MetLife Insurance Cos. saw its total life insurance issued jump by 93% in 2021 to $301.44bn, moving it up five spots to top a list of carriers ranked by that metric, according to a Best’s Ranking report looking back on the prior year’s performance, according to this week’s BestWeek

Phoenix Group recorded £1.6bn of bulk purchase annuity (BPA) premiums in H1 2022 across six transactions, a 280% increase on the same period in 2021, according to the group's half-year results

Bulk annuity insurers are currently reporting the “strongest pipeline of annuity auctions for some years” and pension schemes may need to compete harder amid insurer capacity concerns, according to Aon’s latest UK Risk Settlement Bulletin

The Insurance Asset Management Awards 2022 shortlist has been announced

The Boots Supplementary Pension Plan has completed a £50m full scheme buy-in with Legal & General (L&G) Assurance Society, covering the retirement benefits of more than 110 members

Aegon has forecast full-year operating capital generation of around €1.4bn ($1.44bn), from about €1.2bn previously

Just Group has invested £466m in illiquids in H1 2022, including infrastructure, private placements, social housing, commercial mortgages, ground rents and income strips

The American Property Casualty Insurance Association (APCIA) has reiterated its strong support for the US-developed aggregation method (AM) for group capital assessment

M&A transactions in the global reinsurance sector will be limited into 2023 amid investor concerns over macroeconomic risks and heightened catastrophe losses linked to climate change, Fitch Ratings has said

Aviva’s adjusted operating profit rose by 14% in the six months to 30 June from £725m to £829m

L&G has confirmed it has a “strong and active” risk reduction pipeline of around £25bn

Exposure drafts of the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) proposed by the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) should be “simplified” to be “operationally practical” according to Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM)

Eighty per cent of institutional investors in Europe are requesting data on their exposure to energy transition risks and physical climate risks, according to Cerulli Associates

Berkshire Hathaway has reported a $43.8bn loss in Q2 2022, due to tumbling US stock prices

South Africa’s oldest non-life insurer, Old Mutual Insure, has selected Sapiens to provide it with an enterprise-wide consolidated view of the organisation’s data and to support its reporting and analytics needs

WH Smith Pension Trust has completed a £1bn full scheme buy-in with Standard Life, insuring the liabilities of 12,950 members

The Bank of England (BoE) has confirmed a further increase to its base rate to 1.75%

US insurers had $647.7bn in book/adjusted carrying value (BACV) of mortgage loans at year-end 2021, which was a 3% increase from $626.5bn in BACV at year-end 2020

Phoenix Group has announced that it is to acquire Sun Life UK from Sun Life Financial for £248m, subject to regulatory approvals

MetLife’s net income for Q2 2022 fell to $103m from $3.4bn in Q2 2021, with net investment income down by 32% to $3.6bn

Swiss Re has announced the launch of its new investment advisory company and wholly owned subsidiary Swiss Re Insurance-Linked Investment Advisors Corporation (SRILIAC), a SEC registered investment adviser

Robeco has appointed David Thomas as senior portfolio manager to complement the investment team of the forthcoming RobecoSAM Biodiversity strategy

AXA’s gross revenues rose to €55bn in H1 2022, up 1% from H1 2021’s €53.8bn.
Its underlying earnings hit €3.9bn for the quarter, up 4% (+7% organic growth and -3% from disposals) from H1 2021’s $3.6bn

Hiscox has reported an investment result loss of $214.1m for H1 2022 compared to a profit of $61.9m a year earlier, due to interest rates rising sharply, credit spreads widening and equity markets selling off

Aflac has reported net investment gains of $564m for Q2 2022, compared to $89m a year ago, with the latest result driven by net gains from certain derivatives and foreign currency activities of $618m and net gains from sales and redemptions of $15m, both driven by foreign exchange

Generali’s net result fell to €1,402m in H1 2022, compared to €1,540m in H1 2021, due to impairments on Russian investments

EIOPA has published the final version of the application guidance on climate change materiality assessments and climate change scenarios in the Own Risk and Solvency Assessment (ORSA)

Athora has completed the acquisition of Italian life insurer, Amissima Vita

Insurers’ exposures to macro, market and digitalisation risks are currently the main concern for the insurance sector, EIOPA’s latest Risk Dashboard based on Solvency II data from Q1 2022 has shown

Schroders has appointed Whitney Sweeney as investment director, sustainability, in its investment team

Swiss Re has returned to profitability in Q2 2022, with a net income of US$405m, as a result of strong results in life and health reinsurance and corporate solutions, as well as robust underwriting performance in P&C resinsurance

Liberty Mutual Insurance has completed its acquisition of Malaysian insurer AmGeneral Insurance Berhad (AmGeneral) following the receipt of regulatory approval in Malaysia and signing a purchase and sale agreement with AmBank Group (AmBank)

Cattolica Assicurazioni’s CEO Carlo Ferraresi will resign as director and CEO of the company on 1 September 2022 to assume the position of group chief risk officer at Assicurazioni Generlai S.p.A

Voluntary disclosures as part of the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) are “not very detailed” the Joint Committee of the three European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) has said

Ping An has upgraded its proprietary ESG evaluation system to meet the group’s rising demand for high quality ESG scoring data

Eighty-five per cent of institutional investors are concerned about further rises in interest rates in the fixed income market, with 80% also worried about rising inflation

Skandia has reported total returns amounting to -4.8% for H1 2022 compared to 10% in the same period last year, according to its latest financial figures

Gothaer has begun an exclusive cooperation with solar supplier Ecoplant, as part of an initiative launched at the end of 2021 to support small and medium-sized companies in the energy transition

The value adjusted return (including unrealised value changes) of Norwegian life insurance companies in Q1 2022 was -2.7%, down from 5.3% in the same period in 2021, according to the Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway (Finanstilsynet)

European investors are turning to infrastructure investments, including indirect exposure via equities, amid rising inflation, according to Cerulli

CNP Assurances is to acquire Swiss Life’s 34% stake in Assuristance, the holding company of Filassistance International

A consortium of Crédit Agricole Assurances (CAA) and Vauban Infrastructure Partners (Vauban), along with Telefónica Group are to establish Bluevia Fibra S.L. (Bluevia), a new fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) company in Spain, for €2.5bn

Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC) has concluded a full scheme buy-in with the trustee of the Medway Packaging Pension Scheme, covering £52m of liabilities for 425 pensioners and 150 deferred members

Chesnara has announced the acquisition of the insurance portfolio of Nederlandsche Algemeene Maatschappij van Levensverzekering "Conservatrix" N.V. (Conservatrix), a specialist provider of life insurance products in the Netherlands that was declared bankrupt on 8 December 2020

Beazley’s H1 2022 pre-tax profits have fallen by 87% to $22.3m compared with a profit of $167.3mn for the first half of 2021, which it said was partly due to $193m in investment losses driven by an “unusual” trading environment.

Thailand’s insurance industry is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 4.7% from THB890.4bn ($27.8bn) in 2021 to THB1,1129.3bn ($36.1bn) in 2026, in terms of GWP, according to GlobalData

The High Court has ruled that the Government’s net-zero strategy as it currently stands breaches the Climate Change Act and needs to be strengthened

Current Solvency II proposals published by the UK government would not achieve the suggested release of 10-15% of capital for re-investment, according to the ABI

US insurance companies invested $45.4bn in ETFs as of year-end 2021, up by 15% from 2020, according to latest figures published by S&P Dow Jones Indices

Robeco has expanded its sustainable multi-asset solutions team with the appointment of Aliki Rouffiac as sustainable portfolio manager

French insurer, INTÉRIALE Mutual, has selected Clearwater Analytics to streamline its investment accounting operations

Mortgage loan holdings for the US life insurance industry grew by 6.6% in 2021, to $639.8bn, in line with the 10-year average, after depressed growth of 3.8% in 2020, according to AM Best

Environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing and reporting is facing existential questions associated with a lack of standardisation, regulation and common purpose

Direct Line’s solvency capital ratio fell by an estimated 7 percentage points in H1 2022 due to the mark to market effect of widening credit spreads on the group’s investment portfolio

Denmark’s Topdanmark has reported a loss on investments of DKK 437m in the first half of 2022

LV= chief executive Mark Hartigan has confirmed his intention to step down as interim chief executive and a member of the board

AXA Germany has entered into an agreement with Athora Germany to sell a portfolio of €16bn of life and pensions insurance reserves in Germany

Buy-in and buyout market volumes are expected to be around £25bn in the second half of 2022, analysis from Hymans Robertson has revealed

The life insurance industry in India is set to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.3% from INR 7trn ($92.3bn) in 2021 to INR 11.4trn ($150.6bn) in 2026, in terms of gross written premums, GlobalData has said

The general insurance market in Taiwan is set to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.4% from TWD220.2bn ($25.5 billion) in 2021 to TWD286.9bn ($31.3bn) in 2026, in terms of gross written premiums (GWP), GlobalData has estimated

European insurance premiums in 2021 grew beyond pre-pandemic levels in most of the 27 markets included in a new report by Insurance Europe

A record-breaking total premium volume of over $7trn in nominal terms by year-end 2022 in the annual world insurance market, has been forecast by Swiss Re, with strong global insurance market growth in both 2022 and 2023 expected

Increasing yields and rising inflation may put pressure on European insurers’ private investment programs in the short term, but increased market volatility, regulatory requirements, and growing ESG reporting standards may create opportunities for asset managers, according to Cerulli

Volatility in Dutch insurers’ Solvency II ratios is expected to increase, Fitch Ratings had said, due to the insurers’ exposure to fluctuating equity and real-estate prices, widening credit spreads, and potential credit deterioration

IAG, Australia and New Zealand’s largest general insurer, has joined the United Nations convened Net-Zero Insurance Alliance (NZIA) as part of its overall commitment to achieving net-zero

Legal & General's estimated solvency ratio at 30 June has been noted at around 215%, up at least 25 percentage points from the year-end 2021 figure, as a result of higher interest rates and strong cash flows from its businesses

Storebrand’s reported solvency ratio for Q2 2022 is expected to be around 195%

Groupama has allocated 100% of its first green subordinated instrument valued at €500m to green projects, including green buildings, infrastructures, and forests

Fitch Ratings has published a Global Insurance Regulatory Field guide, covering insurance regulatory requirements across 45 jurisdictions and highlights the issues likely to be of relevance to users of both its Insurer Financial Strength ratings, and ratings of debt and hybrid instruments issued by (re)insurers

Brexit provides the UK insurance industry with an opportunity to rewrite the insurance regulations inherited from the EU, and boost investment in the economy, but should not be treated as a “free lunch”, BoE deputy governor Sam Woods has argued

European insurers are adopting differing approaches to going green, with size and location among the factors at play, according to Cerulli’s July 2022 issue of The Cerulli Edge – Global Edition

Impact investing is now viewed among the key pillars of sustainable investing, alongside integration and positive screening, Schroders Institutional Investor Study 2022 has found

The average revenue growth of the top 20 global public insurance companies by revenue in 2021 stood at 9.5% while the total premiums earned growth rate was 8%

IFRS 17 will not affect insurers’ business models in the near term, Fitch Ratings has said, with the ratings agency arguing that Dutch insurer ASR’s recent accounting announcement supports this

Cattolica's chief investment officer Massimo Di Tria has been appointed chief financial officer of asset and wealth management at Generali

Insurers have a “big tool kit” at their disposal to respond to inflation, for example through inflation-linked investments, reserve adjustments, repricing of risk, product innovation, productivity increases and loss prevention, the annual meeting of the Geneva Association Economic Forum (GAEF) heard recently

Baloise Group has successfully placed a CHF 110m senior green bond due in July 2028 in alignment with its existing Green Bond Framework

AXA is further committing to its membership of the Ocean Risk and Resilience Action Alliance (ORRAA)

Mexico’s general insurance industry is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.5%, from $18.2bn in 2021 to $26.1bn in 2026, according to latest figures published by GlobalData

French insurer, Macif, is excluding from its future investments the main companies developing new oil and gas production capacities, as well as those whose turnover is more than 5% from unconventional hydrocarbons

Columbia Threadneedle has completed the rebrand of BMO Global Asset Management (EMEA), bringing together its products and savings plans, website and legal entities under a single global brand

Reinsurance buyers faced “a near-perfect storm” during the renewals period in June, a report published by Aon has stated

Phoenix Group has invested €60m in Italian gas network, Societa Gasdotti Italia S.p.A (SGI)

AXA UK has announced that Scott Wheway has decided to step down as Chairman of the Board

Allianz has announced a new multi-year partnership with cyber insurance and security provider, Coalition

Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC) has announced it is making a commitment to invest up to £200m in equity to fund the development and operation of around 10 new retirement communities across the UK

Insurance Europe has welcomed the European Commission’s proposals for a new EU system to avoid double taxation

Prolonged uncertainty about the investment environment in China could lower capital efficiency and reduce the effectiveness of policy moves toward market liberalisation, Moody's Investors Service has stated

Helvetia Group has increased its stake in Caser by around 10% and now owns 80% of the Spanish insurer

The new EU covered bond directive and associated amendments to national laws will strengthen credit standards for Spanish, Italian, French and German covered bonds, Moody’s has stated

The FCA’s changes to MiFID II research rules have left investors unclear as to how they implement them practically, the European Leveraged Finance Association (ELFA) has warned

Hiscox has confirmed the appointment of Stéphane Flaquet as the group’s chief operating officer

Germany’s non-life insurers are continuing to demonstrate their resilience to natural catastrophe events, Fitch Ratings has stated

The Sovereign Wealth Fund of Gabon (FGIS) has joined the UN-convened Net-zero Asset Owner Alliance

Phoenix Group has provided £90m of long-term funding by means of a private placement to regulated social housing provider, Alliance Homes

Gallagher has announced it is expanding into Ireland with the acquisition of INNOVU Group Holding Company Limited

Nippon Life Insurance Company has announced a ¥20bn investment in the Nissay Japanese Equity Climate Transition Strategy Fund

Zurich has agreed to sell its legacy traditional life insurance back book in Germany to Viridium Holding AG

AM Best has revised its outlook on Japan’s life insurance market segment to stable from negative, as overall business conditions for the life insurers have improved compared to earlier stages of the COVID-19 pandemic

Legal & General has completed a c.£21m full-scheme buy-in with Barnett & Hall Holdings pension scheme

Lloyd’s has announced the re-appointment of Bruce Carnegie-Brown for a third term as Lloyd’s chairman, effective June 2022 and running to June 2025

European insurers entered 2022 in good financial conditions and solid capital buffers with a median SCR ratio of 216% after gross written premiums for both the life and non-life business grew throughout 2021, according to EIOPA’s June 2022 Financial Stability Report

Carbon pricing must be supported by a mix of policy instruments including international coalitions to provide predictable price signals to businesses and ensure a just and equitable transition for consumers, a new position paper by the UN-convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance has argued

The European Council has mandated EIOPA to prepare a report on the assessment of risks related to biodiversity loss by insurers, along with natural disasters and climate related risks, consistently with the European Green Deal, as part of the Solvency II review

Hymans Robertson has boosted its responsible investment (RI) team with several new members. The new appointments have been made to meet increasing client demand for support in developing and implementing RI strategies

Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme Inger Andersen has outlined six key asks of the insurance industry to build on its achievement so far in driving towards a net-zero economy and sustainable future

Legal & General Capital (LGC) has made a further £8m investment into the Kensa Group, a UK manufacturer and installer of ground source heat pumps, bringing its total investment to £15.7m over two years

Creating a new layer of federal oversight would neither enhance nor standardise the climate-related disclosures US insurers make to investors, the Insurance Information Institute (I.I.I.) has said in a letter sent to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

Varma is setting a goal to cut its entire investment portfolio’s absolute emissions by 25% by 2025 and by 50% by 2030 compared to the level at the end of 2021

The total value of UK buy-in and buyout deals in 2021 was £27.7bn, according to Hymans Robertsons’ Half Year Risk Transfer Report, with £20.9bn worth of transactions taking place in the second half of the year

The Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC) has published a new component for the Net Zero Investment Framework (NZIF), providing guidance on aligning and managing infrastructure portfolios with the goal of achieving net-zero by 2050.

EIOPA has welcomed the consultation paper (CP) of the IAIS on detailed criteria for the aggregation method (AM) and insurance capital standard (ICS) comparability assessment

Sixty-two per cent of institutional investors are expected to reduce their exposure to fixed income during 2022, according to new research from Aeon Investments

The total cost faced by the global insurance industry to implement IFRS 17 is now estimated to be US$18-24bn, an increase of 20% compared to the original estimates made in 2021, according to Willis Towers Watson’s (WTW) latest survey entitled IFRS 17: Will we make it?

AXA Investment Managers (AXA IM) has announced two new hires in its global credit team, with Charles Fianko joining as portfolio manager, and Monique Carter as a solutions strategist, effective on 29 June and 26 May respectively

European alternative asset managers reported a 23% increase in their assets under management in 2021, reflecting strong investor demand as pandemic-related pressures eased, Moody’s has said

Varma has invested approximately €50m in the Corporate Bond ESG Paris Aligned Climate ETF launched by BlackRock

The House of Fraser Beatties & Jenners Pension Scheme has completed a £600m buyout with Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC), covering 3,850 deferred members and 5,050 pensioners

Seven out of 10 professional investors forecast institutional investors will hold 60% of digital assets within seven years, according to a survey by Grayscale Investments

Helvetia has successfully placed two senior bond tranches totalling CHF 400m on the Swiss capital market

The general insurance and long-term savings industry is making significant progress in setting transparent net-zero targets and joining the UN’s ‘Race To Zero’ campaign according to the ABI’s updated Climate Change Roadmap

The Net Zero Asset Managers initiative has announced that 83 asset managers have now set initial targets, with 39% of their assets ($16trn) now committed to be managed in line with achieving net-zero by 2050 or sooner

Schroders Capital has recruited Mark Bruen as head of private credit solutions in its private asset solutions team

Mutual/cooperative insurers are now responsible for more than one-third of all insurance in Europe, with a market share of 33.4% in 2020, representing premium income of €469bn, according to AMICE

Asia-Pacific’s life insurance industry recorded 7% growth in 2021, the highest since 2016, due to increased insurance awareness as macroeconomic imbalances highlighted the importance of financial security in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic, GlobalData has said

Overall credit fundamentals of Japanese life insurers are likely to remain healthy in the financial year ending March 2023 (FYE23), Fitch Ratings has said

Total cash and investments of US insurance companies grew by $456bn in 2021 or around 7% year-over-year, reaching a record of over $7trn, according to latest analysis published by Income Research + Management

LV= has today announced the appointment of Simon Moore as its new chair

The US insurance industry’s exposure to Schedule BA assets exceeded $500bn in 2021, according to latest figures published by the NAIC

US insurers’ exposure to bank loans increased by around 32% to $97.2bn in book/adjusted carrying value (BACV) at year-end 2021, from $73.9bn at year-end 2020, according to latest figures published by the NAIC

The China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) has issued a new set of green finance guidelines expanding the requirements for ESG risk assessments by Chinese financial institutions

The Finnish Financial Supervisory Authority (FIN-FSA) has decided to end its monitoring of Finnish pension insurance company Elo

Zurich's ESG rating has been upgraded to AAA from AA by MSCI

Insurance companies allocated almost $1bn to new hedge fund investments in 2021, according to AM Best

The general insurance industry in India, which grew by 5% in 2021, its slowest growth during the last decade, is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.9% from INR2,172.03bn ($29.39bn) in 2021 to INR3,484.35bn ($41.78bn) in 2026, in terms of gross written premiums (GWP), GlobalData has forecasted

Stephan van Vliet has been appointed group chief investment officer at Zurich

Preparation for the new IFRS 17 regime varies significantly by country and insurer in the MENA region, analysis by AM Best has shown

Moody’s Investors Service has changed its outlook on Dutch property & casualty (P&C) insurers to stable from negative as rising premiums help offset claims inflation

The US property/casualty industry saw a 4.6% increase to $3.3bn in net underwriting income in the first three months of 2022 over the same prior-year period, according to preliminary financial results

Relying on regulation, in isolation, in the bulk purchase annuity (BPA) sector to ensure security of policyholder benefits is not enough, Bank of England, executive director, insurance, Charlotte Gerken has said

Sompo has become the first Japanese insurer to rule out insurance for the development of new oil sands and exploration of Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR)

Australia’s general insurance industry recorded a significant investment loss of A$942m for the year ended 31 March 2022 – driven by unrealised losses on interest bearing investments due to a sharp increase in bond yields during the March quarter

The implementation of a new US GAAP accounting standard known as Long Duration Targeted Improvements (LDTI), effective 1 January 2023, is expected to have limited ratings implications for Fitch-rated life insurers, despite the likely material decline in many life insurers’ reported GAAP shareholders’ equity as a result of LDTI, Fitch Ratings has said

Prudential has appointed Anil Wadhwani as CEO, and said he would assume the role in February 2023

Italian life and non-life insurance premiums hit €150.6bn in 2021, an increase of just over 5% compared to 2020

The return on Swedish life insurance companies and occupational pensions was -4.1% in Q1 2022, according to Insurance Sweden

US insurance companies' private equity investments grew in 2021 by 25.8% to $117.4bn, from $93.3bn in 2020 - the biggest year-over-year increase in recent years, according to AM Best

Munich Re has successfully placed its first green subordinated bond on the US market with a volume of US$1.25bn

Climate risks over time could lead to an average drag on annual profits for UK insurers and banks of around 10-15%, particularly if these risks are not managed effectively, PRA chief Sam Woods has warned, following the BoE’s 2021 Climate Biennial Exploratory Scenerio (CBES) published this morning

Waystone has been chosen as platform operator for the Lloyd’s of London investment platform

After the labelling of gas and nuclear as ‘green’ under the EU taxonomy, UKSIF has voiced its concerns that the UK may follow the same path

The UK’s latest supervisory climate stress test for insurers and banks is the world’s toughest yet, Fitch Ratings has said, with some institutions’ capital ratios under the 30-year scenarios likely to fall close to, or even below, regulatory minimums

The significant US equity market declines thus far in 2022 will have a “material impact on the BACV of US insurer common stock holdings”, particularly for P&C insurance companies who own 76% of the industry’s common stock holdings, the NAIC has said

Zurich has agreed to sell its business in Russia to 11 members of the unit’s team

Nippon Life has invested ¥2.6bn in transition bonds issued by Kyushu Electric Power

The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) has issued a recommendation to a Slovakian insurance company under the supervision of Národná banka Slovenska (NBS) over non-compliance with Solvency II rules

COVID-19 had a limited impact on US life/annuity insurance companies’ operating performance, according to AM Best, and those insurers with an assessment of very strong have not reported an operating loss in two decades

Generali’s net earnings decreased by 9.3% to  €727m in Q1 2022 compared to Q1 2021 due to the impact of €96m related to Russian fixed income instruments directly held by the group and €40m for the stake in Ingosstrakh

Aviva Investors has appointed Sam Tripuraneni as head of sustainable outcomes

M&G Investments has appointed Rana Modarres as impact director within the firm’s Catalyst team

SCOR has announced its first underwriting exclusions on oil

Aviva has recorded total general insurance sales of £2.1bn, up 5% on Q1 2022 and its best first quarter general insurance sales in a decade

Nippon Life has announced its director and managing executive officer Akiko Osawa has been appointed as a member of the Steering Group representing the Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance

Just 35% of insurers have adopted advanced climate data analysis tools such as machine-learning-based pricing and risk models, and only 8% are on course to achieve climate resiliency, a new report has revealed

The UK Endorsement Board (UKEB) has approved the adoption of the International Accounting Standards Board’s (IASB) IFRS 17 Insurance Contracts for use by UK companies

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU’s securities markets regulator, has issued a public statement on the Transparency on implementation of IFRS 17 Insurance Contracts

The Government has halted plans to force corporates to disclose environmental impacts, removing the proposals from the Queen’s Speech

Key players within the US insurance sector are actively trying to weaken or delay emerging climate-related insurance regulation at both a federal and state level, new analysis from climate think tank InfluenceMap has shown

Ping An has helped to develop China’s first ESG disclosure standard, the “Guidance for Enterprise ESG Disclosure”, published by the China Enterprise Reform and Development Society (CERDS)

Zurich expects to exceed all its 2022 financial targets, as it has reported a double-digit first-quarter rise in premiums and said its losses from the Ukraine conflict were likely to be immaterial

PIC has completed a £130m debt investment with Raven Housing Trust, which will be used to finance the development of 630 homes by 2026

Seventy-two per cent of institutional investors expect the regulatory environment for crypto/digital to improve and become more constructive over the next two years, according to Nickel Digital Asset Management

Helvetia has reported a SST ratio of 260% for 2021, up from 193% the prior year

Gothaer is to invest an additional €200m in impact investments every year, it has announced in its latest sustainability strategy

The Insurance Capital Standard (ICS) “could augment the analysis of insurers’ capital by serving as a comparator benchmark across geographies”, Fitch Ratings has said

Dutch institutional investors, including insurers, have increasingly turned their attention to riskier high-yield (HY) bonds over their investment grade counterparts over the past two years, with most of the former abroad, according to De Nederlandsche Bank

French life insurance net inflows reached a level not seen in more than 10 years in Q1 2022, according to France Assureurs

US insurance companies reported $8trn in total cash and invested assets at year-end 2021, an increase of 7% compared to year-end 2020

US insurers’ EM investments totalled $42.1bn in bonds and stocks at year-end 2021, representing an approximate 2.5% decrease from $43.2bn at year-end 2020 and a decreasing trend in total exposure since 2018

The solvency ratio of the Italian insurance sector reached 260% at the end of 2021, compared to 243% in December 2020, and total premium income rose by 4%, Banca d’Italia’s Financial Stability Report has said

Mediterráneo Vida (MedVida) has signed terms to acquire CNP Partners, the Spanish subsidiary of the French group CNP Assurances

abrdn has appointed Raf Choudhury as investment director on the Asia Pacific Multi-Asset Investment Solutions (MAIS) team, further strengthening its offering for wholesale and institutional investors, financial advice groups and investment platforms in Australia and Asia

Varma has reported a negative return of -1.9% in the first quarter (Q1) of 2022

Greek insurer Ethniki Insurance has appointed Achilles Sofroniou as its chief investment officer

European green, social and sustainability (GSS) bond issuance will reach between €1.4trn and €1.6trn by 2026, accounting for close to 50% of the total European bond issuance

Sanlam and Allianz have agreed to combine their current and future operations across Africa to create the largest Pan-African non-banking financial services entity on the continent

Macif has reported a turnover of €5.9bn for 2021, up 6.8% on the prior year

More than half of asset managers in Europe intend to prioritise growing the number of strategic partnerships they have with insurers over the next three to five years, Cerulli’s latest issue of The Cerulli Edge - Global Edition has shown

The UK government’s proposals to ease capital requirements under post-Brexit reforms of Solvency II are still unlikely to prompt life insurers to increase their risk appetites enough to affect their ratings, Fitch Ratings has said

The Insurance Asset Management Awards 2022 are now open to entries from firms across the insurance asset management space serving clients in the UK

The European insurance sector remains resilient, but macro-related risks are currently the main concern for the industry, remaining at a high level in current assessment reflecting the Russian invasion to Ukraine, EIOPA’s latest Risk dashboard has revealed

Nationwide Pension Fund, the closed defined benefit scheme for Nationwide Building Society, has completed a £172m buy-in with Canada Life

Rothesay has seen its total investment return fall from £4.6bn in 2020 to £48m in 2021

Markus Aho will take on the role of Varma’s chief investment officer on 1 June, and at the same time will become a member of Varma’s executive group

Allianz has committed to stop insuring and investing in new oil and gas fields, new oil power plants, new midstream oil infrastructure, and practices relating to the Arctic as of January 2023

The UK’s insurance industry will be able to invest tens of billions of pounds more in long-term UK infrastructure and green projects under proposals published today

MEAG has launched a new European core office property fund, with Munich Re and MAPFRE partnering as seed investors

MAPFRE has joined the Net-Zero Emissions Insurance Alliance (NZIA) with the aim of achieving greenhouse gas emission neutrality by 2050

Finnish pension insurance company Elo has announced that its investments returned -1.9% in the first three months of 2022, 5 percentage points below the 3.9% return recorded at the end of December 2021

NN Group has completed the acquisition of MetLife’s businesses in Poland, following the approval obtained by the Polish Financial Supervision Authority (Komisja Nadzoru Finansowego, KNF) on 14 April 2022

Finnish pensions insurer, Veritas, has detailed its sustainability work for 2021, which includes the development of its climate roadmap

The gap between the volume of responsible investment assets held in equity and other areas such as fixed income, real estate, and private markets will continue to narrow, according to Cerulli Associates

HM Treasury has launched a new UK Transition Plan Taskforce (TPT), with Economic Secretary to the Treasury, John Glenn, co-chairing alongside Aviva CEO Amanda Blanc, to develop the "gold standard" for UK businesses’ climate transition plans

The Association of Bermuda Insurers and Reinsurers (ABIR) is strongly opposing a proposal by Standard & Poor’s Global Ratings to disallow senior debt as a form of available capital, calling the draft plan “disruptive” and an “overuse of market power”

The results of the Bank of England’s (BoE) Climate Biennial Exploratory Scenario (CBES) exercise will be published on 24 May, insurers have learned

The UK’s life insurance segment outlook has been revised to stable from negative

Eighty-eight per cent of institutional investor portfolios generate positive alpha from research – the process of investigating stock opportunities and adding winning positions, according to Inalytics

PIC has directly invested a further £50m of debt in the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), to fund sustainable projects

China is the new second-biggest climate investment market after Europe, according to a Morningstar report

AM Best is maintaining a negative outlook for the Italian life insurance market

Varma has invested €300m in low-emission Japanese companies through its ETF

German insurer, Barmenia, has chosen Schroders Capital to manage a €100m multi-private assets impact portfolio

US insurers’ year-end 2021 exposure to Russia (bonds and stocks) totalled $787m in book/adjusted carrying value (BACV) compared to $855m at year-end 2020, according to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC)

Fidelis has appointed Olivia Brindle as its new head of sustainability

The Joint Committee of the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs), which includes the EBA, EIOPA and ESMA, have published a report detailing its joint work in 2021

A new report and web page detailing US insurance companies’ investments in fossil fuels has been issued by Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara, as part of his effort to protect consumers from the impacts of climate change

Vienna Insurance Group (VIG) recorded a total green bond volume of €436m at the end of 2021, representing an increase of more than 83% compared to the previous year, its latest financial results have shown

The United Nations-convened Net-Zero Insurance Alliance (NZIA) has published its white paper Insuring the net-zero transition: Evolving thinking and practices, exploring how the insurance industry can support the transition to a net-zero emissions economy through its risk management and insurance activities

Financial institutions and supervisors should prepare for a possible deterioration of asset quality in the financial sector, and the impact of further increases in yields and sudden reversals in risk premia should be closely monitored on the back of geopolitical and environmental risk, the three European supervisory authorities (EBA, EIOPA and ESMA) have warned

UK inflation hits highest rate since 1992

CNP Assurances has recorded a group SCR coverage ratio of 217% in 2021 (+9pts versus 2020), with the rise mainly due to higher interest rates and bullish equity markets

The Solvency II review does not allow sufficient space for the PRA to make policy judgements independently and publicly, the IMF has argued

EIOPA is calling for changes to the insurance stress test disclosure regime, and considers that a change in the legal framework allowing it to disclose the results of individual undertakings is the only way to obtain the disclosure of individual information

Moldovan insurance companies accumulated gross written premiums amounting to 1,926.3m lei in 2021, an increase of 32.6% compared to 2020

Insurance Europe is “highly supportive” of the EC Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), but has stressed three key points, which would “facilitate the CSRD in working as intented”

A bipartisan group of US state insurance regulators led by Insurance Commissioners Ricardo Lara of California and David Altmaier of Florida have adopted a new standard for insurance companies to report their climate-related risks, in alignment with the international Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD)

Allianz is the seventh insurer to reject the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), following recent statements from Munich Re, Hannover Re and SCOR

Goldman Sachs has acquired NN Investment Partners for €1.7bn

Schroders has completed the acquisition of a 75% shareholding in investment management firm, Greencoat Capital

Publicly traded US life/annuity insurance companies saw a strong recovery in 2021, with net income more than tripling to $32.5bn from 2020, driven largely by a 13% boost in revenue, AM Best has said

A premium of growth of 2.5% is expected in the German insurance industry this year, the German Insurance Association, GDV, has said

The Hartford has announced a goal to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions (GHGe) for its full range of businesses and operations by 2050, in alignment with the Paris Climate Accord

Swiss life insurance premiums declined by 7% in 2021 to CHF 23bn following a larger fall of 23% in 2020, as persistent low interest rates continue to hit, Fitch Ratings has said

Germany’s general insurance industry is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 6.8% from $165.4bn in 2021 to $229.6bn in 2026 in terms of direct written premium (DWP), GlobalData has said

Varma’s CIO Reima Rytsölä has decided to leave his position at the insurance company in order to join Finnish state-owned investment company Solidium as CEO

Seventy-seven per cent of quant fund managers believe that to achieve above-average returns in the future accessing high quality data and having the technological capabilities to process it efficiently is becoming increasingly important, new research from SigTech has revealed

AM Best is maintaining its negative market segment outlook on the UK's non-life insurance segment

Munich Re has rejected the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), joining Hannover Re, SCOR, Swiss Re, Axa, and Zurich in publicly committing that they will not underwrite the pipeline

Dutch insurance company a.s.r. has acquired Nieuwe Hemweg wind farm in the Amsterdam port area from Vattenfall

French life insurance net inflows amounted to €5.9bn over the first two months of 2022, the first time this figure has been reached since 2016 in the same period, France Assureurs has revealed

The Ultimate Forward Rate (UFR) for the euro will remain unchanged at 3.45% as of 1 January 2023, EIOPA has said

US life insurers’ statutory capital, or total adjusted capital (TAC) grew 9.2% in 2021 to $478bn from $437bn as of YE 2020, Fitch Ratings has said

The ESG data needed to comply with the European Union’s Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) is limited, according to Cerulli Associates

Member of the board of management of Allianz SE Günther Thallinger has joined the UN’s new High-Level Expert Group on the Net-Zero Emissions Commitments of Non-State Entities (HLEG)

Increased allocations to green or impact bonds are most expected among insurers in the EMEA region over the next 12 months, latest research has shown, while insurers in the Americas and Asia are expected to choose private equity as their favoured asset class

Investors and asset managers have the “opportunity of a lifetime” as they look to transition their portfolios towards net-zero, a senior adviser at the Bank of England (BoE) has stated

European and Asian insurers would do well to now consider an allocation to US taxable municipal bonds, new research published by DWS has argued

Vienna Insurance Group (VIG) has successfully invested €500m in green and social projects

EIOPA has submitted to the European Commission the draft amendments of regulations (Implementing Technical Standards - ITS) laying down supervisory reporting and disclosure requirements under Solvency II

More action by companies to tackle climate change is urgently needed, according to Climate Action 100+

CNP Assurances is suspending from 2022 any new investment in four companies that have an insufficient or non-existent thermal coal phase-out plan

The carbon footprint of Varma’s equity investments declined by 30% from 2016 to 2021, and listed corporate bond investments saw a carbon footprint decline of 23%, the insurer’s latest annual and sustainability report has revealed

AIA achieved a 31.4% decrease in the carbon footprint of its directly-managed, listed-equity portfolio in 2021, with performance recorded from 2018

Hong Kong’s life insurance industry is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.6% from HKD543.5bn ($70.0bn) in 2021 to HKD748.6bn ($96.bn) in 2026, in terms of direct written premiums (DWP), according to GlobalData

Russia’s general insurance industry is expected to decline by 14% in 2022 due to the Russia-Ukraine crisis, according to GlobalData

Insurance Europe has welcomed the EC’s European Single Access Point (ESAP) proposal, which it says will allow European insurers to “access robust, comparable and reliable financial and ESG data in an electronic machine-readable format”

AXA has stopped all new investments in Russian assets and stopped underwriting new insurance business with respect to Russian owned assets located in Russia

Sumitomo Life has invested AUD 200m (JPY 17bn equivalent) in a Climate Awareness Bond issued by the European Investment Bank

Lloyd’s of London has partnered with Schroders Solutions for a new market investment platform

MetLife has announced a set of 2030 diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) commitments to address the needs of the underserved and underrepresented through a mix of investments, products and services, supply chain, volunteering, and community efforts

Swiss insurance company, Helvetia, is aiming to obtain an MSCI rating of at least ‘A’ by 2025 concerning sustainability

Scottish Widows is adding an extra £1.5bn worth of exclusions to its investment policy, bringing its total divestment from firms posing ESG risk to almost £3bn

Hannover Re is the 5th and latest insurer to reject the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), joining Swiss Re, Axa, Zurich and SCOR in publicly committing they will not underwrite the pipeline

Seventy-eight per cent of institutional investors plan to reduce their exposure to traditional fixed income assets over the next 18 months, new research published by Aeon Investments has revealed

The three European Supervisory Authorities (EBA, EIOPA and ESMA – ESAs) have updated their joint supervisory statement on the application of the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR), including a new timeline, expectations about the explicit quantification of the product disclosures under Article 5 and 6 of the taxonomy regulation, and the use of estimates

US insurers held $1.46bn in Russian bonds or stocks as of year-end 2021, with 85.8% of that total invested in Russian sovereign debt, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence

Robeco has promoted Joshua Crabb to head of Asia-Pacific equities, taking over responsibilities from Arnout van Rijn as of 1 July 2022

Danish insurance and pension exposure to Russian assets dropped from DKK 9.2bn to DKK 2bn between the start of 2022 and 1 March, according to Insurance and Pension Denmark (I&P Denmark)

Rules to enhance and standardise climate-related disclosures for US investors have been proposed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

Coronavirus is “slowing down” housing construction financing by German life insurers, GDV general manager Jörg Asmussen has warned

European insurers have welcomed a review by the EC on the European Long-Term Investment Funds (ELTIF) regulation, but have warned the asset class remains unattractive for long-term institutional investors

Aegon has completed the divestment of its Hungarian businesses to Vienna Insurance Group (VIG), with the gross proceeds of the transaction amounting to €620m

Zurich has announced the successful placement of CHF 400m of senior unsecured notes

The US life/annuity industry saw a 61% increase in net income to $36.2bn in 2021, according to AM Best

The total investment portfolio managed by European insurers in 2020 grew by 1.6% to €10,627bn, after a 4.9% increase in 2019, according to latest figures published by Insurance Europe

The Dutch financial sector had a direct exposure to Russia of approximately €11.4bn in the fourth quarter of 2021, with insurers’ exposure valued at €350m, latest figures published by De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) have revealed

EIOPA has today published three categories of recommendations to supervisors and insurers based on the learnings and experience of its 2021 Insurance Stress Test

Forty-three per cent of global insurance companies have now made a public commitment to net-zero by 2050, a larger percentage than any other institutional and wholesale investor, research published by Robeco has revealed

Total US P&C insurers’ net premiums written (NPW) increased by 9.3% in 2021 to $70.94bn, compared with the previous year, according to AM Best

Europe’s insurers’ move away from traditional assets represents an opportunity for asset managers with specialist private-market expertise and strength in actively managed fixed income, according to Cerulli

abrdn has invested £31m on behalf of its strategic partner Phoenix Group in the refinancing of CORE Portfolio Investments (CORE), a 36MW portfolio of ground mounted solar assets located in south and west England and Wales

Zurich's chief operating officer John Keppel will be appointed to the role of UK chief sustainability officer which is a new position on the Zurich UK executive team

Total UK pension scheme buy-in and buyout volumes reached £28.6bn in 2021, making it the third-busiest year on record, according to Mercer and Aon

Swiss Re has announced an enhanced oil and gas policy which excludes insurance for most new oil and gas projects; expresses an ambition that by 2025 half, and by 2030 all, of its oil and gas premiums will come from companies with credible net-zero plans; and commits to develop an oil and gas policy for its treaty business by 2023

The general insurance industry in Vietnam is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 8.5% from VND60.15trn ($2.6bn) in 2021 to VND90.24trn ($3.5bn) in 2026, in terms of gross written premiums, according to GlobalData

Achmea has drawn up a Green Finance Framework becoming the first Dutch insurer to do so

BNP Paribas Asset Management (BNPP AM) has appointed Nadia Grant as head of global equities

Generali recorded €6bn of new green and sustainable investments in 2021, achieved one year in advance (target: €4.5bn)

Rothesay has agreed a funding arrangement with Molo Finance, the UK’s first fully digital mortgage lending platform, for the latter to launch its first residential product ‘FlexLife Mortgage’

The “dual objective” of an OECD paper aimed at institutional investors on managing climate risks “creates confusion” and should focus singularly on responsible business conduct (RBC), according to Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM)

Talanx’s net income exceeded the €1bn mark for the first time in 2021, and its net investment income rose to €4.7bn (€4.2bn), according to its latest financial results

US life insurance and annuity writers achieved record levels of capitalisation, maintained strong liquidity and posted improved earnings in 2021 despite historically low interest rates, inflationary headwinds and continued pandemic uncertainty, according to AM Best

PIC’s operating profit rose to £533m in 2021, up from £349m in FY2020, with larger values invested in privately sourced debt

“Moderate to significant dispersion” still exists in some internal model outputs when looking at market and credit risk, EIOPA has said

MAPFRE is to refrain from investing in coal, gas and oil companies that are not committed to an energy transition plan that limits global warming to around 1.5⁰C

Spanish lifesavings and annuity insurance company, Mediterráneo Vida (MedVida), has entered exclusive negotiations with CNP Assurances for the acquisition of its Spanish subsidiary CNP Partners

European insurers’ solvency ratios are estimated to have fallen by around two percentage points on average since the end of 2021 till 8 March, Moody’s has stated, reflecting a combination of lower equity markets, rising credit spreads and higher interest rates

A month after the European Commission approved the inclusion of fossil gas and nuclear energy into the EU taxonomy, 92 NGOs and CSOs, including BankTrack, have called on financial institutions to reject it, calling the system “greenwashing”

AM Best has moved its Country Risk Tier for Russia to CRT-5 from CRT-4 to reflect the significantly heightened geopolitical, economic and financial system risk in the country

MAPFRE’s Solvency II ratio stands at 206.3% as at 31 December 2021, compared to 192.9% a year earlier, including transitional measures

A lack of in-house ESG expertise is prompting institutional asset owners to seek support from investment consultants and outsourced chief investment officers (OCIO), latest research published by Cerulli has revealed

Vienna Insurance Group’s (VIG) premium volume rose to €11bn in 2021, up by 5.5% from 2020, and profit (before taxes) increased by 47.8% to €511m in the same period

CNP Assurances has acquired from CDC Habitat a portfolio of over 7,600 affordable housing units of high environmental quality worth €2.4bn

The ABI has joined the UN’s ‘Race to Zero’ campaign

The average comprehensive solvency ratio of 179 Chinese insurance companies reviewed as part of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission’s (CBIRC) 14th meeting of the Solvency Supervisory Committee at the end of Q4 2021, was 232.1%, and the average core solvency ratio was 219.7%

The general insurance industry in Hong Kong is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.6% from HKD57.2bn ($7.4bn) in 2021 to HKD78.6bn ($10.1bn) in 2026, in terms of gross written premiums, according to GlobalData

Aegon will not make future investments in Russia or Belarus-based companies and has updated its Responsible Investment Policy accordingly

Insurance Europe’s board has voted to terminate the All-Russian Insurance Federation’s membership of Insurance Europe

The impact of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine on US insurers’ direct investments to the two countries appears to be limited as they have less than $2bn in bonds exposed, according to AM Best, but insurers’ indirect exposures may be “more substantial”

Eighty-six per cent of institutional investors believe there will be more new structured credit issued in 2022 than there was in 2021, new research from Aeon Investments has revealed

Generali is resigning from positions held on the board of the Russian insurer Ingosstrakh, in which it holds a minority investment stake of 38.5%, it has announced

Global insurers and reinsurers generally have little direct business or investment exposure to Ukraine and Russia, but will face the secondary impacts of greater financial market volatility and higher energy prices, Moody’s has said

A coalition of NGOs and groups around the world are calling on financial institutions most exposed to Russian oil, gas, and coal to cease all ties, in solidarity with Ukraine over Russia’s invasion

Italian life and non-life premiums written for the first nine months of 2021 amounted to €110.2bn, a 10% increase compared to the same period in 2020

The US insurance industry held $111bn in oil and gas investments at year-end 2020, about 1.5% of the total cash and invested assets, according to data published by the NAIC

Hiscox has reported an investment return of $51.2m in 2021, a drop of 74% from 2020’s $197.5m, which the insurer said is due to the depressed yield on its short-dated bond portfolio, and the rising rate environment

The smaller deal size segment of the European life insurance consolidation market is growing significantly, Fitch Ratings has said, with at least eight small portfolio transfers and acquisitions announced in 2021, the highest number of the past six years

Aviva’s net investment income has risen from £14,971m in 2020 to £17,138m for the year ended 31 December 2021

AIG has announced a commitment to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across its global underwriting and investment portfolios by 2050, or sooner

Storebrand is freezing all Russian investments and sell out of Russia, due to the escalating situation in Ukraine

The value-adjusted return in the collective portfolio of Norwegian life insurers was 7.1% in 2021, up from 4.3% in 2020, as a result of stock market gains

The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has made a stark warning that even temporarily exceeding the 1.5C limit of the Paris Agreement will result in additional severe impacts, some of which will be "irreversible"

UNIQA has reported a 28.2% rise in its investment income to €648m in 2021 (2020: €505.4m)

Finnish pensions insurer, Veritas, has reported a return of 12.6% for 2021, equivalent to €0.5bn

Total assets of China’s insurance companies amounted to RMB 24.9trn at the end of Q4 2021, an increase of RMB 2.6trn and up by 11.5% from the beginning of the year, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) has said

French supervisory authority, ACPR, has published its first report on the governance of climate change risk in the insurance sector

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine likely will impact the global insurance industry “substantially in the near to midterm”, particularly given the “significant fallout in the capital markets and potential for widespread cyber attacks”, AM Best has warned

The general insurance industry in Taiwan is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.7% from TWD200.1bn ($6.8bn) in 2020 to TWD277.0bn ($10.4bn) in 2025, in terms of gross written premiums (GWP), according to GlobalData

Insurance and Pension Denmark (I&PD) has raised concerns about the speed of the green transition and has called on the government to draw up a comprehensive investment plan for the country’s transition

Twenty-seven per cent of institutional investors in Europe and the US believe that by October next year, under 10% of global fixed income will still be in negative-yielding territory with a further 21% believing that between 10% and 15% will have negative yields, according to research published by Aeon Investments

Schroders has announced that its greenhouse gas emission reduction goals have been formally validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi)

The UK Government plans to implement a material capital release by as much as 15% of the capital currently held by life insurers in order to allow more investment in long-term assets such as infrastructure, Economic Secretary to the Treasury John Glen has said

The US Department of the Treasury’s Federal Insurance Office (FIO) has joined the Network of Central Banks and Supervisors for Greening the Financial System (NGFS)

European insurers have raised concerns about a number of aspects of EIOPA's climate change ORSA guidance

Swedish insurer Folksam Group has completed an investment of around SEK 3.8bn in a green bond from the World Bank (International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, IBRD) aimed at financing sustainable development around the world

Finnish insurer Varma has reported a return on investments of 18.5% or €9.3bn in 2021, the highest annual return ever in its history

Finnish pension insurance company Elo has revealed that it made a return of 14% in 2021 on its investments

French life insurance premiums amounted to €151.1bn in 2021, a record level, and net inflows rose to +€23.7bn, a level not seen since 2021, according to latest figures published by France Assureurs

Columbia Threadneedle Investments has appointed Emmanuel Archampong as head of insurance, EMEA

Insurance Asset Management is delighted to invite readers to register for free for the 2022 Sustainable Investment Summit, a one-day conference that focuses on how return targets can be met through sustainable investing

CNP Assurances has strengthened its framework for investment in fossil fuels by making four commitments

Credit rating upgrades in the US P&C insurance segment bounced back to pre-pandemic levels in 2021, increasing to 7.7% of all rating actions compared with 5.3% in 2020, according to AM Best

Hungary’s insurance industry is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.3% from HUF1,204.86bn ($3.91bn) in 2020 to HUF1,635.5bn ($5.67bn) in 2025, in terms of gross written premiums (GWP), according to GlobalData

Lloyds Banking Group Pensions Trustees has agreed a second longevity swap deal, which will cover a further £5.5bn of liabilities in the Lloyds Bank Pension Scheme No. 1

The total assets of Chinese insurance companies at the end of Q4 2021 amounted to 24.9trn yuan, an increase of 2.6trn yuan from the beginning of the year or 11.5%, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) has said

M&A activity in the global insurance sector for 2021 was 418 deals, close to the heights of 2019 (419), and up from 407 in 2020, Clyde & Co has reported

German insurer group, Gothaer, has joined the Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance, and in doing so has committed to making its investment portfolio climate-neutral by 2050

Increased volatility and a material reduction in the funds held by insurers to withstand shocks are a likely outcome of any reforms to Solvency II that resemble those explored in the PRA’s Quantitative Impact Study (QIS), Willis Towers Watson (WTW) has argued in its latest report commissioned by the ABI

Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey has emphasised that Solvency II reforms could be used to enable more support from insurers for “productive finance and infrastructure investment”

“Simple solutions” could be adopted for the Solvency II risk margin to better align it with the specific features of the UK insurance market, PwC has argued

A bond meeting EU Green Bond Standard (EUGBS) requirements and is designated as an EU green bond should be able to keep its green bond status regardless of subsequent changes to the screening criteria of the EU taxonomy, Insurance Europe has argued

Zurich has reported its highest business operating profit and net income attributable to shareholders since 2007

The Association of Mutual Insurers and Insurance Cooperatives in Europe (AMICE) has become a supporting institution of the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative Principles for Sustainable Insurance (UNEP PSI)

For insurers to make appropriate investment decisions and comply with sustainability regulation it is vital that consistent, comparable and machine-readable sustainability data is available, and that it can be accessed and used efficiently, Insurance Europe has argued as part of its key messages on the EC’s proposals for the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD)

Helvetia has become the second insurer in two weeks to ditch the Adani Carmichael mine

Storebrand has reported a group profit of NOK 1,367m in Q4 2021 and NOK 4,503m in 2021 overall

EIOPA has published its Supervisory Convergence Plan for 2022

LV= has confirmed that its discussions with Royal London over a potential merger have ceased

The general insurance industry in Australia is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.4% from AUD73.29bn ($54.6bn) in 2021 to AUD99.87bn ($73.6bn) in 2026, in terms of direct written premiums, GlobalData has revealed

The three European Supervisory Authorities (ESA), EBA, EIOPA and ESMA, have called for “rapid action” to ensure that the EU financial services regulatory and supervisory framework remains fit-for-purpose in a digital age

Travelers has adopted a policy committing to not underwrite new coal-fired power plants

Rothesay has signed a 10-year carbon dioxide removal agreement with Climeworks

Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Company has invested AUD 180m in to the “Sustainable Development Bond” issued by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)

Fifteen of the world’s biggest insurers’ invested over US$7.9bn in oil and gas companies since 2019 which have current and/or planned operations in the North Sea, research conducted by Profundo has found

LV= has had “initial, exploratory discussions” with Royal London on a possible deal between the two firms

The Dutch Pension Federation has called for an ‘orange’ category for technologies that play a temporary role in the transition to a net-zero economy

Eighty per cent of asset managers expect increased demand for private equity mandates in 2022, and 75% expect demand for other private investment mandates, new research published by Cerulli has revealed

Talanx Group has announced that in 2021, its net income exceeded the €1bn threshold for the very first time, supported by increased earnings across its primary business and reinsurance operation

Scottish Widows has become the first UK insurer to publish its roadmap to net-zero, planning to invest up to £25bn into companies leading on decarbonisation and climate solutions by 2025

The UK's Merchant Navy Officers Pension Fund (MNOPF) has completed a second buy-in deal with Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC), covering £400m of liabilities across nearly 2,000 pensioners

Growing demand for UK bulk purchase annuities (BPAs) remains one of the best long-term opportunities across the European insurance sector, Moody’s has said

Sumitomo Life has invested JPY 10bn (AUD 120m) in a sustainability bond for Dutch Social Housing issued by BNG Bank to support the Netherlands to improve social housing conditions

Investments made by French insurance companies amounted to €2,664bn as of 31 December 2020, the equivalent of 116% of French GDP, France Assureurs has revealed

Ninety-one per cent of institutional investors have increased their allocation to structured credit investments across different asset classes over the past 18 months, and are likely to continue to do so in the next 18 months particularly in commercial real estate, new research has shown

Inflation is now the second biggest risk for US insurers in 2022, surging from 52nd place last year, a new survey published by Actuarial Risk Management has found

The life insurance industry in Indonesia is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.9% from IDR173.0trn ($11.8bn) in 2020 to IDR265.3trn ($17.4bn) in 2025, in terms of gross written premiums, according to GlobalData

European insurers’ exposures to macro risks have remained at a high level, while all other risk categories, such as insurance as well as profitability and solvency risks have stayed at medium levels, EIOPA’s latest risk dashboard based on Solvency II data from the third quarter of 2021 has shown

Insurers are among a diversfied investor base that has helped to raise $896m for NextPower III ESG (NPIII ESG), a fund which focuses on the international solar infrastructure principally targeting projects in carefully selected OECD countries

Baloise Group has successfully placed a CHF200m senior bond due in February 2027

MetLife's subsidiary, Metropolitan Tower Life Insurance Company, has completed two longevity reinsurance transactions valued at around $2.4bn with Phoenix Group

EIOPA has launched a public consultation on retail investor protection in relation to the sale of insurance-based investment products (IBIPs)

A pending regulation package that would formalise ESG requirements for Brazilian insurers is unlikely to impact international ratings in the sector, Fitch Ratings has stated

M&G has announced that it has agreed to acquire a majority stake in responsAbility Investments AG

Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC) has completed a £130m investment in Wirral Waters One (WWO), the cornerstone residential scheme for the broader development of Peel L&P’s Wirral Waters, a 500-acre brownfield site and former dockland

EIOPA has published its third paper in a series of papers on the methodological principles of insurance stress testing

The US property/casualty (P/C) industry’s financial results through the third quarter of 2021 showed a return to normalcy following 2020, with year-over-year growth in direct premiums written of 10%, according to an AM Best special report

The microprudential supervision of liquidity risk must be based on company-specific analysis and frameworks which cannot be standardised at a global level, Insurance Europe has argued

Robeco has appointed Thu Ha Chow to the newly created role of head of fixed income Asia

The UN-Convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance has released the second edition of its Target Setting Protocol detailing that overall absolute emissions reductions for its 69 asset owners should range between 49% to 65% or beyond for the period 2020 to 2030

PIC has completed a £128m secured debt investment into the University of Birmingham, enabling it to transform its Pritchatts Park Student Village site into a 1,230-room low-carbon residential facility

AIA has completed its RMB12,033m (US$1,860m) investment in China Post Life for a 24.99% equity stake

CNP Assurances has successfully completed its first Tier 3 subordinated issue of the year, placing €500m worth of seven-year notes due 27 January 2029 and paying interest at 1.25%

The South Korean insurance industry is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.5% from KRW220.5trn ($186.8bn) in 2020 to KRW262.5trn ($229.5bn) in 2025, in terms of direct written premiums, GlobalData has forecasted

The number of privately rated securities reported by US insurance companies totalled 5,580 at year-end 2021, an increase from 4,231 in 2020 and 2,850 in 2019, according to the NAIC

ClimateWise members continue to make progress in disclosing their preparedness and response to climate change, recording an average score of 68% in 2021, from 65% in 2020

MetLife has completed a $3.5bn longevity reinsurance transaction involving an unnamed UK pension scheme, using Zurich as an intermediary

This year is set to be the largest on record for pension scheme de-risking deal volumes, with £65bn of bulk annuity and longevity swap transactions anticipated, according to research from WTW

Aegon will cease investing in companies that derive 5% or more of their total oil equivalent production from oil sands, down from a previous threshold of 30%, it has announced in its updated Responsible Investment Policy

Turkey's general insurance industry is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.83% from TRY68.15bn ($9.72bn) in 2020 to TRY104.03bn ($11.25bn) in 2025, in terms of gross written premiums (GWP)

The PRA has launched its second and final request for technical input concerning the Insurance Stress Test (IST) 2022

The interest of US insurance companies in incorporating ESG factors into their investment strategies grew significantly in the past two years, according to a new survey by Conning

The life insurance industry in Taiwan is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 0.4% from TWD3.16trn ($107.0bn) in 2020 to TWD3.23trn ($121.2bn) in 2025, in terms of direct written premiums (DWP), according to GlobalData

Canopius Group has hired Trevor Moss as head of investor relations

Tokio Marine Holdings is joining the Net-Zero Insurance Alliance (NZIA), as the first Japanese member

Fifty per cent of the total number of US insurers that filed annual statements with the NAIC at year-end 2020 reported outsourcing investment management, which for the most part was consistent with that of year-end 2019

The Solvency II review should correct the excessive capital requirements and artificial volatility for long-term business by aligning the measurements with the real risks faced by insurers; improve proportionality and avoid increasing costs and operational burden; and maintain the existing, well-designed supervisory ladder of intervention, Insurance Europe has said

Forty-three per cent of institutional investors and wealth managers say they now have a much more positive view of cryptocurrencies, and 35% have said it has improved slightly

Europe’s insurers are calling for a change in IFRS 9 to allow recycling for equities measured at fair value through other comprehensive income (FVOCI) to help ensure that profit and loss correctly reflects financial performance for all long-term investors

Registration is now open for the 2022 Sustainable Investment Summit, a one-day conference that focuses on how return targets can be met through sustainable investing

PIC has invested £129m with the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) to fund the development of a 676-bed student residence in Southwark, London

The majority of global insurers expect to enter unfamiliar asset classes over the next 18 months, latest research has shown, and there has also been a 120% rise in the proportion of insurers integrating ESG factors since pre-pandemic

Generali’s second largest investor, Francesco Gaetano Caltagirone, has resigned from the board citing that he was “prevented from making his own critical contribution and from ensuring adequate control”

All eight bulk annuity insurers have set net-zero carbon emissions targets for their asset portfolios, yet only two are signed up to the UK Stewardship Code 2020, analysis from LCP has revealed

Swiss Re has exited its shareholding in Phoenix Group Holdings by selling its remaining 66,199,917 ordinary shares in the savings and retirement company for approximately £440m

The PRA has laid out its insurance supervision 2022 priorities while stating that “insurers’ risk management needs to keep pace with the demands of a complex interaction of external risks, and with the changes insurers are making to their businesses, in order that the sector continues to be both financially and operationally resilient”

The EU is being urged to exclude gas from the EU Taxonomy by a group of over 370 investors.

Storebrand has invested in fintech company Quantfolio becoming the largest stakeholder

Legal & General Capital (Legal & General) and Hodge have invested £5.5m into Sero Technologies (Sero), an energy technology and services company supporting the transition to net-zero across the residential housing sector

Sixty-six per cent of UK institutional commercial real estate investors and property professionals have seen a decrease in both the capital and rental value of their portfolios due to poor sustainability performance

Phoenix Group has completed four bulk purchase annuity (BPA) transactions during the second half of 2021 covering £4bn of premiums, comprising £3.6bn of external deals and a further £0.4bn tranche of the group’s Pearl Pension Scheme

Hedge funds advanced in December 2021 to conclude a strong year dominated by uncertainty and high volatility, as managers navigated the dual challenges of increasing interest rates and inflation, as well as the impacts of the second year of the global coronavirus pandemic.

The aggregated SCR ratio of the Romanian insurance market after the latest Balance Sheet Review (BSR) has been recorded at 99%, down from 179% reported at the reference date, and the aggregated MCR ratio was 259%, down from 436%

Nearly one-third (31%) of US asset managers and institutional asset owners (32%) have made a formal commitment to a net-zero goal by 2050, new research has shown

The head of China’s largest life insurer, China Life Insurance Company, is under investigation by the China Central Commission for Discipline Inspection for “suspected serious violations of discipline and law”

Allianz Life has completed a reinsurance agreement with affiliates of Sixth Street, including Talcott Resolution Life Insurance Company, and Resolution Life, for a $35bn fixed index annuity portfolio

Willis Towers Watson (WTW) has named Nimisha Srivastava as its head of investments for North America

Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC) has calculated that appropriate reform of Solvency II could increase its planned investment of £30bn in productive finance by 2030, to £50bn

Zurich Insurance Group has successfully placed CHF275m of subordinated notes

Demand for European equity funds is expected to persist in the near term, according to Cerulli

Increased insurer capacity and appetite in 2022 could see the current transaction size record in the pension de-risking market broken by £10bn+ ‘mega’ transactions, analysis from LCP has suggested

French life insurance net inflows stood at €2.3bn in November 2021, exceeding the threshold of €2bn for the second month in a row, a sequence that had not been observes for more than two years (in June-July 2019)

KPMG UK has appointed Trevor Jones as the new head of its insurance practice

Finnish insurer, Varma, has appointed Markus Aho as head of private investments

Crédit Agricole Assurances has announced the appointment of Florence Barjou as head of the investment department and Matthieu Lance as deputy. Both will be responsible for the real assets and shareholdings of the Crédit Agricole insurance subsidiary

The revised quantitative and qualitative requirements under the China Risk-Oriented Solvency System Phase II (C-ROSS Phase II) are expected to have significant impacts on the various insurance market segments, and are "credit positive", AM Best has said

UnitedHealth Group has taken top spot in AM Best’s ranking of the world’s 25 largest insurance companies for the seventh straight year, posting net premiums written (NPW) of $201.5bn

The China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) has issued the ‘Regulations on the Solvency of Insurance Companies (II)’, a series of new regulatory rules aimed at preventing and resolving risks in the Chinese insurance industry, as well as maintaining the safe and stable operation of the market

The Netherlands’ general insurance industry is to reach $98.38bn in 2025, according to latest figures, growing from $72.08bn in 2020

Vienna Insurance Group (VIG) has agreed to the share ownership of its Hungarian operations with a state investment fund after months of negotiations, in order to salvage an €830m ($941m) deal to buy regional assets from Aegon NV

Zurich’s subsidiary, Zurich Investments Life S.p.A, has agreed to sell its life and pension back book, composed of both traditional and unit-linked policies, to the Portuguese insurance company GamaLife – Companhia de Seguros de Vida, S.A (GamaLife)

The notional value of US insurance industry derivatives, held predominantly by life/annuity insurers, has risen by 45% over the past five years and topped $3.3trn in 2020, according to AM Best

Europe’s asset management industry still has a long way to go before the integration of biodiversity-related risks into investment decision-making is standard,” a new report has shown

As a turbulent 2021 draws to a close, we count down the 10 most visited news stories on Insurance Asset Management over the last 12 months...

Nine EU insurers reported a regulatory solvency threshold of below 100% under EIOPA’s fixed balance sheet (FBS) assumption in its 2021 Insurance Stress Test

Total assets under management in Europe continued rising in 2021 and reached an estimated €31.3trn at the end of September, according to EFAMA’s latest Asset Management in Europe report

Finnish pension insurance company, Elo, has simplified its management structure following supervision by the Finnish Financial Supervisory Authority (FIN-FSA)

Mexico’s general insurance industry, in terms of gross written premiums (GWP), will grow from $15.4bn in 2020 to $20bn in 2025, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.2%

Aegon has reinsured an additional part of its longevity exposure in the Netherlands with Reinsurance Group of America (RGA)

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has proposed updates to the capital and reporting frameworks for insurance in response to the introduction of Australian Accounting Standards Board 17 Insurance Contracts (AASB 17)