight years at the end of November 2021, and will be replaced by Colm Holmes, currently CEO of Aviva General Insurance

UNIQA’s investment income increased by 67.4% to €150.1m in Q1 2021, compared to the same period in 2020

The PRA is considering ways in which the process of obtaining authorisation for new insurers can be made more efficient whilst still ensuring appropriate prudential standards

Forty-five per cent of European institutional investors and wealth managers expect more corporate credit downgrades and defaults over the next nine months, new research commissioned by fixed income ETF provider Tabula Investment Management Limited has said

The PRA has today published its 2021/22 Business Plan, setting out its strategy, workplan, and budget

A Solvency II (SII) capital charge of 100% should apply to any equity and corporate bond investments in new fossil fuel assets among (re)insurance companies, Insure Our Future has argued

The Bank of England (BoE) has unveiled plans to make its corporate bond purchase scheme (CBPS) more 'green' as the UK government aims to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050

MS&AD Insurance Group has set a goal of net zero CO2 emissions by FY 2050 to resolve the global risk of climate change

US insurers reported holdings of Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLB) capital stock with a book/adjusted carrying value (BACV) of $6.3m in 2020, up from $5.2bn in 2019, latest figures published by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) have shown

Results from the climate change stress tests carried out by the Autorité de contrôle prudentiel et de résolution show very modest financial impacts for French financial institutions, Fitch Ratings has said

The UK government is consulting on amendments to the insolvency arrangements for insurers, which would enable authorities to better manage insurer distress in an orderly manner

Royal London has announced the appointment of Vidur Bahree as group investment director

Fitch Ratings has revised its rating outlook for the US life insurance industry to stable from negative

SCOR CEO Denis Kessler has decided to relinquish, for personal reasons, his duties as CEO at the end of this current term of office, which is due to expire at the General Meeting of 30 June 2021

Climate scenario analysis will be key to net-zero success, BoE executive director Sarah Breeden, has said

ABI director general Huw Evans is to stand down from his current role at the end of the year

Italian insurance group Unipol Gruppo has selected the Moody’s Analytics Climate Pathway Scenario Service to facilitate its efforts to embed climate risk into its Own Risk and Solvency Assessment (ORSA)

Manulife Investment Management has named Christoph Schumacher as global head of real assets, private markets, responsible for defining the firm's private real assets strategy and growth of investment solutions

Phoenix Group Holdings has confirmed that it is in "advanced discussions" in respect of a potential sale of its European businesses, following rumours and press speculation

Vienna Insurance Group (VIG) has issued an update to its coal policy, following a report exposing its insurance of coal power plants in the Czech Republic and other EU countries

Total assets of China’s insurance companies amounted to RMB 24.3trn at the end of Q1 2021, up by 4.1% from the beginning of the year, latest figures have shown

Japan Post’s net income rose by 10.2% in the year to end-March 2021, its latest financial results have revealed

CNP Assurances has reported a consolidated SCR coverage ratio of 217% as at 31 March 2021 versus 208% at end-2020

Resolution Life has completed its recent round of capital raising, adding a further c.$1.6bn

Swiss Life Holding AG (Swiss Life Holding), Swiss Life (Liechtenstein) AG (Swiss Life Liechtenstein), Swiss Life (Singapore) Pte. Ltd (Swiss Life Singapore) and Swiss Life (Luxembourg) S.A. (Swiss Life Luxembourg), collectively known as the Swiss Life Entities, have admitted to conspiring with US taxpayers to hide assets and income in offshore accounts

Insurers are “predestined partners” for the green transformation of the economy and sustainable infrastructure, GDV general manager Jörg Asmussen has said

The US insurance industry reported $7.5trn in total cash and invested assets at year-end 2020, an increase of 7.7% compared to year-end 2019

Beazley has recorded an investment return of $27m for Q1 2021 compared to a loss of $55m in the same period last year

Aon and Willis Towers Watson (WTW) have signed a definitive agreement to sell Willis Re and a set of WTW corporate risk and broking, and health and benefits services, to Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (Gallagher) for $3.57bn

Aegon NV has reported a significant decline in net profit for Q1 2021, though still ahead of market expectations

Zurich’s Swiss Solvency Test (SST) ratio rose by 19 percentage points over Q1 2021 to 201%, driven by favourable market conditions and the successful placement of US$1.75bn of subordinated debt

The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has joined UN Environment Programme’s Principles for Sustainable Insurance Initiative (PSI)

KLP has secured “solid returns” of NOK 4.7bn in Q1 2021, with value-adjusted returns on customers’ funds of 1.5% and a book return of 1.4%

Everest Re has announced that Jim Williamson, executive vice president and group chief operating officer will assume additional responsibilities as the head of the Everest reinsurance division effective immediately

Aegon has announced that Maarten Edixhoven will step down as CEO of Aegon the Netherlands and member of the management board

Skandia is investing SEK 600m in a new bond issued by the City of Gothenburg

The general insurance industry in India is projected to grow from INR1.9trn (US$27.7bn) in 2019 to INR2.9trn (US$36.4 bn) in 2024, in terms of gross written premium (GWP), according to GlobalData

Italian total life and non-life premium income was €143.4bn in 2020, a decrease of 4.3% compared to 2019, according to Italy's IVASS

French net life insurance inflows were positive at +€1bn in March 2021, the French Insurance Federation (FFA) has said

Manulife has announced a net zero emissions by 2050 commitment across its full range of investments and operations

Metlife’s net investment income has been recorded at $5.3bn for Q1 2021, up 74% from Q1 2020, driven by increases in the estimated fair value of certain securities that do not qualify as separate accounts under GAAP and higher variable investment income primarily due to higher private equity returns

The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) has launched its 2021 insurance stress test for the European insurance market today

Storebrand has delivered a quarterly profit of NOK 870m in Q1 2021, driven by continued growth in assets under management (AUM) and insurance premiums

Insurers’ exposures to macro risks remain at a high level while all other risk categories remain at a medium level, according to EIOPA’s Risk Dashboard based on the fourth quarter of 2020 Solvency II data

Talanx has recorded a return on investment of 3.5% in Q1 2021, up from 2.7% a year earlier

Insurance Asset Management is delighted to present a must-attend day and evening of networking, discussion, and celebration of the UK and global insurance investment space; designed for insurance companies, providers and individuals alike

Allianz has become the majority shareholder in Jubilee General Insurance Limited in Kenya

Against a background of increased legislative and regulatory scrutiny of companies’ sustainability practices, investor pressure is emerging as another important driver of environmental, social and governance (ESG) action, particularly for reinsurers, new research from AM Best has suggested

Green bonds are the most popular choice of sustainable fixed-income options for institutional investors, according to NN Investment Partners (NN IP)

The International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) has progressed its work on the comparability assessment project – an initiative that will ascertain whether the Aggregation Method (AM) provides comparable outcomes to the Insurance Capital Standard (ICS)

Talanx Group is aiming to reduce CO2 intensity in its liquid investment portfolio by 30% by 2025, it has announced

Dutch insurers’ overall financial profiles were resilient to the coronavirus pandemic, Fitch Ratings has said

BNP Paribas Asset Management (BNPP AM) has appointed Olivier de Larouzière as chief investment officer for global fixed income

French insurers have been urged to speed up their response to climate change by France’s banking regulator (ACPR)

EIOPA has launched a consultation on Interbank Offered Rates (IBOR) transitions

Zurich took a 40-point hit on its solvency ratio over 2020, its Financial Condition Report 2020 has revealed

The risk management among UK life insurers of illiquid assets is of “particular concern” to the PRA, with latest figures showing MA portfolios have increased since the start of 2018 by 30%, to around £335bn

Finnish pension insurance company, Elo, returned close to €1bn in the first quarter of 2021, it has revealed

Varma recorded the best quarterly investment result in the company’s history in January-March 2021, with a return on investments at 6% ( Q1 2020: -10%) or €3bn and the total value of investments growing to €52.9bn

Just 27% of insurers are aligning their underwriting portfolios with a net zero carbon world, suggesting insurers’ transition plans are currently focused on their investments, new research published by CDP has shown

Aon is set to gain conditional EU antitrust approval for its pending $30bn mega-merger with Willis Towers Watson (WTW) without having to propose additional concessions, sources have told Reuters

The hedge fund industry is lagging its peers when it comes to integrating ESG investment factors, a new survey conducted by bfinance has found

Total premiums in the Austrian non-life insurance sector grew by 2.8% in 2020, down from 4.4% in 2019, but still higher than the country’s GDP growth

Arch Capital has confirmed it has not and will not issue any insurance policies covering the Adani Carmichael coal mine

New York Life has announced a $1bn impact investment initiative with the aim to address the racial wealth gap by investing in underserved and undercapitalised communities over the next three years with a focus on supporting small businesses, affordable housing, and community development

Hiscox has announced that Kevin Kerridge will succeed Steve Langan as CEO of Hiscox USA, effective from the 15th May 2021

AXA has allocated €2bn to the Prêts Participatifs Relance to strengthen SME capital in France

Generali Global Infrastructure (GGI) has appointed Jonathan Aiach as investor relations director

France’s non-life insurance segment SCR ratio decreased only slightly in 2020 to 265%, down from 270% at year-end 2019, due in part to strong ALM programmes that limit the impact of interest rate movements

Standard Life Aberdeen is to change its name to Abrdn

A short-term disruption in infrastructure investment as a result of COVID-19 is occurring, a report by Swiss Re has shown, however the reinsurer noted that the long-term trend has remained the same

Travelers has announced its commitment to become carbon neutral across its owned operations by 2030

Italian life and non-life insurers’ exposure to the country’s government debt “remains considerable”, despite efforts to reduce it, AM Best has said

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has released for consultation its draft guidance to banks, insurers and superannuation trustees on managing the financial risks of climate change

The calculated ultimate forward rate (UFR) in 2022 for the euro will be 3.45%, EIOPA has said

The European Commission (EC) has adopted a package of measures to help improve the flow of money towards sustainable activities across the European Union

Eighty-three per cent of global insurers now evaluate ESG in their investment processes, in comparison to just 32% in 2017, latest figures have shown

Russell Investments has pledged to manage carbon-neutral portfolios by 2050

HSBC Asset Management has appointed Paul Griffiths as its new global head of institutional business

BNP Paribas Asset Management (BNPP AM) has appointed Alex Bernhardt as global head of sustainability research within its sustainability centre

Seven of the world’s leading insurers and reinsurers, working together with the UN Environment Programme, are currently in the process of establishing a Net-Zero Insurance Alliance (NZIA)

Munich Re expects to report a preliminary net profit of around €600m for the first-quarter of 2021, which is significantly above analyst consensus, cited as €466m, and well above Q1 2020’s €221m

Around 25% of German life insurers rely on transitional measures to meet the solvency requirements under Solvency II, according to Germany’s Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin)

Using a total portfolio approach and active management of Chinese assets will allow institutional investors gain the long-term diversification and expected return benefits from adding these assets without a negative impact on their overall sustainability profile, new research has shown

The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) has issued an Opinion on the supervision of the use of climate change scenarios in the Own Risk and Solvency Assessment (ORSA) addressed to national supervisory authorities

Chinese life insurers’ credit exposure to defaults “remains a key risk” with rising defaults in China’s credit markets occurring, according to Fitch Ratings

Publicly traded US P&C insurers performed “unexpectedly well” in 2020 despite extraordinary negative factors, generating operating income of $82.1bn, according to a new AM Best special report

Swiss Re has reported a group solvency ratio of 215%, marking a decrease of 17 percentage points year-on-year, as measured by the Swiss solvency test (SST)

Invesco has been named as an alternatives partner for Canopius Group

UNIQA’s capital requirement ratio was measured at 170% on 31 December 2020, despite a sharp decline in interest rates

The life insurance industry in Malaysia is projected to grow from MYR50.70bn (US$11.98bn) in 2020 to MYR65.86bn (US$15.68bn) in 2025, in terms of gross written premium, according to GlobalData

Statutory capital for Fitch Ratings’ universe of life insurance companies grew 5.8% in 2020 to $437bn from $413bn as of year-end 2019

MassMutual will transition both its portfolio and operations to net zero, advancing a decarbonised economy

Länsförsäkringar's investments in green, social and thematic (sustainability-oriented) bonds on behalf of customers increased by approximately SEK 7.5bn in 2020

Canada Life has appointed Lindsey Rix as UK CEO following the departure of Doug Brown late last year

Tokio Marine Kiln (TMK) has publicly committed to not participate in ‘any future underwriting’ of Adani’s Carmichael coal mine and rail project

Willis Towers Watson Investments is targeting net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 at the latest, with at least a 50% reduction by 2030, in its fully discretionary delegated investment portfolios

Aviva Singlife Holdings Pte, the holding company established following the merger of Aviva and Singapore Life Pte, has appointed Kim Rosenkilde as group chief investment officer

The FCA is looking to consult “by mid-year” on proposals for TCFD-aligned disclosures by asset managers, life insurers and FCA-regulated pension providers

State Street Global Advisors (SSGA) has appointed Gerben Lagerwaard as head of continental Europe, global institutional group, effective immediately

Over two thirds of institutional investors (67%) expect the level of allocation into commodities to increase during 2021, according to new research with 150 European institutional investors and wealth managers with a combined AUM of $292.8bn

Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC) has appointed Macquarie Asset Management to manage a new US privately-sourced debt mandate

The Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA) is increasing its focus on climate change matters with the introduction of a regulatory and supervisory team specialising in the licensing
and supervision of innovative business model proposals to address climate change risk and the associated protection gap

The emergence of COVID-19 in 2020 added new challenges to publicly traded life/annuity (L/A) insurers and led to a 31% drop in net income to $14.3 billion, according to a new AM Best special report

New Zealand has become the first country to introduce a law requiring banks, insurers and investment managers to report the impacts of climate change on their business

Hiscox has appointed Robert Dietrich as the new CEO of Hiscox Europe

Athora’s assets under administration grew to €83bn during the year ending 31 December 2020, a rise of €68bn

Varma has invested €200m in the sustainable ETF by the global asset management firm BlackRock

Total capital dedicated to the global reinsurance industry measured US$658bn at year-end 2020 reflecting 7% year-on-year growth

Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance is planning to spend up to 500bn yen ($4.5bn) on mergers and acquisitions through 2023, creating an M&A fund with a focus on North America, Nikkei has learned

The European insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) has published the results from its yearly study on the modelling of market and credit risk (MCRCS)

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has released for consultation a package designed to address concerns regarding the increased use of offshore reinsurers by life insurers

BlackRock Real Assets has successfully achieved a US$4.8bn final close of Global Renewable Power Fund III (GRP III or the Fund) with commitments from over 100 institutional investors, including leading public and private pension funds, insurance companies, endowments, foundations and family offices from over 18 countries globally

Iberdrola and MAPFRE are collaborating closely in the energy area having signed a strategic alliance to make joint investments in renewable energies in Spain

MPs and peers have criticised LV= of being “less than candid” with its 1.25 million members about a £530m plan to sell the mutual insurer to Bain Capital

Aviva has completed a £26m bulk purchase annuity buy-in transaction with the trustees of the Association of British Insurers Pension & Assurance Scheme

Zurich Insurance Group (Zurich) subsidiary Farmers Group, Inc. (FGI) and Farmers Exchanges have completed the acquisition of MetLife’s property and casualty (P&C) business in the US for a purchase price of US$3.94bn

BlackRock has hired Paul Bodnar to lead its sustainable investing platform and its global initiative to help clients create more sustainable, more resilient investment portfolios

Campaigners are targeting Generali and Zurich in two separate appeals for climate action

Hungary's interior ministry has blocked a planned takeover of Dutch insurer Aegon's AEGN.AS Hungarian arm by Vienna Insurance Group (VIG) VIGR.VI

Amundi has entered into exclusive negotiations with Société Générale for the acquisition of Lyxor for a total cash consideration of €825m, or €755m excluding excess capital

The European CLO market has witnessed some of the busiest monthly activity in a decade due to favourable market conditions

A negative outlook on the UK non-life insurance segment has been maintained by AM Best

Crédito Agrícola Vida (CA Vida) will use Moody’s Analytics RiskIntegrity™ for IFRS 17 solution to address the new IFRS 17 accounting standard

AXA has announced the successful placement of €1bn of subordinated green bonds due 2041

French net life insurance inflows in February 2021 were positive at +€1.6bn, despite an uncertain economic and financial environment, the French Insurance Federation (FFA) has said

The structural demand growth of the bulk annuity market is likely to persist over the next three to five years, Fitch Ratings has said

Financial institutions, national competent authorities and market participants should prepare for an expected deterioration of asset quality in 2021, three European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) have said in their first joint risk assessment report of 2021

Institutional investors and sovereign wealth funds (SWF) gradually increased their exposure to risk assets as financial markets rebounded last year, according to new research

Folksam Group has published new climate targets for 2025 for its investment portfolios, where the climate footprint from equities, corporate bonds and real estate will be reduced by 29%

The United States and the United Kingdom have held the first meeting of the Joint Committee established under the U.S.-UK Agreement on Prudential Measures Regarding Insurance and Reinsurance (the Agreement)

Mercer has targeted net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 for UK, European and Asian clients with discretionary portfolios and the majority of its multi-client, multi asset funds domiciled in Ireland

Vaudoise has seen its turnover increase by 3.2% to 1.18bn Swiss francs

The vast majority of institutional investors and wealth managers plan to increase their exposure to alternative asset classes in the next two years

Lloyd's of London has reported a loss of £900m for 2020 following a surge in claims due to the coronavirus crisis

Zurich is implementing a 25% cut in carbon intensity planned for listed equity and corporate bond investments by 2025

A national supervisor’s focus on an insurer’s corporate governance structures should be risk-based and proportionate to the characteristics of each company, European insurers have argued

The Allstate Corporation has agreed to a transaction in which Wilton Re will pay $220m to acquire Allstate Life Insurance Company of New York

The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) has published a consultation document to seek views on what the board's priorities should be over the next five years

European institutional investors predict that inflows into Chinese fixed income will increase in 2021, according to a survey by NTree

BlackRock and Vanguard are among 43 investment firms managing more than $22.8trn of assets that are joining the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative, according to a statement today

China Life Insurance is looking to continue increasing its exposure to longer-term government bonds, but is concerned about a potential rise in onshore credit defaults

Legislative amendments on the group-wide supervision (GWS) framework and regulatory regime of insurance-linked securities (ILS) business have become effective today, Hong Kong’s Insurance Authority (IA) has said

AllianzGI has joined the Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative

Sun Life has over $60bn invested in assets and businesses that support the transition to a low-carbon and more inclusive economy

A letter spearheaded by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) is asking AIG, Berkshire Hathaway, Chubb, Liberty Mutual, Travelers and other US insurers to explain how their fossil fuel underwriting and investment policies align with their sustainability commitments

Aviva has agreed to sell its entire shareholding in Aviva Poland to Allianz for a cash consideration of €2.5bn

Cattolica Assicurazioni has seen its solvency ratio boosted from 161% to 187% as at 31 December 2020, thanks to the capital increase of €300m subscribed by Generali last October

Around 6% of Norwegian life insurance and non-life insurance companies’ equity and bond investments are climate sensitive, calculations made by Finanstilsynet have shown

French insurers had €2,658bn of assets under management last year, up slightly on 2019, the French Insurance Federation (FFA) has said

Aon has committed to net-zero carbon emissions by 2030

Green bond issuance has hit a new monthly record in March, boosted by sovereign issuance

State Street Corporation has announced that it has appointed Vincent Georgel-O’Reilly as regional segment head for alternatives in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA)

Vontobel Asset Management has announced the expansion of its fixed income team with four new hires across its Zurich and New York offices

Storebrand has issued a new 30.5NC10.5 €300m green subordinated bond issue with a fixed coupon of 1,875% p.a

The US life/annuity (L/A) insurance industry saw its net income cut nearly in half in 2020, to $24bn from $45bn

Italian insurer Generali has submitted a bid for the Polish assets of London-based insurer Aviva

The Hartford today announced that its board of directors has unanimously rejected rival insurer Chubb’s unsolicited proposal to acquire the US insurer for $23.24bn

The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) has shortlisted three candidates for the role of chairperson, replacing Gabriel Bernardino

A project investigating how it is possible to use AI and machine learning to find patterns between environmental indicators and environmental controversies is now underway, Länsförsäkringar Liv has said

The majority of Bermudian insurers have not planned or implemented changes to business strategy in response to climate change, but the vast majority have incorporated it as part of their risk management framework, a new report published by the Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA) has shown

New insurance regulations have been passed in Trinidad & Tobago after a decade of consideration, with some market participants believing this potentially could lead to some companies becoming acquisition targets in the long term

The Vienna Insurance Group (VIG) has joined the United Nations Global Compact – the world’s largest corporate responsibility and sustainability initiative

The life insurance industry in Australia is projected to decline at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 0.9% from AU$34.8bn (US$23.6bn) in 2020 to AU$33.3bn (US$22.7bn) in 2025, in terms of gross written premium (GWP), due to the macroeconomic challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic and structural reforms, according to GlobalData

The International Capital Markets Association (ICMA) has set up an ad hoc working group to discuss ESG transparency of asset-backed securities (ABS)

Vienna Insurance Group (VIG) has successfully placed sustainability senior notes with an aggregate principal amount of €500m with institutional investors in Austria and abroad

Chubb has approached rival The Hartford with an unsolicited $23.2bn takeover offer

The implementation of the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority's (EIOPA) latest proposals on the review of the Solvency II regulatory framework by the European Commission (EC), the European Council and the European Parliament could decrease the risk-taking capacity of EU insurers by around €60bn, Insurance Europe has argued

The total investment portfolio managed by insurers in Europe grew 4.2% to €10,433bn in 2019, after a 1.6% decline in 2018

The outlook for Italian life insurers has changed to stable from negative, following the easing of immediate pressure from the worsening financial market conditions in the first part of last year, Moody’s Investors Service has said

Sun Life has set a goal to invest an additional c.$20bn in sustainable investments over the next five years across its general account and third party investments

AM Best has become the first credit rating agency to become a signatory of the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) FI Principles for Sustainable Insurance (PSI)

Generali is studying an acquisition in Russia worth nearly €2bn ($2.4bn), Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore has reported

AIA is to pull out of all coal investments by 2028

The PRA favours a shift towards more rule-making as part of proposed reforms to the architecture of financial regulation as “we enter the brave new world of post-brexit Britain”, deputy governor for prudential regulation and chief executive officer of the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), Sam Woods has said

MAPFRE is foreseeing a solvency ratio close to 200%

The European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA) has provided six key recommendations as part of its response to the European Commission’s consultation on the creation of a European Single Access Point for financial and non-financial information publicly disclosed by companies

Proposed tightening of EU solvency rules have been criticised by a Danish industry association as they could limit investments, including those made as part of the green transition

Swiss Re has announced a carbon reduction target for its investment portfolio of 35% by 2025

Aviva has completed its tender offer for notes totalling £1bn, in a bid to reduce debt

Talanx saw its gross written premiums increase to €41.1bn for financial year 2020, up from €39.5bn a year earlier

MAPFRE is forecasting premium growth of 3% over 2021, as well as net earnings of more than €700m

Insurance Europe has said there is “no need” for a separate COVID-19 supervisory statement regarding the own risk and solvency assessment (ORSA)

Mexico’s insurance companies are expected to remain able to meet regulatory capital requirements despite a downswing in the credit quality of fixed income investments, which is being driven by action on the country’s sovereign debt rating and issues at its heavily indebted oil company

Zurich is ending relationships with its carbon-intensive clients, it has said

AXA has revealed that Antoine Gosset-Grainville will be the new chairman of its board of directors, effective April 2022, upon the retirement of current chairman Denis Duverne

The majority (79%) of institutional investors and wealth managers expect to see an increased allocation to metal exchange traded commodities (ETCs) over the next two years

The UN-convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance has welcomed Germany’s insurance industry association GDV as a supporting partner – the first insurance industry association to become a supporter of the Alliance

The European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA) has urged the European Commission (EC) to reflect the “game-changer” recommendations on sustainability reporting by the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG)

Leading European insurers are being urged to cease underwriting gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals in order to be in line with a 1.5°C pathway

Legal & General's operating profit dipped 3% to £2.22bn in 2020 from £2.29bn in 2019

The number of credit rating downgrades in the US P&C industry fell by more than half the number seen in the previous year, with affirmations also rising despite more-frequent disasters and pandemic spread, according to a new AM Best special report

Cécile Fresneau has been promoted to take the helm of QBE European operations’ insurance division, overseeing the business in Europe and international markets in addition to the UK

Eighty-five per cent of institutional investors and wealth managers who already have an allocation to Bitcoin plan to increase their investment in the cryptocurrency over the next two years

Asset managers face “significant” compliance costs to adapt to the new EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure rule which starts to take effect from today, a new report published by Bloomberg Intelligence (BI) has said

The Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC) has launched its Net Zero Investment Framework, with 21 asset owners using it to commit to achieve net zero alignment by 2050, or sooner.

The International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) is “committed” to delivering an Insurance Capital Standard (ICS) that is fit for implementation by supervisors by 2024

Vienna Insurance Group (VIG) has recorded a profit before taxes of €346m for 2020, at the upper end of the announced profit range of €300-350m

Hiscox is to eliminate its insurance, reinsurance and investment exposure to coal-fired power plants and coal mines

Ping An Insurance has grown to be the largest insurance company worldwide with total assets estimated at $1.25trn, contributing to the largest market cap out of life insurance companies - $187bn as of 2021

Direct Line has announced a 29.3% drop in investment income between FY 2019 and FY 2020

FactSet, a global provider of integrated financial information and analytical applications, and Chinese insurer Ping An, have announced a joint offering for investors considering ESG metrics for companies incorporated in China

French net life insurance inflows were recorded at €2bn in January 2021, almost four times higher than in December 2020

Absolute capital and surplus (C&S) within the US life/annuity (L/A) industry grew by 5% in the nine months to 30 September 2020, from the prior-year period, benefiting from positive, albeit significantly lower, earnings and a change in unrealised capital gains

Phoenix Group has recorded an operating profit of £1.2bn for 2020, up from £810m the year before

Phoenix Group CEO Andy Briggs is to chair a new board climate change committee for the Association of British Insurers (ABI) to help co-ordinate and drive collective focus on climate change and sustainability

German life insurers paid out over €10bn for mortgage loans for the first time in 2020, with the volume rising by 12.8%

Libor is to formally cease for most currencies by the end of the year, the FCA has said

China is set to become the largest global insurance market, attracting foreign insurers to invest in the country, GlobalData has said

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) has released its decisions in response to submissions received on the Insurance Solvency Standards Principles and Timeline consultation launched late last year

The UK government will issue its first sovereign green bond this summer, with a further issuance to follow later in 2021

BNP Paribas Asset Management has announced the appointment of Michael Herskovich as global head of stewardship within its sustainability centre

Aviva has announced its exit from Italy with the sale of the firm's remaining Italian life and general insurance businesses for £873m in cash

A new report, Aligning the Stars: Asset owners and energy investment toward net-zero, reveals the scale of investment opportunities for private capital in helping the Government to achieve its net-zero targets and those outlined in the energy white paper

The Italian government yesterday issued its inaugural green bond for an amount of €8.5bn and a maturity of 24 years

Hiscox has reported a loss before tax of $268.5m for 2020, following the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the economy

The European Data Protection Board (EDPB) should improve draft data breach guidelines to better reflect the risk-based nature of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Insurance Europe has argued

Beazley has announced the appointment of Adrian Cox as its new CEO, following Andrew Horton’s decision to leave the group

Swiss Life has reported an adjusted profit from operations of CHF 1.57bn in 2020, a figure that fell 5% compared to the previous year

Aegon has confirmed that it has successfully completed the divestment of Stonebridge to Global Premium Holdings group, part of Embignell group

Generali has announced three new appointments within its Group Chief Insurance & Investment Function and within its Asset & Wealth Management business unit

The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) has submitted its advice to the European Commission on the mandatory sustainability disclosure of insurers’ and reinsurers’ key performance indicators within the scope of the Non-Financial Reporting Directive

EIOPA’s proposal for regular reviews of parameters to ensure climate change is appropriately captured in Solvency II have been welcomed by European insurers

Aviva has announced its plan to become a net zero carbon emissions company by 2040

Varma has dramatically cut the share of fossil fuels in its investments in order to achieve a carbon-neutral investment portfolio by 2035

Wells Fargo is selling its asset management arm to GTCR and Reverence Capital Partners for $2.1bn

US investors collectively account for 58% of institutional investments in the global coal industry, making them them the single largest provider of institutional investment to companies on the Global Coat Exit List

The COVID-19 pandemic negatively affected the profitability of Norwegian life insurance companies, with the value-adjusted return in the collective portfolio recorded at 4.3% in 2020, down from 7.5% in 2019

The general insurance industry in Australia is projected to grow from AUD76.3bn (US$51.8bn) in 2020 to AUD98.0bn (US$66.9bn) in 2025, in terms of gross written premiums (GWP), according to GlobalData

Strong supply from insurers with substantial closed life insurance business books, and investor demand from specialist insurers and private equity are supporting further growth in the European life insurance consolidation market

Aviva has agreed to sell its entire 40% shareholding in its joint venture in Turkey, AvivaSA Emeklilik ve Hayat AS (Aviva SA), to Ageas Insurance International N.V. for a cash consideration of £122m

Institutional investors are pushing for greater diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) within their investments in private markets, a new white paper by Mercer has found

Lloyd’s of London insurer Brit will not insure Adani Enterprises' Carmichael thermal coal mine, it said today

Progress has been made across the insurance and long-term savings industry on female representation at the most senior level, according to new data from the Association of British Insurers (ABI)

Standard Life Aberdeen has announced a simplification and extension of its strategic partnership with Phoenix Group

Aviva has approved the sale of its French business for €3.2bn to Aéma Groupe

Supervisory action before an insurer breaches its solvency capital requirement (SCR) goes beyond Solvency II and creates an unlevel playing field in Europe, Insurance Europe has argued

The Association of British Insurers (ABI) believes that post-Brexit improvements to the Solvency II regulatory regime for the insurance and long-term savings sector could free up billions while upholding high level protections for customers.

A new analysis commissioned by the ABI, and produced by KPMG, has been published in response to the Government’s consultation on Solvency II and makes the case for cutting ‘EU red tape’ that could boost the UK economy and support the fight against climate change

Nearly half of US institutional investors are asking asset managers to report on the greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) and carbon intensity of a portfolio (46%) and security-level exposure to climate risk (46%), new research has shown

Total life and non-life premium income in the Italian insurance market was €100.2bn in September 2020, a decrease of 6.5% compared to September 2019

Asset risk at Sri Lankan insurers has increased due to the sovereign’s weaker credit profile and the consequent lowering of national ratings of some state-owned and private-sector institutions, Fitch Ratings has said

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) has released separate requests for proposal (RFP) for vendors to model expected losses on approximately 6,000 commercial mortgage backed securities (CMBS) and 24,000 residential mortgage backed securities (RMBS)

The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) has identified business model sustainability and adequate product design as two Union-wide strategic supervisory priorities relevant for national competent authorities (NCAs)

Allianz has posted its first fall in annual operating profit in nearly a decade

Insurance M&A is expected to surge in H1 2021, according to Clyde & Co, with the number of completed deals worldwide likely to surpass 220 in a six-month period for the first time since 2019

Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual) has become a signatory of the United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI)

Philippines-based life insurance company Cocolife will use the Moody’s Analytics RiskIntegrity for IFRS 17 solution to support its implementation of the new IFRS 17 accounting standard, Moody’s Analytics has announced

Zurich has appointed Dirk De Nil as CEO of Nordics, in addition to his current role as CEO Benelux, expanding his management responsibility in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region

AIG’s total consolidated net investment income for the fourth quarter of 2020 was $4bn compared to $3.6bn in the prior year quarter, with the increase driven by improved alternative investment returns

The insurance industry is making significant progress in disclosing its preparedness and response to climate change, according to the ClimateWise Principles Independent Review

The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) has published its 2021 Supervisory Convergence Plan

The UN-convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance has issued a call to asset managers to collaborate in driving the development of blended finance vehicles, with the aim of drastically ramping up investment in climate solutions

Skandia made a return of 3.8% on its traditional life portfolio in 2020, compared to 11% in 2019, it has revealed

Legal & General (L&G) Assurance Society has agreed a £570m pensioner buy-in deal with a Deutsche Bank pension scheme, representing the “first step” in the scheme’s de-risking strategy

Länsförsäkringar invested SEK 1.2bn in social bonds in 2020

The UK is investing £10m in a new national green finance research centre, the UK Centre for Greening Finance and Investment (CGFI), which will be funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and led by the University of Oxford

An insurance liquidity ratio (ILR) would have “limited value”, Insurance Europe has argued

French mutual insurer Macif has emerged as the frontrunner to acquire Aviva's insurance operations in the country

The volume of gross written premiums in the Romanian insurance market hit RON 11.5bn in 2020, increasing by 5% compared to the previous year

Canopius Group has announced that Neil Robertson has been appointed deputy group chief executive officer, with effect from 4 May 2021

Unipol Group significantly revised its asset allocation during 2020 to reduce the solvency ratio volatility, with the percentage of Italian government securities falling from 50.1% to 42.2% in the portfolio and the sale of some risky equity investments in favour of “core Europe” government securities, high-rated corporate bonds and real assets

MetLife Investment Management has announced that Jingsu Pu has rejoined the firm as global head of insurance strategy & solutions and head of Institutional Client Group (ICG), Asia, excluding Japan

Insurers are not to expect any big reductions in capital requirements after Brexit, BoE executive director for insurance Anna Sweeney has said, adding that more capital could be “part of the answer” to meeting a £1.7bn bill for COVID-19 claims.

“We are committed to upholding the principles of Solvency II – they are our principles, and given the amount invested by firms in implementing the Solvency II regime, we see no appetite to tear them up and start again,” Sweeney commented

The German Insurance Association (GDV) has joined the global investor initiative PRI as a network supporter

Aegon has reported a net loss of €147m in H2 2020, mainly as a result of an increase of the value of liabilities in the Netherlands due to tightening credit spreads, reversing the movement seen in the first half of the year

Zurich’s business operating profit (BOP) is down 20% to $4.2bn, driven by COVID-19-related impact and higher catastrophe losses

The investigation into Aon’s $30bn bid for Willis Towers Watson has been suspended by EU antitrust regulators while they wait for the US insurance broker to provide data required for the case

Aegon's supervisory board will propose to the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders in June 2021 to reappoint Matt Rider as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for a four-year term

The European Commission (EC) must strike the right balance between the benefit of greater transparency and the burden it would impose on companies if it decided to establish an EU-level legal framework for sustainable corporate governance

Storebrand aims to reduce direct GHG emissions from total equity, corporate bonds and real estate investments by 32% by 2025, as well as increase investments in solution companies by 15% in the same period

EIOPA has warned of an increase in credit, market and underwriting risks over the next 12 months, reflecting concerns over second lockdowns due to new waves of the pandemic as well as potential cliff effects once fiscal support measures will be over

The European Commission’s (EC) consultation on the overall objective of creating a single market for data has been welcomed by Insurance Europe, but calls for clarifications on scope remain

The private US P&C insurance industry reported a 27.5% drop in net income during the first nine months of 2020 to $35.1bn, according to data analytics provider Verisk and the American Property Casualty Insurance Association (APCIA)

The European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA) supports the European Commission’s initiative to ensure environmental and social interests are fully embedded into business strategies, however has said its consultation paper portrays a fundamental opposition between the interests of shareholders and those of stakeholders

Scottish Widows is intending to halve the carbon footprint of all its £170bn investments by 2030 in its path to net zero by 2050

Talanx Group has generated net income of €673 (923)m in financial year 2020, based on preliminary unaudited consolidated figures, despite coronavirus claims expenses payable to clients

MPs are to investigate the £530m potential sale of LV= to private equity firm Bain Capital amid fears that policyholders and members could lose out

Beazley has seen its net investment income fall by 29% from $263.7m for year ended 31 December 2019 to $188.1m for year ended 31 December 2020

The Hartford has recorded Q4 2020 consolidated net investment income of $556m, increasing from $53m from Q4 2019 as higher income from LPs and other alternative investments was partially offset by lower income from fixed maturities

Total insurance M&A deals in Q4 2020 worth US$4.57bn were announced in the US, a decrease of 5.2% over the previous quarter and 5.6% on the last four-quarter average, according to GlobalData

Ping An Insurance has seen its investment portfolio of insurance funds grow by 16.6% from the beginning of 2020 to RMB 3.74trn as of 31 December 2020

Australia’s general insurance (GI) industry generated a 3.2% return on net assets in the year to June 2020, significantly below the 10-year average of 12.4%

Pandemic-related actions drove a 45% rise in the number of western European insurance rating actions taken in 2020, compared with 2019, Fitch Ratings has said

MetLife’s net investment income has risen by 13% from the fourth quarter of 2019 to $5.2bn, primarily driven by higher private equity returns

"A single supervisory mechanism for insurance is needed", EIOPA chair Gabriel Bernardino has said

Legal & General has completed a record global number of bulk annuity transactions in 2020 across its US and UK Pension Risk Transfer (PRT) businesses, with over 60 deals worth over £8bn

Cattolica Assicurazioni’s board of directors have analysed the insurer’s preliminary consolidated results for 2020 and approved a rolling plan for the years 2021-2023

French life insurance net inflows for December 2020 were +€550m compared to -€30m in November

CNP Assurances has today set itself climate targets for 2025

Hong Kong-based insurer AIA is rumoured to have bid for the life insurance operation of Bank of East Asia (BEA)

EIOPA’s proposed amendments to the Solvency II capital regime for insurers would make insurers’ regulatory capital ratios more economic and more truly reflective of the risks insurers face, if introduced in their current form, Moody’s has said

ETFs gathered net flows of more than $500bn in 2020, latest research has shown

Aviva Investors has announced its Climate Engagement Escalation Programme, focused on its investments in 30 ‘Systemically Important Carbon Emitters’

Prudential is considering raising equity of $2.5-$3bn in either Hong Kong, London or both, after it has concluded the demerger of its US business in Q2 2021

QBE is consolidating its global reinsurance underwriting within its London unit under the leadership of QBE Europe’s managing director of global reinsurance Stephen Postlewhite

The Insurance Capital Standard (ICS) should only be considered for implementation if all major jurisdictions commit to it, Insurance Europe has said

The three European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) have launched a public consultation to amend the Implementing Regulations on the mapping of credit assessments of External Credit Assessment Institutions (ECAIs) for credit risk

Afa Försäkring has announced it invested SEK 97m into R&D projects relating to COVID-19 in 2020

J.P. Morgan has announced a £500m investment in property finance platform, LendInvest, for future mortgage originations

Despite the challenges faced by the reinsurance sector in 2020 and the slow start to insurtech funding for the year, global investment in the sector reached a new accumulated annual high of $7.1bn for 2020, according to findings from Willis Towers Watson (WTW)

The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) has published its annual report on the use of capital add-ons during 2019

Allianz has confirmed it has received approvals from the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission to establish an asset manager in China

MEAG has announced it is investing €150m to refinance a portfolio of 13 solar PV parks in central and southern Spain, alongside three other partners

US life/annuity and property/casualty insurance companies have ramped up their investments in collateralised loan obligations (CLO) by 77% since 2016, new data has revealed

Skandia has reported returns of 3.2% in 2020 and average returns of 6% over the past 15 years

The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China (the HKSAR Government has announced the successful offering of US$2.5bn of green bonds under the Government Green Bond Programme

W.R. Berkley has recorded an all-time record net income of $312.2m in Q4 2020.

According to its latest financial results, W.R. Berkley said the net income was driven by a 9% growth in gross premiums written

German insurance companies concluded the past financial year with a premium increase of 1.2% to €220.1bn across all lines, according to German Insurance Association, GDV

BlackRock is to start pushing companies to disclose their own plans to achieve net zero and eliminate greenhouse gases by 2050, CEO Larry Fink wrote in his annual letter to corporate leaders

The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) published today the second paper in a series of papers on the methodological principles of insurance stress testing

Prudential Financial has appointed Caroline Feeney as CEO of its US insurance & retirement businesses

Collaborations with Chinese insurance companies by foreign asset managers seeking to expand in China may still be difficult, Moody’s has said, despite policymakers in the country lifting limits on foreign ownership of fund management firms in April 2020 aimed at opening up the growing asset management sector

European Long-Term Investment Funds (ELTIF) can be made more attractive to institutional investors by revising the regulatory framework in terms of fund design, portfolio composition and diversification, as well as eligibility of investment assets, Insurance Europe has argued

The global reinsurance market is expected to grow from $402.35bn in 2020 to $435.09bn in 2021 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.1%

CNP Assurances is part of a consortium acquiring a 50% equity interest in Orange Concessions, a company established by Orange to consolidate its fibre investments in 23 public initiative networks in France, with a perimeter of more than 4.5 million households

Japanese life insurers' capital is increasingly being used for overseas corporate bond investments in order to take on credit risk

The China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) has issued the Reform Plan on the Main Supervisory Responsibilities of Life Insurance Companies (the Plan) in order to further strengthen the supervision of life insurance, coordinate supervisory resources, improve supervisory efficiency, and promote the streamlining administration and delegating power

Nippon Life has announced its issuance of US dollar-denominated subordinated notes for a principal amount of $1.6bn

Aviva’s managing director, UK commercial lines & global corporate & specialty, Patrick Tiernan is moving to Lloyd’s of London to take on a newly created role

Current annual cohort issues should not block the endorsement of IFRS 17 in the EU and can instead be addressed later as part of a post implementation review, Insurance Europe has said

Aviva is expanding its investments in fintech and insurtech through a new collaboration with venture capital firm Anthemis

Blackstone has hired Michael Hovey as a senior managing director to lead acquisitions and strategic partnerships for Blackstone Insurance Solutions (BIS)

American insurance company Travelers has seen its pre-tax net investment income rise 10% to $677m, aided by gains in its non-fixed income investment portfolio

The sector outlook for the Italian life insurance market in 2021 is worsening compared to actual fundamentals in 2020, Fitch Ratings has said

Assets under management within the private infrastructure space will be driven to higher levels and new strategies will proliferate in 2021, new research has stated

Talanx Group is expanding its sustainable infrastructure with a €125m investment in Metro line 9 in Barcelona

Vienna Insurance Group’s (VIG) managing board has initiated the issuance of a €500m sustainability bond

The life insurance direct written premium in Taiwan is projected to grow from TW$3trn in 2019 to TW$3.6trn in 2024, according to GlobalData

Varma Pension Insurance Company (Varma) has invested US$240m (€196m) in Nordea’s sustainable investment fund that invests in the emerging markets

Bermuda’s (re)insurance companies raised around $7.7bn of capital in 2020/2021, including common and preferred equity, various debt securities and drawdown on credit facilities

Life insurer AIA Australia has signalled its intent to take on the Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s (CBA) life insurance and investments business (CommInsure Life)

Schroders has hired Natalie Howard to lead its new real estate debt platform

Storebrand has hired Kamil Zabielski as head of sustainable investments

Chubb has announced its executive vice president and chief financial officer Philip Bancroft plans to retire from the company on 1 July after 19 years of service

The risk of asset bubbles, price instability, commodity shocks and debt crises feature prominently in the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) latest Global Risks Report

The world’s leading insurers and the UN Environment Programme have unveiled ‘state-of-the-art’ approaches to assessing climate-related physical, transition and litigation risks

Intact Financial Corporation has received unconditional approval for its takeover of RSA by Canadian regulators

Insurance Europe has welcomed the European Commission’s European Single Access Point (ESAP) initiative for financial and non-financial information disclosed by companies

The world's 30 largest asset management groups were found to be - through their equity holdings - between 8% and 27% deviated from a Paris-aligned target, with variations arising due to geographic differences in markets they operate in

Canopius Group is planning a flotation on the London Stock Exchange that could value it at more than £2bn

Cattolica Assicurazioni’s board of directors has started to work on a remedy plan following the Institute for the Supervision of Insurance’s (IVASS) inspection into governance structures and risk management systems

AXIS Capital will not provide insurance coverage or investment support to projects related to exploration, drilling, or the production of oil and gas in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

Just Group has reduced its exposure to the UK property market by selling £540m of lifetime mortgages balances in December and completed a third hedge to cover £280m of lifetime mortgages

Allianz has announced for the first time concrete interim targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in its investment portfolio of policyholder funds, implementing its stated goal of climate neutrality by 2050

The Mexico government’s recent 50-year bond issuance may offer an attractive, long-term interest rate alternative intended to maintain investor confidence and reinforce the country’s capital inflows and liquidity, according to a new AM Best commentary

For the first three quarters of 2020, US insurers net acquired about $180bn in bonds in terms of total price paid, according to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners

Supervisors should support insurers in helping to facilitate the transition to sustainability, Insurance Europe has argued

Achmea has sharpened its investment policy by further reducing investments in polluting and CO2-intensive companies

Thirty-three of the world’s largest investors, representing $5.1trn of assets under management, have committed to setting and reporting on 2025 targets to support the transition to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050

The Association of Bermuda Insurers and Reinsurers (ABIR) has announced its biennial election of officers for 2021-2022

Aviva Investors, the global asset management business of Aviva, has published its net zero pathway for its Real Assets business as part of the Better Buildings Partnership Climate Change Commitment

Zurich has announced the successful placement of US$1.75bn of dated subordinated notes

Schroders has appointed Chantale Pelletier as global head of infrastructure in private assets to lead the growth and development of the firm’s infrastructure investment platform

Vontobel has strengthened its emerging markets (EM) fixed income team with four new appointments across its Zurich and Hong Kong offices, including a strategist/portfolio manager and three new analysts

The overall P&C segment in the US has “sufficient capital” entering 2021 to weather “moderate investment losses” and a “continuation of elevated catastrophe losses”, the Kroll Bond Rating Agency (KBRA) has said

American Equity Investment Life Holding Company (American Equity) has announced that Tolga Uzuner will become chief investment officer (CIO), asset management

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) has named its 2021 committee chairs and vice chairs

European insurers are calling for regulatory clarity on outsourcing and third-party relationships

Storebrand has launched a new real estate fund focusing on robust cash flows and sustainable assets

Achmea is expanding its presence in Slovakia by the acquisition of insurance company Poštová poisťovňa

Nippon Life, together with National Australia Bank (NAB), has resolved to inject capital into MLC Life through a third-party allotment

European life insurers’ solvency ratios are expected to fall by around five percentage points (ppts) and by close to 10 ppts in an adverse scenario similar to the credit crisis of 2000-2001, thus leading to an increase in capital requirements, Moody’s has said.

In an extreme scenario where all bonds are downgraded by three notches, solvency ratios could fall by more than 30 ppts, Moody’s added

A call for expression of interest by the European Commission for the appointment of members of the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) Board of Appeal for the financial services sector has been launched.

Four major Japanese life insurers do not invest in or extend loans to producers of nuclear weapons or companies related to them as part of their efforts toward socially responsible investing

Assets managed by insurers and pensions funds in the Netherlands increased to €2,112bn at the end of the third quarter of 2020, higher than before the coronavirus crisis

The global ETF market finished 2020 at a record high of $7.6trn across 6,518 ETFs, latest data has revealed

Memoranda of understanding (MoUs) between EIOPA and all NCAs of the EEA with competencies in insurance, and the BoE in its capacity as the PRA and the FCA of the UK, have now taken effect

Sun Life has completed its 51% majority stake acquisition of Crescent Capital Group (Crescent), a global alternative credit investment manager

AIG Life has appointed Neil Davis as commercial director following partnership director Nicola Dryden’s decision to leave

The scenes of mob violence seen in Washington have been comdemned by US insurers

The PRA has today published a consultation paper (CP) setting out its approach to deep, liquid and transparent (DLT) assessments and the transition of Solvency II technical information (TI) from LIBOR to SONIA in 2021

UnitedHealth Group has been ranked the world’s number one largest insurance company for a sixth straight year, with $189.7bn in net premiums written (NPW)

Climate change scenario analysis should only be included in an insurer’s own risk & solvency assessment (ORSA) if it actually faces material climate risks, European insurers have said

Mercer has announced the launch of climate transition analytics and advice for institutional investors who want to transition to a 1.5°C scenario of global warming as outlined in the Paris Agreement

Chief executive officers from AIG, Guardian Life and MetLife are all urging U.S. Congress to certify the electoral results for President-elect Joe Biden

The sector outlooks for most life insurance markets are worsening, reflecting the higher risk of fallout from the coronavirus pandemic in 2021, as the effects of defaults, write-downs and even lower interest rates take greater hold, Fitch Ratings has said

Net inflows in the French life insurance space were recorded at -€30m for November 2020, compared to -€154m for October

W. R. Berkley expects to report a realised pre-tax net gain of around $105m from the sale of one of its real estate investments, keeping with the company’s long-term strategy of investing for total return in order to continue delivering superior long-term value creation to shareholders despite a low interest rate environment

Catastrophe bond issuance in 2020 reached a record high, as the market saw over $11bn of pure property cat bonds issued for the first time

Aviva has appointed Mark Versey as chief executive of Aviva Investors

As 2020 draws to a close, Insurance Asset Management takes a look back at some of the biggest and most-read stories from the year

Singapore’s general insurance market is forecast to contract by 1.9% in 2020, compared to the 6.7% growth registered in 2019, according to GlobalData

Investment risk remains a key credit risk for US life insurers owing to their high exposure to fixed income securities, in particular corporate bonds, Moody’s Investors Service has said

UK life insurers could allocate up to £170bn to illiquid investments over the next decade, Fitch Ratings has said

The General Association of the German Insurance Industry (GDV) is pressing for the principle of proportionality to be taken even more into account when reforming Solvency II (SII)

The life insurance written premium in the Asia-Pacific region is projected to grow from US$1.2trn in 2019 to US$1.5trn in 2023

Groupama has announced the signing of an agreement by its Hungarian subsidiary Groupama Biztosito, to acquire the Croatian insurance company, OTP Osiguranje, owned by OTP Bank

The global green bond market will grow by €300bn in 2021, reaching €1trn, according to forecasts by NN Investment Partners (NN IP)

Farmers Group has announced the promotion of Maïté Irakoze Baur to the role of chief investment officer effective 1 January 2021

The European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB) has extended its recommendation on restricting dividends paid by financial institutions during the COVID-19 pandemic until 30 September 2021

Pension scheme buy-ins and buyouts could reach £30bn in 2021, with a further £25bn of longevity swaps alongside this, according to forecasts from Willis Towers Watson (WTW)

EIOPA’s proposals on Solvency II (SII) reform and current market conditions is expected to hit Dutch insurer, NN Group’s, SII ratio

Liquidity risk for the European insurance sector is not expected to significantly increase in the next 12 months, EIOPA has said