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 places 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

NN Investment Partners (NN IP) has appointed Adrie Heinsbroek as chief sustainability officer (CSO), as of 1 January 2021

The European Supervisory Authorities have issued a comment letter to the International Finance Reporting Standards (IFRS) Foundation, which, among other aspects, calls for a common set of sustainability standards

The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) submitted today to the European Commission its Opinion on the Solvency II 2020 Review

Lloyd’s of London has released its Environmental, Social and Governance Report which, among other commitments, asks Lloyd’s managing agents to no longer provide new insurance cover for coal-fired power plants, thermal coal mines, oil sands and new arctic energy exploration

Fidelis is to rule out underwriting the Adani Carmichael coal project in Australia, making it the 28th re/insurer to publicly make this commitment

The merger deal between Aon and Willis Towers Watson (WTW) is set to undergo an in-depth probe by European Union (EU) regulators due to its complexity, sources have told Reuters

A consortium of Swiss institutional investors has committed to a fund offered by AIP Infrastructure, which is partly owned by Danish pension funds PKA and PenSam

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) has elected its officers for 2021

Life insurer LV= is to sell itself to private equity group Bain Capital in a £530m deal

The PRA has today set out its 2021 supervisory priorities for the UK insurance sector

European insurers could be seeing losses of more than 25% on average in their equity investment portfolios within the high-carbon sector, EIOPA has said

Aviva has appointed Doug Brown as CEO of UK & Ireland Life Insurance

State Street and UBS Group are in talks about merging their asset management businesses

Liberty Mutual Insurance has become a signatory of the United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI).

UNIQA is to increase its green investments to at least € 1bn over the next five years

Asset managers representing over $9trn of assets under management (AuM) have
announced the launch of the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative

Aviva has agreed to sell the entire shareholding in its wholly-owned life insurance business in Vietnam, Aviva Vietnam, to Manulife

Aegon is to make internal model adjustments to reduce the volatility of its NL Life capital ratio

Zurich Insurance Group subsidiary, Farmers Group, Inc. (FGI), has agreed to acquire MetLife’s property and casualty (P&C) business in the US together with the Farmers Exchanges for US$3.94bn

Standard Insurance, the insurance arm of Johannesburg-based Standard Bank Group and one of South Africa’s leading insurance providers, has selected the Moody’s Analytics RiskIntegrity™ for IFRS 17 solution to support its adoption of the new IFRS 17 accounting standard

Alternative investment managers (Alt-IMs) are expected to remain active in the US life insurance sector through direct investment in life insurance companies, Fitch has said

More than two-thirds of European institutional investors (67%) were able to meet or exceed their investment performance targets over the last 12 months, new figures reveal

The outlook for the European insurance sector is negative, Moody’s Investors Service has said in a report published today

New accounting standards on expected credit losses do not have a material effect on US insurers and will not require any changes to the credit metrics used to rate those insurers, according to Fitch Ratings

Members of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) have adopted the NAIC’s Group Capital Calculation (GCC) along with model legislative language designed to enable the GCC once adopted by the state legislatures

The International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) proposal for a differentiated and more appropriate capital treatment of infrastructure and strategic equity investments has been welcomed by Insurance Europe, but the latter has argued further improvements should be made to better reflect risk posed to insurers

Groupama has committed to a global coal exit in its investment portfolios by 2040

Britain will never again have the same access to the European Union as it did when the country was a member of the bloc, European Commissioner for Financial Stability, Financial Services and the Capital Markets Union Mairead McGuinness has said

Capital adequacy is anticipated to remain steady by all measures through 2021 in the US P&C insurance sector, with the capital surplus expected to expand by approximately 4% in 2021, according to Fitch Ratings

US insurance M&A activity is expected to “increase significantly” in 2021, according to Clyde & Co

A group of 123 scientists, led by Andreas Hoepner and Joeri Rogelj have written an open letter to the EU President following a first draft criteria for the EU sustainable finance taxonomy, attempting to classify investments that can be marketed as sustainable

Phoenix Group has set a net-zero carbon by 2050 investment target for its investment portfolio, consistent with the objective of limiting the temperature rise to no more than 1.5°C above pre-industrial temperatures and is in line with the Paris Agreement and the commitment of the UK government

Enstar Group has announced that one of its wholly-owned subsidiaries has signed an agreement with Liberty Mutual Insurance Europe (LMIE) to reinsure a number of US energy liability, US construction liability and US homebuilders liability insurance portfolios that were previously written out of LMIE’s London branch

US ratings agency AM Best has maintained its market segment outlook on the global reinsurance industry at stable for 2021, citing factors that include positive pricing momentum, combined with tighter terms and conditions, offset somewhat by uncertainty with regard to claims reserve development associated with previous years’ property catastrophe events; social inflation; and more recently, business interruption and casualty lines, related to COVID-19

The Spanish life and savings insurance market shrank by 26% in the 9M20, reflecting lower sales during lockdown

American Equity Investment Life Holding Company has closed an initial equity investment of 9,106,042 shares at $37.00 per share from Brookfield Asset Management as part of a previously announced strategic partnership

MAPFRE AM the asset management arm of Spain's largest insurance company has received the SRI label, a tool created by the French Finance Ministry to help to increase the visibility of SRI products among savers in France and Europe

Phoenix Group has become a signatory of the UN-supported Principles of Responsible Investment (PRI)

Belgium’s life and savings insurance market shrank by 10% in H1 2020, reflecting lower sales during the first period of lockdown, but non-life premiums were more resilient, growing by 0.9% in H1 2020

Twenty-seven per cent of ratings in the US life insurance sector have a negative outlook, Fitch Ratings have said

The average Solvency Capital Requirement (SCR) ratio of (re)insurance undertakings across Europe using voluntary long-term guarantees measures (LTG) and measures on equity risk is 247% and would drop to 204% if the measures were not applied, EIOPA has revealed

An adoption of the International Capital Standard (ICS) Margin Over Current Estimate (MOCE), the international version of the risk margin, in the UK would cut the risk margin by at least a half, ABI assistant director, head of prudential regulation, Steven Findlay said

The Court of Appeal has overturned a High Court ruling to block the transfer of a £12bn portfolio of annuities from Prudential Assurance Company to Rothesay Life, stating that the original judge was "wrong" on a number of issues

French life insurance net inflows for October 2020 were recorded at -€154m

Monument Re announced today that Monument Life Insurance d.a.c has completed the acquisition of a portfolio of unit-linked international portfolio bond policies from Zurich Life Assurance

EIOPA must not undermine the ability of insurers to use reinsurance to manage risk, Insurance Europe has argued

Unfriend Coal’s Insure Our Future campaign has revealed its fourth annual scorecard on insurers’ climate policies, and despite progress some major companies in the US, the Lloyd’s Market and East Asia are still insuring coal. Moreover there are few signs that the global insurance industry is taking comprehensive action on oil and gas

The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) has published a discussion paper on a methodology for the potential inclusion of climate change in the Solvency II standard formula when calculating natural catastrophe underwriting risk

German life insurers will have built up an additional interest reserve (ZZR) of around €87bn by the end of 2020, €11bn more than in 2019, according to calculations by the German Insurance Association (GDV)

Australia's general insurance industry net profit after tax of $0.9 billion and return on net assets of 3.2 per cent were significantly lower during the year ended September 2020, according to latest figures published by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA)

Net income in the US life/annuity (L/A) industry dropped by nearly 57% to $12.7bn in the first nine months of 2020, compared with the same prior-year period

The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) has started a consultation on the relevant ratios to be mandatorily disclosed by insurers and reinsurers falling within the scope of the Non-Financial Reporting Directive as well as on the methodologies to build those ratios

The 2021 outlook for the global asset management sector is negative, reflecting the uneven global economic recovery which remains vulnerable to increasing coronavirus cases, volatility in the financial markets, and wavering investor risk appetite, Moody’s Investors Service has said

The outlook for Italian insurance in 2021 is worsening for the life sector and stable for the non-life sector, Fitch Ratings has said

Eight US insurance companies filed TaskForce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures, or TCFD, reports in response to the Climate Risk Disclosure Survey in 2020, Insurance Commissioners Mike Kreidler of Washington state and Ricardo Lara of California have announced

The Reserve Bank of New Zeland is today launching dual consultations on the scope of the Insurance Prudential Supervision Act (IPSA) 2010 and associated Insurer Solvency Standards

The UK government has extended the period of consultation into the Solvency II (SII) review by one month to 19 February 2021

The outlook for insurers in emerging markets is more stable than that of banks (negative), as the lockdown from the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in one-off gains in profitability, but pressures on capital are increasing, Moody’s has said

AXA has entered into an agreement with Gulf Insurance Group (GIG) to sell its insurance operations in the Gulf region for US$269m or €225 million , which includes its shareholding in AXA Gulf, AXA Cooperative Insurance Company and AXA Green Crescent Insurance Company

Aviva Life & Pensions UK has completed an £875m buy-in with its parent company’s defined benefit pension scheme, covering around 2,800 members’ pension liabilities

MAPFRE has appointed Mónica Zuleta Díaz as its new head of sustainability

Aegon has agreed to sell its insurance, pension and asset management business in Hungary, Poland, Romania and Turkey for €830m to Vienna Insurance Group AG Wiener Versicherung Gruppe (VIG)

Institutional investors including insurers should consider great allocations to China to benefit from the long-term opportunities the country presents and help to manage their overall risk, two research papers have suggested.

The winners of the Insurance Asset Management Awards 2020 were announced last night via a special video broadcast

Few US insurers have reported altering their investment strategy in response to considerations of the impact of climate change on investment portfolios, findings published by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) have revealed

Ageas has successfully placed debt securities in the form of €500m subordinated fixed to floating rate notes maturing in November 2051 and with a first call date in 2031

Qatar Insurance Group has recently announced the appointment of Hasan Al-Lawati as the new CEO for its subsidiary Oman Qatar Insurance Company (OQIC)

Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC) has invested £65m in debt issued by Pobl, a housing association based in Newport, Wales

Skandia has invested SEK 1bn in train infrastructure via a bond issued by the Eurofima partner body

Aviva has reported a 13.8% decline in the value of new business (VNB) written by its life insurance business, which stood at £714m in the first nine months of the year

Fitch Ratings is maintaining German non-life insurance in 2021 on a stable sector outlook

The board of supervisors of the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) has re-elected Peter Braumüller, managing director of insurance and pension supervision at the Austrian Financial Market Authority (FMA) as vice-chairperson of EIOPA

Sixty-six per cent of institutional investors in Germany and the US expect institutional investors to increase their exposure to Germany over the next 12 months, according to latest research

Bank of England (BoE) regulators are looking to rejig Solvency II (SII) regulations in Britian as quickly as possible after the Brexit transition period ends, BoE executive director of prudential policy Victoria Saporta has said

The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) has published a consultation on the statement on supervisory practices and expectations in case of breach of the Solvency Capital Requirement (SCR)

Net sales of UCITS and AIFs totalled €32bn in September, up from €30bn in August, according to the latest data from the European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA)

The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) intends to continue to emphasise robust capital and liquidity buffers in its supervision of insurers and financial institutions

The UK life insurance sector outlook for 2021 is worsening, driven by lower interest rates in 2020 and substantial downside risks to interest rates and credit markets in 2021, Fitch Ratings has said

Asia-Pacific’s private market AuM will grow from $1.62trn in 2019 to $4.97trn in 2025, at
a world-beating CAGR of 25.2%, according to research published by Preqin

Fitch Ratings' sector outlook for the French insurance sector in 2021 is worsening for the life segment and is stable for non-life

Aviva has agreed to sell its entire 80% shareholding in the Italian life insurance joint venture, Aviva Vita S.p.A. (Aviva Vita), to its partner UBI Banca

BNP Paribas Asset Management (BNPP AM) has announced the further strengthening of its private debt & real assets (PDRA) investment division

Zurich is in discussions to acquire MetLife’s US P&C business for close to $4bn

Following gradual annual increases over the last decade, US insurers’ exposure to NAIC-2 designated bonds as a percentage of total bonds was unchanged at 30% at year-end 2019 compared to year-end 2018, latest figures published by the NAIC have shown

Total assets of Chinese insurance companies amounted to RMB 22.4trn at the end of Q3 2020, increasing by RMB 1.9trn and up by 9.1% from the beginning of the year

QBE Insurance Group (QBE) has become the first Australian insurer to become a member of the UN-convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance, committing to a net-zero emissions investment portfolio by 2050

J.P. Morgan Asset Management (JPMAM) has appointed Paolo Gazzola as an executive director

Forty-five per cent of total assets under management (AuM) in Europe at the end of 2019 were invested in some sort of ESG selection strategy, a new report by the European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA) has shown

The financial industry must do more to help in the fight against climate change, Professor Martin Siegert, Professor of Geosciences and co-director of the Grantham Institute at Imperial College London, has warned

Sustainable investing assets now account for $17.1trn - or 1 in 3 dollars - of the total US assets under professional management, representing a 42% increase over 2018, The US SIF Foundation's 2020 biennial report on US Sustainable and Impact Investing Trends has found

Four Japanese insurers have revealed plans to strengthen their environmental, social and governance (ESG) investments in the second half of fiscal 2020, amid mounting public pressure for insurers to practice sustainable investment practices

British insurer RSA has agreed a £7.2bn takeover from Intact Financial Corporation and the Scandinavian insurer Tryg

Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC) has appointed Wellington Management (Wellington) to manage its US municipal bonds (muni bonds) portfolio

MAPFRE has continued the diversification of its investment portfolio with the acquisition of an office building in the London neighborhood of Fitzrovia thorugh the SIEREF-GLL fund, which the insurer launches with its managing partner GLL Real Estate Partners (Macquarie Group)

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is calling on insurers to respond to a new accounting standard for insurance contracts

German institutional investors have reduced their home bias over the past three decades but this has shifted to eurozone ‘near bias’ instead, according to a report by Union Investment

Zurich Insurance Group has become the first large institutional investor to prioritise the environmental and social goals of its impact investment portfolio following its AUM reaching $5bn

Premium income in the life and non-life Italian business in the first six months of 2020 amounted to €68bn, down by 9.2% compared to the first half of 2019, according to latest figures published by Italy's Institute for the Supervision of Insurance (IVASS)

Failure to act on stakeholder pressure around ESG issues could lead to long-term reputational challenges for their organisation, insurance companies in Europe and Asia Pacific have said

Eighty per cent of European professional investors now have social real estate firmly on their radar as an investment opportunity and over the next two years around 30% expect institutional investors to increase their real estate allocation to funds offering a social benefit

Swiss insurance company Helvetia has issued its first green hybrid bond worth CHF 200m, enabling its investors to participate in and support its sustainability targets

The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) is conducting a public consultation around bank and insurer disclosures concerning climate change and financial risks

Aberdeen Standard Investments (ASI) has launched a range of sustainable index funds within a tax efficient Authorised Contractual Scheme (ACS) structure aimed at pension funds and other institutional investors

Conning has announced the launch of a new Climate Risk Reporting and Scenario Service, equipping institutional investors with the tools and analytics needed to assess portfolio risk under a range of climate change stresses

Zurich has seen its property & casualty (P&C) gross written premiums rise by 3% on a like-for-like basis for the nine months ended 30 September 2020 compared to a year earlier

Turkish insurers' insurer financial strength ratings are under pressure from the negative outlooks on the Turkish sovereign and Turkish banks' ratings, Fitch Ratings has said

Two of Denmark’s largest pension funds, PKA and PenSam, have joined forces with Norway’s Storebrand to establish a new climate and infrastructure fund of up to DKK 30bn, under the auspices of AIP Management

The Prudential Staff Pension Scheme has secured a longevity swap deal with Pacific Life Re, covering £3.7bn of pension liabilities, the fifth largest UK longevity swap on record

Japanese property and casualty (P&C) insurers' adoption of environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives is a long-term positive, but faces near-term hurdles in the form of legacy practices that undermine their flexibility in managing evolving trends, Moody's has said

Luxembourg’s insurance sector saw premiums fall by 22.52% in Q3 2020, compared to the same period in 2019, as a result of COVID-19

Alternative assets will hit more than $17trn in AuM by 2025, up from $10.74trn at the end of 2020, latest data has shown

HM Treasury has said EEA states are equivalent for the purposes of Solvency II (SII) articles 378, 379 and 380

Local companies in the Philippine insurance industry will still face significant pressure on profitability amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic with the recent rejection of a proposal to relax minimum capital requirements, AM Best has said

AIG’s total consolidated net investment income increased to $3.8bn in Q3 2020, compared to $3.4bn in the prior year quarter, and net investment income on an APTI basis increased $271m primarily reflecting higher private equity and hedge fund returns

The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has appointed Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC) CEO Tracy Blackwell, Rothesay CEO Addy Loudiadis and Phoenix Group CEO savings and retirement UK & Europe and group director Scotland Andy Curran to its board

Scottish Widows is to divest at least £440m from companies that have failed to meet its environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards, and warned this figure could grow much further if companies do not take action to improve the sustainability of their business practices

Australian life and non-life insurers' earnings are likely to fall due to top-line pressure and weaker investment revenue, Fitch Ratings has said in a new report

The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) has issued an Accounting Standards Update (ASU) that will help insurance companies adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic by giving them an additional year to implement Accounting Standards Update No. 2018-12, Financial Services—Insurance (Topic 944): Targeted Improvements to the Accounting for Long-Duration Contracts (LDTI)

The risk exposures of the European Union (EU) insurance sector have slightly reduced since EIOPA published its July risk assessment update

Members of the 30-strong UN-convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance have published their position on thermal coal, calling for the cancellation of all new thermal coal projects, a phase-out of all unabated existing coal-fired electricity generation and a cessation of the financing, development and planning of further thermal coal power plants

RSA Insurance Group has received a £7.1bn takeover bid from Canada’s Intact Financial and Danish insurer Tryg, in what could be the biggest acquisition of a UK-listed company this year

BNP Paribas Asset Management (BNPP AM) has appointed Séverine Piquet as head of corporate credit research

MetLife’s net investment income was $4.7bn for Q3 2020, up 2% from the third quarter of 2019 driven by higher private equity returns

As of year-end 2019, US insurers’ investment in emerging markets bonds and stocks totalled $48.4bn in book/adjusted carrying value (BACV), which was less than 1% of total cash and invested assets; bonds accounted for the majority, at $46.9bn, according to a report published by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC)

The approach of EIOPA and the ESRB to the Solvency II review undermines insurers in facilitating the EC’s Capital Markets Union and Green Deal objectives, Insurance Europe has said

Less than 1% of total assets of the French insurance sector are exposed to the coal industry, a new report has revealed

Global alternative investment manager Ares has made Raj Krishnan partner and chief investment officer of Ares Insurance Solutions (AIS)

The outlook for German life insurers for 2021 is negative, reflecting the pressure low-interest rates exert on earnings and solvency, Moody’s Investors Service said in a report published today

Forty-nine per cent of global insurers are expecting to increase their allocation to real assets investment strategies over the next 12 months, a new study has revealed

The New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) superintendent Linda Lacewell has announced a settlement worth $6m with Principal Life Insurance Company for annuity replacement violations

MAPFRE’s total assets have fallen 5% from the close of 2019 and now stand at €68.8bn due to stock market falls, currency depreciation and reduced activity

French life insurers recorded net inflows for September of –€0.8bn

Allianz and Telefónica have reached an agreement for the creation of a joint venture to deploy Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) in Germany

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) is proposing to add its new group capital calculation (GCC) requirement to the existing Insurance Holding Company Systems Model Act (Holding Company Act)

Finnish pension insurance company, Elo, has further strengthened its solvency position after the third quarter (Q3), it has revealed

Net income for the private US property & casualty (P&C) insurance industry dropped 26% in the first half of 2020, as the effects of COVID-19 began to hurt insurer underwriting results and investment gains, according to data analytics provider Verisk and the American Property Casualty Insurance Association (APCIA)

Active engagement and stewardship have leapt in importance as a way for asset managers to drive sustainable change, Schroders Institutional Investor Study 2020 has found

Adani’s insurer and Lloyd’s of London syndicate Apollo has dropped Adani’s coal project after pressure from climate campaigners

Government bonds formed 52.9% of total investments made by Italian insurers in H1 2020, compared to 52.7% in H1 2019

Net sales of UCITS and AIF’s totalled €30bn in August, almost €100bn lower than the €124bn recorded in July 2020, according to the European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA)

AIG is to separate its life insurance arm from its larger property and casualty (P&C) business

Nippon Life has invested approximately JPY 11.4bn in sustainable development bonds issued by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank)

EIOPA has launched a program of targeted training on insurance supervision for 17 national competent authorities (NCA)

The Malaysian general insurance industry is expected to contract by 2.2% in 2020, primarily due to weak consumer demand and suspension of economic activity due to the lockdown restrictions in the aftermath of COVID-19 pandemic, according to GlobalData

Skandia has upped its commitment to sustainable investments, after its portfolio showed signs of a “stable” recovery during Q3