The trend of US life insurers partnering with alternative investment managers (AIMs) via offshore sidecars and reinsurance platforms is set to persist, according to Fitch Ratings

Generali has completed the sale of its 99.99% stake in its Turkish business, Generali Sigorta A.Ş., to Kiler Holding A.Ş

The trustees of the Airways Pension Scheme have agreed a £340m longevity swap with Metropolitan Tower Life Insurance Company, a subsidiary of MetLife, and Zurich Assurance

Allianz has withdrawn its pre-conditional voluntary cash offer to acquire at least 51% of the shares in Singapore-based Income Insurance

The Bank of England has confirmed it is holding its base rate at 4.75% in its final decision on interest rates in 2024

Belgian insurer Ageas has agreed a deal with UK-based insurance group, Saga, which will see Ageas UK acquire Saga’s insurance underwriting business

Folksamgruppen has invested SEK 3bn in the Copenhagen Infrastructure Growth Markets Fund II

The G R Wright & Sons Ltd Pension & Assurance Scheme has completed a £4m full scheme buy-in with Just Group, securing the benefits of all 13 members

European insurers are well positioned to deal with the consequences of a further escalation of geopolitical tensions, however, the capital and liquidity they would need to draw on to cope with such adverse shocks is substantial, EIOPA’s 2024 Insurance Stress Test has revealed

US insurers’ exposure to collateralised loan obligations (CLOs) increased to $271.2bn in BACV at year-end 2023, representing a 9.5% increase from $247.7bn at year-end 2022

Admiral Group has announced that its subsidiary, Admiral Insurance (Gibraltar) Limited, has invested into Schroders Capital’s Junior Infrastructure Debt Europe Fund III (JULIE III)

The bulk annuity market saw “significant” shifts in market dynamics in 2024, including the emergence of new entrants, increased capacity to meet demand, and evolving insurer priorities, DLA Piper has said

The Hunt Brothers and Company Limited Pension Fund has secured a £1.4m full scheme buy-in with Just Group, covering the benefits of eight pensioner members

The Tennants Consolidated Limited Pension Scheme has completed a £102m full scheme buy-in with Royal London, covering 463 pensioners and 241 deferred members

Varma has committed €2.3bn to a tailored exchange-traded fund (ETF), making it the largest ETF investment of its kind in the world

Insurers and occupational pension funds are “well-positioned” to absorb potential economic shocks, according to the latest analysis from the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA)

Large UK life insurers would have to report their liquidity positions daily during market crises under new rules proposed by the PRA, after the regulator identified information gaps during recent market turmoil

Sun Life has appointed Ping An CIO Benjamin Deng as President of Asia Asset Management, a newly created role, effective 1 January

MetLife and General Atlantic have announced the formation of Chariot Re, a to-be-registered Class E Bermuda-based life and annuity reinsurance company

Allianz has established a new independent strategic reinsurance platform called Sconset Re, which will be capitalised through equity investments from institutional partners

Japan’s Nippon Life is to acquire Resolution Life in a deal valued at $8.2bn

Forty per cent of insurance general accounts expect to increase allocations to ETFs, while a net 25% expect to decrease allocations to mutual funds, new research from Cerulli has found

Strong activity levels and improved communications for members at-retirement in the bulk purchase annuity (BPA) market are set to continue in 2025, according to industry experts

More than half of institutional investors in Europe and Asia have not yet spoken to any of their asset management providers about how managers are implementing AI into their businesses and investment processes, new research by Coalition Greenwich has revealed

AllianceBernstein (AB) has appointed Bob Sharma as head of insurance, EMEA & APAC, client group

The Hays Pension Scheme has completed a £370m buy-in with Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC), covering the benefits of 853 pensioners and dependents and 3,368 deferred members

Chelsea FC owner, Todd Boehly, has set up a $74bn asset manager and insurance holding company, capitalising on the investment industry’s push for scale and consolidation

a.s.r. has made a change to its policy on responsible investments, allowing investments in Dutch companies or activities related to the defence industry under strict conditions

Dutch mortgage funds received €2bn in new investments from institutional investors such as insurers and pension funds in the first three quarters of 2024, De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) figures have shown

Invesco has announced the appointment of Joe Steidl as head of UK insurance distribution

EIOPA has launched its second series of consultations regarding its proposed report on biodiversity risk management, as well as on five legal instruments to reflect the changes expected to be introduced to the regulatory framework as part of the Solvency II review process

Evermill Capital, a new investment manager specialising in asset-backed financing solutions, has formally launched today

Transition risks because of a disorderly transition to net-zero could affect European insurance company investment returns by up to 13% in the short term, while longer term physical risks resulting from a lack of action could result in declines of up to 23% by 2050, Ortec Finance has warned

Varma is to invest €500m in a tailor-made ETF fund listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange that takes climate impacts into account

The Avimo Pension Scheme has completed a £50m buy-in with Rothesay, securing retirement benefits of all 611 scheme members, including 416 pensioners and dependants and 195 deferred members

The total value of buy-in and buyout transactions completed in the third quarter of 2024 reached around £20bn, marking the largest volume of transactions in the third quarter of any calendar year, according to analysis by Hymans Robertson

Mirova has decided to group together its energy transition infrastructure, natural capital and private equity businesses on a single platform dedicated to real assets

The trustee of the Merchant Navy Ratings Pension Fund (MNRPF) has agreed a £450m longevity swap with Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (MetLife)

A limited number of the world’s largest insurers and pension funds representing over £17trn in assets are utilising their influential position to drive climate policy advocacy in line with science-based pathways to net-zero, new analysis has found, and the majority are abdicating responsibility in this area

Schroders has announced plans to adopt the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) Sustainability Disclosure Requirements (SDR) labels across 10 of its funds

UK non-bank resilience to market shocks has increased in a number of sectors and firms over recent years, according to the BoE’s system-wide exploratory scenario (SWES) exercise, but some of that resilience could deteriorate or change over time, risking greater amplification by the financial sector in the future

KION Group has completed a £250m full scheme buy-in transaction with Canada Life, securing the benefits of over 3000 members and covering five different UK defined benefit (DB) pension schemes within the group

Private equity’s advance into the insurance sector exacerbates the risk of “fire sales” that disrupt the functioning of financial markets, the BoE has warned

Geopolitical risks could eat up 95% of European insurers’ capital surplus, S&P Global Ratings has warned

The winners of the Insurance Asset Management Awards 2024 were announced last night at a gala ceremony in London.

Over half (57%) of professional investors have stated that their current fixed income allocation is underweight, Managing Partners Group (MPG) has revealed

The trustees of the Mitchells & Butlers Executive Pension Plan (MABEPP) have agreed a full scheme buyout with Legal and General Assurance Society Limited, the group's latest annual accounts have revealed

Blackstone and Santander Corporate & Investment Banking have announced an agreement under which funds managed by Blackstone Credit & Insurance (BXCI) will acquire interests in a $1bn portfolio of high-quality infrastructure loans from Santander

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has been branded “incompetent at best, dishonest at worst” in a new Parliamentarian report

The Wednesbury Pension Scheme has completed a £43m buy-in with Just Group

The National Grid Electricity Group part of the Electricity Supply Pension Scheme has completed a £1.7bn buy-in with Aviva

An unnamed UK pension scheme has agreed a £500m bulk purchase annuity (BPA) transaction with M&G, in what is thought to be the market's first BPA deal to share value with a corporate sponsor

The world’s largest 100 asset owners now hold a record $26.3trn in total assets, new research by the Thinking Ahead Institute (TAI) has revealed

European insurers’ ratings will not be affected by the capital surcharges on fossil fuel-related assets recently proposed by EIOPA, Fitch Ratings has said

The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) “stands ready” to implement and enforce regulations where needed and to flag areas requiring further action that are not within its current mandate, according to EIOPA chairperson, Petra Hielkema

Eight in 10 (80%) asset and wealth managers expect disruptive technologies, such as AI, to fuel revenue growth, with those moving quickly to adopt ‘tech-as-a-service’ seeing a potential 12% boost to revenues by 2028, according to analysis from PwC

L&G has completed $2.2bn of US PRT business in the year to date, representing its largest year ever

South Korea’s general insurance industry is set to be worth $33.3bn in five years, new estimates from GlobalData have indicated

Reinsurance Group of America (RGA) has entered into a new $5.4bn reinsurance agreement with Manulife

The New Crown Motor Sales Limited Staff Pension Scheme has completed a £2.2m buy-in with Just Group, securing the benefits of 36 members

Industrial Alliance Portfolio Management (IAPM) has selected Clearwater Analytics to enhance its performance attribution and risk analysis capabilities

Around 70% of institutional investors globally invest in infrastructure or plan to do so in the near future, according to a study by Coalition Greenwich

Aegon UK’s head of responsible investment, Hilkka Komulainen, has announced that she is stepping down

Gresham House has appointed Eoin McDonald as director of global natural capital to drive further development of its natural capital solutions strategy globally

Fifty per cent of UK asset owners are either already investing in natural capital or will do so within the next 18 months, as they become increasingly aware of its potential to deliver resilient, impactful returns, a new report commissioned by Gresham House has revealed

Transition risk losses alone are unlikely to threaten EU financial stability, the latest climate scenario analysis conducted by the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) and the ECB has revealed

Global life insurance premiums are forecast to grow at an annual rate of 3% in 2025 and 2026, more than double the rate of the past ten years, according to the Swiss Re Institute

Insurance companies are the leader in AI adoption when compared to other institutional investors, research published by Schroders has revealed

Insurance Asset Management is pleased to announce the launch of the Insurance Asset Management Summit, to be held at Lingfield Park Racecourse on 25-26 March 2025

Philippines’ Insurance Commission has imposed new risk charges relating to investments in infrastructure projects by re/insurers under the Philippine Development Plan (PDP)

The Indian Government is set to implement major insurance sector reforms, which include permitting 100% foreign direct investment (FDI) and introducing more flexible regulations for insurance agents

The PRA has published Policy Statement 15/24 finalising its rules and policy materials that will replace Solvency II assimilated law

Aviva has reported a 15% jump in general insurance (GI) premiums to £9.1bn through nine months of trading, as the insurer announced a Q3 of strong delivery and profitable growth

The United Nations-convened Forum for Insurance Transition to Net Zero (FIT) has launched the first-ever global guide on transition plans for insurance companies at the 2024 UN Climate Change Conference (COP29) in Baku, Azerbaijan

The International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) executive committee has approved the final version of the Insurance Capital Standard (ICS) as a prescribed capital requirement for internationally active insurance groups (IAIGs), which will be recommended for adoption at the IAIS Annual General Meeting on 5 December 2024

Swiss Re has reported a net income of US$2bn and a return on equity (ROE) of 13.4% for the first nine months of the year, according to its latest financial results

The Walkers Shortbread Limited Retirement Benefits Scheme has completed a £34m buy-in with Legal and General (L&G), securing the benefits of 161 retirees and 238 deferred members

A group of institutional investors is calling on the European Parliament to reject a proposed delay of the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR)

Swedish occupational pension and life insurance companies made a return of 7.4% on their investments in the first three quarters of 2024, according to statistics from Insurance Sweden

The trustee of the G4S Pension Scheme has completed a £1.8bn full buy-in with Just Group, covering the benefits of around 22,500 members

An unnamed defined benefit (DB) pension scheme has completed a £20m buy-in with Utmost Life and Pensions

UK insurers share a "strong appetite" for continued UK investment through their pension books, although a lack of market opportunities could be limiting their ability to invest, according to a report from DLA Piper

Dutch financial institutions must “look beyond” the countries in which they are invested as they are “vulnerable” to geo-economic fragmentation through the value chains of the firms in which they invest, according to De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) director of monetary affairs and financial stability, Olaf Sleijpen

Asian institutional investors are laying out plans to shift portfolio assets to international debt and equity, and, to an even greater extent, to a list of alternative strategies ranging from private debt to hedge funds

An unnamed pension scheme in the mechanical and electrical industry has completed a £2m full buy-in with Legal and General, securing the benefits of 16 pensioners and 3 deferred members

EIOPA is consulting on mass-lapse reinsurance and reinsurance termination clauses to enhance guidance on risk mitigation techniques

The UK’s Financial Reporting Council (FRC) is proposing to amend the definition of stewardship in the launch of its Stewardship Code Consultation today

The Danish insurance and pension industry contributed DKK 18.3bn to the national treasury in 2024, according to Insurance and Pension Denmark (I&P Denmark)

The first half of 2024 saw a record number of bulk purchase annuity (BPA) deals completed, driven by a “surge” in smaller transactions, analysis from Aon has revealed

Natwest Group has agreed a buy-in transaction with a third party insurer, with around a third of the main section of its defined benefit (DB) pension scheme now covered by insurance policies

The Halma Group Pension Plan and the Apollo Pension and Life Assurance Plan have secured £250m of buy-ins with Standard Life, securing retirement benefits for 2,200 pension scheme members

The Atradius UK Pension Scheme has completed a £190m buy-in with the Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC)

EIOPA has published its final report on the prudential treatment of sustainability risks within Solvency II, recommending additional capital requirements for fossil fuel assets on European insurers’ balance sheets to accurately reflect the high risks of these assets

Beazley has reported steady growth in insurance written premiums and increased investment returns driven by favourable financial markets for the nine months ended 30 September

US insurance companies reported a 3.1% YOY decline in commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) to $284bn at year-end 2023, driven by private-label

The West Bromwich Building Society Staff Retirement Scheme has completed a £70m buy-in with Canada Life, securing the benefits of all uninsured scheme members, including around 490 deferred members and 400 pensioner members

The European Supervisory Authorities (EBA, EIOPA and ESMA – ESAs) have noticed “gradual improvements” in the quality and quantity of principal adverse impacts (PAI) disclosures reported under the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR)

The overall effect of UK solvency reforms due to be set out in November will be beneficial to UK insurers, according to a new report from AM Best

Swiss Re has agreed to sell iptiQ’s European P&C business to Allianz Direct, in line with its strategic decision to withdraw iptiQ

The US insurance industry’s exposure to commercial real estate (CRE) totalled $995bn as of year-end 2023, or 11.7% of the industry’s total cash and invested assets, according to the NAIC

Muse and Pensions Insurance Corporation (PIC) have agreed a £54m affordable housing deal with Homes England, the government's housing and regeneration agency

Mercer has completed its acquisition of long-term savings specialist Cardano, for an undisclosed amount

Over half (60%) of institutional investors and managers think the UK government is “on track” to meet its goal of reducing emissions by 68% by 2030, analysis from Pensions for Purpose found

The UN-convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance (NZAOA) has published its fourth Progress Report revealing significant progress towards net-zero commitments, including reductions in absolute financed emissions of at least 6% on average annually

Enstar Group has announced that one of its wholly-owned subsidiaries has closed a previously announced ground-up loss portfolio transfer transaction with subsidiaries of QBE to reinsure a portfolio of US commercial liability and workers’ compensation business, largely underwritten on recently discontinued programs

Reinsurance companies posted a return on equity (ROE) of 22% in 2023, the highest level in five years, according to new figures from AM Best

AIA has announced a 16% rise in the value of its new business (VONB) on constant exchange rates (CER) in Q3

The Armfield Limited Pension and Life Assurance Scheme has completed a £7m buy-in transaction with Just Group, securing the retirement benefits of the scheme's 24 pensioners and 15 deferred members

Sixty-three per cent of global insurance CEOs are confident that they will meet net-zero goals by 2030, latest research published by KPMG has revealed

Finnish pension insurer, Veritas, made a return of 6.7% in the first nine months of 2024, its interim results reveal

Schroders has been selected to manage Cirencester Friendly’s £75m investment portfolio

The directors of the financial supervisory authorities in the Nordics have sent a joint letter to the European Supervisory Authorities (EBA, EIOPA, ESMA – the ESAs) calling for simpler regulation

The St Modwen Pension Scheme has completed an £18m full-scheme buy-in with Just Group

The Deutsche Bank Pension Scheme has completed a £1.1bn full buy-in with Legal & General (L&G), securing the retirement benefits of around 4,000 members

The RAC (2003) Pension Scheme has completed a £1.3 bn full buy-in with Aviva, securing retirement benefits for all of the scheme's 19,000 members

Ilmarinen made an investment return of 7.4% for the period from January to September 2024, equal to €4.4bn, its interim results reveal

Varma made a return of 7.7%, equivalent to €4.6bn, in the first nine months of 2024, its interim results have revealed

The Danish pension and insurance industry paid DKK 250m in the first year of the country’s special tax on the financial sector, according to analysis by Insurance and Pension Denmark (I&P Denmark)

MAPFRE RE has obtained official approval from the National Financial Regulatory Administration of the People’s Republic of China to open its branch in Beijing

Finnish pension insurer, Elo, made a return of 7%, equivalent to €2.1bn, in the first nine months of 2024, which it attributed to the strong performance of listed equities

Political pressure is now deterring around one in 10 US asset owners from continuing to incorporate ESG considerations into investment decisions and has led to institutional investors and asset managers to stop using the term ESG, latest research by Cerulli has revealed

EIOPA has launched a public consultation on its draft technical advice on standard formula capital requirements for crypto assets within the EU’s regulatory framework for insurers

The International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) has published its Strategic Plan 2025-2029

Profits generated by global asset managers are expected to continue to decline for at least the next four years as investors turn to lower-cost investment products like ETFs, the European Asset Management Study 2024, published by zeb Consulting has revealed

Asset under management (AuM) at Skandia increased by SEK 56bn from the start of the year up to the end of the third quarter (Q3)

Generali is to no longer provide insurance for risks associated with oil and gas expansion, including new liquified natural gas (LNG) terminals and gas-fired power plants

Mirova has been selected by a consortium of 11 institutional investors to manage the fund, Objectif biodiversité

The trustee of the Rotork Pension and Life Assurance Scheme has agreed a £70m buy-in transaction with Aviva, covering the pension benefits for 19 current pensioners and dependants and 322 deferred members

Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has held the first meeting of the British Infrastructure Taskforce, as part of the UK Government's work to 'unlock private investment', including by building business confidence in UK infrastructure investments

Global investors are looking through the short-term noise created by this year’s election cycle to harness the major trends of deglobalisation, disruption and decarbonisation by increasing their exposure to global equities and private equity, according to the Global Investor Insights Survey published by Schroders

Total assets under management (AuM) at the world’s largest asset managers reached US$128trn at the end of 2023, according to new research from the Thinking Ahead Institute

The first half of 2024 was a "record-breaking" period in the UK pension risk transfer market, which saw an "unprecedented" number (134) of buy-ins with an overall value of £15.2bn, Hymans Robertson has found

EIOPA has opened a consultation regarding the criteria for which national supervisors may request insurers to perform macroprudential analysis

Legal & General’s asset management division has expanded its ETF range with the launch of the L&G Corporate Bond ex-Banks Higher Ratings 0-2Y UCITS ETF

Aviva has teamed up with local charities St Nicks and York Cares to help fund a floating ecosystem in the River Ouse

MAPFRE has secured a five-year syndicated loan valued at €500m, extendable twice for an additional year each time

Banking and insurance supervisory authorities globally are making progress on climate-related financial risks, but insurance supervision consistently lags behind banking supervision, WWF’s Sustainable Financial Regulations and Central Bank (SUSREG) Tracker 2024 has revealed

Taiwan’s life insurers are issuing capital qualifying-bonds and optimising investment strategies to strengthen their capital position in response to the implementation of the country’s Insurance Capital Standard (TW-ICS) and IFRS 17 in 2026

T. Rowe Price has appointed Ben Riley to the newly created role of head of insurance, effective 1 January 2025

Zurich has announced the successful placement of US$500m of dated subordinated notes

UK inflation has fallen below the 2% target set by the Bank of England (BoE) in the year to September to 1.7%, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has revealed

Stewart Investors has become the first investment management firm to become a member of the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance (IRMA), an organisation addressing the global demand for more socially and environmentally responsible mining

Almost nine in 10 (88%) institutional investors and wealth managers predict there will be an increase in their industries of locking in gains from strong equity performances to rebalance portfolios to fixed income over the next 18 months, Managing Partners Group (MPG) research has revealed

Ninety-one per cent of global insurers intend to increase investments in private assets over the next two years, particularly across multiple private debt categories, including opportunistic private debt (41%), private placements (40%), and direct lending (39%)

BlackRock has reported assets under management (AuM) of $11.48trn – a new record high – at the end of Q3, up 7.8% from the end of Q2 and up 26.1% from the end of the year-ago quarter

Isio has announced plans to acquire insurance and risk settlement specialist, K3 Advisory, subject to Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regulatory approval

Singapore is to block a bid by German insurer Allianz to buy a majority stake worth $1.68bn in Income Insurance, but remains open to a new deal if certain concerns can be addressed, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong has stated

The Church of England Pensions Board has completed a £145m buy-in with Aviva, meaning that all pensions within the Church Workers Pension Fund (CWPF) Defined Benefit (DB) Scheme are now backed by insurance policies

The European equity market offers promising opportunities for investors in the fourth quarter of 2024 amid declining interest rates and a turbulent Q3, according to Morningstar

The Investment Association (IA) and Technology Working Group have published recommendations on how the UK investment management industry can harness the potential of new technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI)

The Government has appointed former Darktrace CEO, Poppy Gustafsson, as its new Investment Minister as part of a wider ‘shake up’ aimed at strengthening the Government’s partnership with businesses and investors

The CO2 footprint of Dutch insurers and pension funds was ‘clearer’ from 2020-21, according to analysis by De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB)

The Joint Committee of the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) has published its work programme for the year ahead, outlining plans to prioritise strengthening digital resilience and sustainability disclosures in 2025

HSBC has appointed William Chan as its global chief investment officer and head of investments

UK pension risk transfer market volumes have reached “cruising altitude”, with 2024 expected to end a little below the 2023 record of £49.1bn, LCP analysis has found

The Michelin Pension and Life Assurance Plan has agreed a £1.5bn full-scheme buy-in with Aviva, covering the retirement benefits of around 15,000 members of the scheme

Resolution Life has appointed Ruth Farrugia as chief investment officer as part of a planned transition, effective September 2024

The adoption of the Insurance Capital Standard (ICS) at the end of 2024 as a global solvency standard for internationally active insurance groups is likely the most significant regulatory development for global insurers, Fitch Ratings has stated

Markerstudy Group has appointed Emma Rawlinson as chief investment officer, effective immediately

EIOPA has today published its methodology on setting value-for-money benchmarks for unit-linked and hybrid insurance products

Belgian insurer, Ageas, is on the hunt for a takeover bid for more British companies after its failed attempt to snap up Direct Line earlier this year

Future Growth Capital (FGC), the private markets investment manager launched by Schroders and Phoenix Group in July, has announced its senior leadership team

EDF Invest, the investment arm of the EDF Group, has reached an agreement with Generali France to acquire 50% of the vehicle, OPPCI Parcolog Invest

UNIQA has confirmed the sale of Moscow-based company, Raiffeisen Life, to Russian insurer, Renaissance Life

Insurance Europe has appointed Thea Utoft Høj Jensen as its new director general

Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLB) capital stock held by US insurers totalled $7.7bn at year-end 2023, up slightly from $7.4bn at year-end 2022, according to the NAIC

US insurers experienced a second straight year of declining income on their private equity investments, which dropped to $7.7bn in 2023, down from $10.2bn in 2022, AM Best has revealed

Thomas Miller & Co Ltd Retirement Benefits Scheme has completed a £140m full-scheme buy-in with Aviva, covering all members of the scheme

The Retreat York Pension Scheme has agreed a £30m full scheme buy-in with Royal London, securing the benefits of 202 pensioners and 108 deferred members

EIOPA has launched a series of consultations on regulatory technical standards (RTS) and implementing technical standard (ITS) regarding changes that are expected to be introduced to the regulatory framework as part of the Solvency II review process

Appointments at Ostrum AM, Mesirow, and more...

Over half (58%) of CEOs in the global insurance industry believe that it would take them three to five years for generative artificial intelligence (AI) to provide a return on investment, KPMG has revealed

Almost half (47%) of pension experts expect the bulk annuity market to reach between £50bn and £60bn of transactions next year, according to Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC) research

Solvency II reports from 100 of the largest non-life insurers in the UK and Ireland show continued financial growth in 2023, LCP has revealed

Institutional investors are predicting strong growth and attractive risk-adjusted returns in the hedge fund sector, and are planning to back expansion with increased allocations, new global research by Beacon Platform has shown

Varma has set out its key sustainability considerations in line with the European Union’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), which came into force this year

Royal London has confirmed that it has entered the UK pension bulk purchase annuity (BPA) market

The PRA’s director of insurance supervision, Shoib Khan, has highlighted a series of new initiatives designed to maintain trust in the prudential framework while facilitating the UK’s economic growth through the insurance sector

Resolution Life has announced that its Bermudian reinsurance platform, Resolution Re, has entered into a new UK Pension Risk Transfer (PRT) reinsurance transaction with a leading UK-regulated insurer

Rothesay generated new business premiums of £9.5bn in H1 2024, according to its trading and financial performance for H1 2024

The bulk annuity market in the UK saw £15.1bn worth of transactions in the first half of 2024 across a "record" number of deals, research from Aon has found

Robeco has added to it its multi-asset proposition by launching a flexible allocation strategy, to complement its existing multi-asset allocation strategies

Smaller pension scheme buy-in deals drove bulk annuity transaction numbers to record levels in the first half of 2024, according to analysis from LCP

Resolution Life has appointed Ruth Farrugia as its new chief investment officer (CIO) as part of a planned transition

L&G has appointed Eric Adler as CEO of asset management subject to regulatory approval

The PRA has announced its intention to publish the final package of rules relating to the Solvency II Review in mid-November 2024

Prudential has launched two whitepapers on climate transition financing

MS Amlin has appointed Emma Snowdon as head of capital management and investments

Net income for the US life/annuity (L/A) insurance industry increased by 7.1% in H1 2024 over the same prior-year period to $14.1bn, driven largely by lower realised capital losses, according to AM Best

Zurich is to drop oil and gas producers lacking credible transition plans by 2030

The Bank of England has confirmed that interest rates are to be held at 5%

Finland’s non-life insurance sector solvency has weakened due to the increase in the solvency capital requirement, but remains at a good level, the country’s Financial Supervisory Authority has revealed

Achmea is to invest 10% of its own accounts in impact investments by 2025, as part of its updated climate transition plan

Swedish occupational pension companies lagged behind life insurance companies in the country during the second quarter of 2024, analysis by Insurance Sweden has found

The first half of 2024 saw the largest ever number of UK buy-in transactions, according to Hymans Robertson

Hymans Robertson has appointed Krish Kistnassamy as head of general insurance within its Insurance & Financial Services (IFS) practice

Private equity firm, Bain Capital, has lined up advisers for the possible sale of esure

The presentation of the new European commissioners by Commission President, Ursula Von der Leyen, sends a “strong signal” according to Insurance and Pension Denmark (I&P Denmark)

The Merseyside Pension Fund has completed a £200m buy-in with Aviva, securing the benefits of around 2,500 scheme members, attributable to Arriva Merseyside Ltd

BlackRock is revamping its private credit business with the launch of a new division and a management shake-up

Two thirds of Switzerland’s insurers already have a sustainability strategy in place, according to the Swiss Insurance Association’s (SIA) latest sustainability report

Nine out of ten Austrian insurance undertakings (87.5%) had an SCR solvency level of over 200% at the middle of the year, thereby having twice as higher own funds as necessary, the Austrian Financial Market Authority (FMA) has revealed

Phoenix Group has “discontinued” the Sunlife sale process as the firm reported a solid increase in H1 profit

Schroders appointed to manage £270m investment portfolio, and more...

China has tightened regulations around its insurance sector to encourage the development of so-called patient capital and to boost investment in the technology sector

Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM) has launched two new strategies, which offer professional UK defined benefit pension schemes a range of options for investing in US asset-based securities (ABS)

Amundi has announced the appointment of Francesco Sandrini as the group’s new chief investment officer (CIO) in Italy

Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC) has reported a “strong” H1, with record numbers of pensions insured and policyholder pension payments made, despite new business being down on last year, according to its half-year results

Prudential has been selected for a second pension risk transfer with International Business Machines Corporation (IBM)

Brazil’s general insurance industry is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.8% over the next five years, according to estimates from GlobalData

The Malaysian life insurance industry is forecast to be worth $17.2bn by 2028, according to estimates from GlobalData

Latin American reinsurers will maintain their strong performance in the second half of 2024 and into 2025, Fitch Ratings has stated in a new report

Italian life insurer, CNP Vita Assicura, has entrusted Ostrum Asset Management (Ostrum AM), an affiliate of Natixis Investment Managers, with the management of €15.6bn worth of listed assets

Schroders has appointed Richard Oldfield as its new group chief executive, subject to regulatory approval

The Charities Aid Foundation Pension Scheme has completed a £12m buy-in with Just Group, securing the retirement benefits of 64 pensioners and 155 deferred members

Invesco is launching the first exchange-traded fund (ETF) in Europe that will track the MSCI World Equal Weight Index

Reinsurers should look to “lean into risk” to support clients and drive a more sustainable market, Aon has said

AXA IM has announced the acquisition of CAPZA, increasing its position from majority shareholder to full ownership by 2026

H1 2024 global M&A transaction activity hit a new 15 year low for first half activity, a new report from Clyde & Co has revealed.

The PRT market in the UK and the US is forecast to exceed a combined £250bn in the next three years, L&G has revealed

The Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC) has published guidance to support investors looking to address scope 3 emissions from investments in their portfolios

A surge in demand for pension scheme buyouts is set to drive transactions in the second half of 2024, according to PwC

Latest news in brief from the industry...

FWD’s group CIO, Andreas Hoffman, is to leave after over four years there

The Coats UK Pension Scheme has completed a £1.3bn buy-in with Pension Insurance Corporation, covering the remaining 80% of the scheme's liabilities

Stefan Mächler is to pass on his responsibilities as Group CIO and CEO of Swiss Life Asset Managers to Per Erikson

RSA Insurance CEO, UK & International, Ken Norgrove, has been appointed ABI deputy president

The Prudential Insurance Company of America has been selected in an industry-first multiemployer plan pension risk transfer (PRT) to fulfil retirement benefit promises for the Sound Retirement Trust, a Seattle-based joint labour-management board of trustee that provides grocery worker of contributing employers with retirement benefits

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) is to have its five industry supervision groups managed in two supervision divisions as part of a number of changes to its internal structure

Legal & General (L&G) has funded a new £85m investment with housing association, Anchor, which will use the proceeds primarily to fund the development of new affordable energy efficient homes

Vienna Insurance Group’s total capital investment portfolio as of 30 June 2024 amounted to €43.1bn, up from €42.6bn at the end of 2023

Prudential has posted an 81% fall in net profit to $182m (£138m) in its opening half results, down significantly from the $947m (£717m) the group reported in H1 last year

Finnish pension insurer, Elo, generated “good” returns in Q1 2024, with its return on investment reaching €1bn, or 3.3%, during the period

Germany’s Federal Financial Supervisory Authority, BaFin, has given its approval to the planned merger of Barmenia and Gothaer to form BarmeniaGothaer

The Scottish Milk Limited Retirement Benefits Plan has completed a £42m buy-in with Just Group, securing retirement benefits for all 452 members of the scheme, including 292 pensioners and a further 160 deferred members

French insurer, Axa, has reportedly withdrawn $20m worth of investments in three Israeli banks which the UN has accused of supporting “illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank”

The Japanese general insurance industry is set to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.2% from JPY11.7trn ($81.1bn) in 2024 to JPY12.7trn ($93.9bn) in 2028, in terms of gross written premiums (GWP), GlobalData has revealed

The gross yield on invested assets for US P&C insurers increased to 3.6% in 2023, AM Best has revealed

Forty-eight per cent of US asset managers have marked the availability of capital as their top risk, with interest rate uncertainty ranking second at 37%, according to KPMG

Direct Line has updated its 2023 annual results after identifying a “miscalculation” within its audited Solvency II own funds

Ping An has reported a 6.8% rise in first-half net profit, driven by growth in new insurance policies and its move to secure long-term investments amid market volatility

M&G has appointed Kerrigan Procter as managing director of its corporate risk solutions business

Swiss Re reported a profit of $996m in Q2 2024, resulting in a net income of $2.1bn and a ROE of 20.1% for H1

Prudential Financial is to reinsure a portion of its guaranteed universal life block with Wilton Re, resulting in approximately $350m of expected proceeds, post-closing

Global insurance spending is to hit almost $10trn by 2028, $900bn more than this year, new figures from Stocklytics.com have revealed

XPS Group has launched a new illiquid assets trading solution, XPS Xchange, designed to facilitate illiquid asset trade on the secondary market

Total assets of Chinese insurance companies amounted to RMB 33.8trn as of the end of Q2 2024, up by RMB 2.3trn or 7.4% from the beginning of the year

Aviva Investors has appointed Denis Resovac as head of insurance solution sales for Asia Pacific

Despite the defined benefit (DB) pension risk transfer market being a “little quieter” so far this year, Standard Life has said that there is a "strong pipeline" ahead, with over £40bn of bulk purchase annuities (BPA) expected to transact by the end of the year

Varma returned 5.9% in the first half of 2024, its interim results have revealed

The Macmillan Cancer Support Pension Scheme has agreed a £33.7m buy-in with Aviva, covering all of the scheme’s retirees and deferred members, and their beneficiaries

Broadstone has committed to setting several near-term science-based emissions reduction targets, including targeting a 50% reduction in scope 1 carbon emissions by 2032

AlphaReal has structured and invested in a portfolio of 28 childcare facilities located across the UK on behalf of Just Group

Finnish pension insurance company, Ilmarinen, made an investment return of 4.9% in the first six months of 2024, equal to €2.9bn, its interim results reveal

The shortlist for the 8th annual Insurance Asset Management Awards has been announced, with the winners to be revealed at a prestigious gala dinner on 28 November 2024

Australian insurers are displaying more willingness to take on greater investment risks as inflation and recession fears subside, according to the 2024 Australian Insurance Report by Janus Henderson Investors

Achmea has committed to increasing its impact investments to at least €4bn by 2025 using the expertise of Achmea Investment Management and Achmea Real Estate

Oliver Wyman has appointed Paul Ricard as the new Asia-Pacific head of insurance and asset management

The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America (Guardian) and HPS Investment Partners (HPS) have agreed to expand their strategic partnership

Aviva has reported a 14% rise in H1 adjusted operating profit to £875m

Just Group has posted a 44% jump in its underlying operating profit to £249m in its first half results

Net profits among Islamic and Takaful insurers in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) reached a record of almost $1bn in 2023, mainly due to rate adjustments in previously underperforming lines and higher investment returns, S&P Global Ratings research has shown

Finnish earnings-related pensions provider, Varma, has committed to two joint investor initiatives

Britain is to propose a law next year to regulate ESG raters

The number of private equity (PE)-owned US insurers identified by the NAIC remained at 137 as of July 2024, compared to a year earlier, but total investments increased by 13.5% to $605.7bn

Zurich’s group business operating profit (BOP) rose by 7% in H1 2024 to a record US$4bn, according to its latest financial results

Rawle Gammon & Baker Ltd Pension & Assurance Scheme has completed a £23m full buy-in with Just Group, securing the benefits of 113 deferred members and 154 pensioners

L&G has reported a 1% rise in H1 core operating profit to £849m ($1.1bn), exceeding analyst expectations, following record sales of individual annuities over the period

Concerns have been raised about the lack of public disclosure from insurers regarding funded reinsurance (FundedRe) following the publication of new policy expectations from the Prudential Regulatory Authority (PRA)

The BPT Retirement Benefits Scheme has completed a £20m full scheme buy-in with Aviva, securing the benefits of 49 deferred members and 50 pensioners

Quicker than expected buy-in processes are creating “glaring gaps” for defined benefit (DB) pension schemes’ wind-up journeys, Hymans Robertson has warned

La France Mutualiste has selected Clearwater Analytics’ JUMP ULF platform to modernise its investment operations and reporting processes, and has already onboarded all its unit-linked activities

EIOPA has launched a public consultation on the future of the new proportionality framework under Solvency II

The Investment Association (IA) has published its latest climate and nature policy report, outlining its approach to climate change and nature-related policy

Aon has appointed Craig Campbell as UK head of responsible investment

Royal London is finalising preparations to enter the bulk annuity market within months

AXA has entered into an exclusive negotiation to sell its asset manager, AXA IM, to BNP Paribas for cash proceeds of €5.1bn

The Prudential Regulatory Authority (PRA) has outlined new policy expectations on funded reinsurance (FundedRe), following concerns that the current growth in FundedRe transactions could, if not properly controlled, lead to a rapid build-up of risks in the sector

EIOPA has launched a public consultation on the capital requirement treatment of insurers’ direct exposure to qualified central counterparties (CCPs) within the standard formula

L&G has completed a £1.1bn buy-in with the SCA UK Pension Plan, securing the benefits of 5,900 retirees and 3,600 deferred members

Risks in the European insurance sector are stable and overall at medium levels, with pockets of vulnerabilities stemming from market volatility and real estate prices, EIOPA’s latest Insurance Risk Dashboard has revealed

The Moog Retirement Benefits Plan has completed a £25m buy-in with Just Group, covering the scheme's remaining 28 deferred members and 139 current pensioner members

Phoenix Group and Schroders are to launch a new private markets investment manager with a £1bn initial commitment, increasing to £2.5bn over three years

1970 Group, a risk financing provider to the insurance industry, has announced a significant growth capital investment from Bain Capital Insurance (Bain Capital), to support the continued expansion of its liquidity management solutions for insured companies

A decade-long trend of insurers steadily increasing their private credit holdings continued in 2023, comprising 44% of the bonds held within the insurance industry, compared with around 27% in 2013, according to AM Best

The trustee of the Greggs plc 1978 Retirement and Death Benefit Scheme has secured a £100m buy-in deal with Aviva, covering the majority of the scheme’s liabilities

MetLife invested $1.4bn in investments that advance diversity between 2021 and 2023, achieving its targets early

Fitch Ratings has appointed Harish Gohil to the role of global group head of insurance, effective 1 August

'Scale' tops the factors US institutional investors consider when selecting an asset manager for an investment mandate (85%), according to new research from Cerulli

Total US annuity sales were $215.2bn in H1 2024, a 19% jump from prior year results, and a new sales record for the first six months of a year, LIMRA has revealed

Standard Life has concluded a £100m bulk purchase annuity (BPA) transaction covering members of two linked pension schemes sponsored by an industry-leading provider of catering, onboard retail, and food service logistics to the travel industry

More than 325 asset managers, with US$57.5trn in assets, have now committed to achieve net-zero alignment by 2050 or sooner, the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative has revealed

The European insurance industry has called on the EU to use the “golden opportunity” offered by the review of Solvency II to unlock additional capital

UK insurers and pension funds have backed plans for a public-private blended finance model to help navigate investment risk and drive "billions" of private finance into "green and good" infrastructure

Korean insurers are likely to maintain relatively sound earnings performance in the near term because of their continued focus on protection-type long-term insurance business, which generally produces better contractual service margin (CSM), Fitch Ratings has said

Swedish pension provider Skandia has posted positive results for the first half of 2024, with assets under management up SEK 44bn

US life/annuity insurers continued to increase allocations to commercial mortgage loan portfolios in 2023, but problem loans, including those 90 days delinquent, again rose sharply, according to AM Best

Just Group has been listed as a signatory of the UK Stewardship Code by the Financial Reporting Council (FRC)

Insurance Asset Management is pleased to announce that the deadline for the Insurance Asset Management Awards has been extended by two weeks, due to overwhelming demand and numerous requests

Resolution Life has successfully completed its inaugural $500m tier 2 listed debt issuance

A group of institutional investors based mainly in the US, Germany, Sweden and the UK have reached a settlement with French company Vivendi over misleading financial claims dating back to the early 2000s

Inflation rose by 2% in the 12 months to June, holding steady at the Bank of England’s (BoE) target for the second consecutive month

US insurers’ bank loan investments increased to about $122bn in BACV at year-end 2023 from $117bn at year-end 2022, the NAIC has revealed

Allianz is to acquire at least 51% of the shares in leading Singapore insurer, Income Insurance, for around €1.5bn

The UK’s Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) has detailed the framework of its dynamic general insurance stress test (DyGIST) which is due to be run in 2025

The global insurance industry has “reached a new equilibrium” after the challenges of recent years. Swiss Re’s group chief economist, Jérôme Haegeli, said

The Haberdashers Company Pension Scheme has completed a £3m buy-in with Just Group, covering the benefits of an undisclosed number of members and deferred members

AIA has announced a new agreement with BlackRock and BNY to enhance its investment platform

CNP Assurances has successfully issued a €500m tier 2 subordinated bond

Nordea Liv Forsikring AS (Nordea Liv) made a profit of NOK 891m in the first half of 2024, up from NOK 617m for the corresponding period last year

Cinven’s Viridium Group, a German life insurance consolidator, is drawing interest from insurance and investment companies

The Financial Conduct Authority is overhauling its listing rules in an effort to boost growth in the UK stock markets

To support and promote continued innovation across the UK insurance sector, the Association of British Insurers (ABI) and Insurtech UK have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)

Legal & General (L&G) has increased exposure to housing associations within its private credit portfolio by investing £75m of funding to Cottsway Housing Association Limited

Clearwater Analytics has announced that Pool Re will transition from using a custodian-based model to its investment accounting and reporting platform

The asset impact team at GRESB has launched Transition Analytics, a specialised product designed for asset owners and managers to better manage transition risk, engage their portfolio companies with detailed insights, and meet their varied environmental commitment and reporting requirements

The trustees of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) Staff Retirement Benefits & Life Assurance Scheme have agreed a c.£35m full scheme buy-in with Aviva

Aon has appointed Tim Banks as a partner in its UK wealth practice

All asset managers have established environmental, social and governance (ESG) policies, with around half (50%) of the funds having ESG objectives in place, research from Isio has found

Pension insurance companies are increasingly offering streamlined propositions to meet the demand of smaller defined benefit (DB) pension schemes looking to complete bulk annuity transactions, Hymans Robertson has noted

MetLife Investment Management (MIM) has launched its second private equity fund for institutional clients alongside the closing of approximately $1.2bn in commitments to a new MIM-managed fund-of-funds

Aviva Investors has completed the acquisition of Brunel Retail Park in Reading for £25m

Canadian investment management firm Brookfield has applied to set up an insurance company in the UK to move into the bulk annuity market, according to reports in the Financial Times (FT)

Nuveen Real Estate has acquired a newly constructed logistics asset in Denmark, via an off-market transaction for €33m

Utmost Group has announced the proposed acquisition of European life assurer, Lombard International

Schroders Capital has launched a new tokenisation pilot designed to enhance the way insurance-linked securities (ILS) investments are invested and managed

AXA and BNP Paribas are considering an asset management tie-up, according to Bloomberg

Nearly nine in 10 UK insurers and pension funds plan to invest more into offshore wind in the next five years, according to a survey commissioned by AlphaReal

WTW has revealed the introduction of IMI Plus, an enhanced investment management insurance solution designed to meet the needs of a range of asset managers

Transactions under £10m were the driving force behind the record 226 buy-in/buyout deals recorded in 2023, according to analysis from LCP

The Leprosy Mission Central Pension Scheme has completed a £21m buy-in with Legal and General, insuring the benefits of 197 retirees and 88 deferred members

The trustee of the TotalEnergies UK Pension Plan has completed a £1.2bn buy-in with Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC), covering the defined benefit (DB) pension liabilities of over 2,000 pensioners and dependants and 3,500 deferred policyholders

The Menzies Pension Fund has completed a £260m buy-in with Just Group, securing the benefits of 3,000 members, including almost 1,400 pensioners and over 1,650 deferred members

Solvency, liquidity and profitability positions among global insurers improved slightly in 2023, and overall, remained strong, according to the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS)

M&G has completed a £309m bulk purchase annuity transaction for c.3,700 pensioner and deferred members of the NSK Pension Scheme, NSK’s UK pension scheme – a global manufacturer of bearings, automotive, and precision machinery products

Taunton School’s legacy defined benefit (DB) scheme has completed a full buy-in with Aviva for an undisclosed amount, securing the benefits of all members of the scheme

The “unintentional stewardship stampede” by asset managers to show high levels of engagement activity with their investment holding in response to regulatory requirements, is at risk of driving down the quality of engagement reporting, WHEB Asset Management has warned

Zurich and Aon have launched a clean energy insurance facility, providing comprehensive coverage globally for blue and green hydrogen projects with capital expenditures of up to US$250m

BlackRock has agreed to acquire Preqin, an independent provider of private markets data, for £2.55bn

The Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC) has updated the Net Zero Investment Framework (NZIF) to NZIF 2.0, providing an overview for investors implementing net-zero commitments and addressing climate risks

The number of organisations adopting the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures’ (TNFD) reporting recommendations has increased by 30% since January, the initiative has revealed

European insurers are now investing a large part of their portfolio in European assets, with 87% of their sovereign bond investments, 80% of their equity holdings and 75% of their corporate bond investments going towards European states and companies, EIOPA’s latest Financial Stability Report has shown

The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) has announced plans for further harmonisation of the sustainability reporting landscape as it embarks on its new two-year work plan

The Rolls-Royce & Bentley Pension fund has completed a £880m full scheme buy-in with Standard Life, securing the benefits of around 6,000 members

Phoenix Group has confirmed it is exploring the potential sale of its SunLife business

Insurers can no longer avoid the need to explicitly quantify geopolitical risk in their pricing, modelling and risk management processes, Broadstone has warned

Almost two thirds (64.6%) of European institutional investors believe the asset management market is lacking specialist managers, a new survey published by Fidante has revealed

The trustees of the European Metal Recycling Limited Pension and Life Assurance Scheme have completed a £33m buy-in with Aviva, covering the defined benefit (DB) pension liabilities of 217 deferred and pensioner members

Sweden’s Folksamgruppen has invested SEK 400m in a new green bond issued by Region Skåne

Nine in ten asset managers have increased their ESG-related spending relative to other spending over the past three years, despite only 42% of asset owners being satisfied with the level of transparency from their asset managers over ESG costs, bfinance has revealed

Zurich has completed the acquisition of a majority stake in Kotak General Insurance, following the receipt of regulatory approval

The trustees of the Contship Containerlines Limited 1979 Pension Scheme have agreed a £25m full scheme buy-in with Legal and General, securing the benefits of around 150 members

Over $10trn in investment already committed to financing the climate transition will require additional insurance coverage, new jointly published research by Howden and Boston Consulting Group (BCG) has suggested

The Bank of England (BoE) has opted to keep its base rate at 5.25%, the seventh time in a row the central bank has held interest rates

Rothesay has set a new short-term carbon intensity reduction target, highlighting this as a “key milestone” on its pathway to net-zero

The three European Supervisory Authorities (EBA, EIOPA and ESMA – ESAs) are calling for a coherent sustainable finance framework that caters for both the green transition and enhanced consumer protection

Nippon Life has established the Nippon Life Transition Finance Framework, which provides with concrete evaluation criteria, its basis and evaluation process regarding transition finance

The Sibelco UK Occupational Pension Scheme has completed a £165m buy-in with Aviva, securing the benefits of all members of the scheme in full

Despite concerns over potential capacity constraints in the bulk purchase annuity (BPA) market, the majority of consultants in the small scheme space have seen successful transaction rates with good value for money, research from DLA Piper has found

"Strong" solvency levels amongst UK insurers are expected to help boost the UK pension risk settlement market in the second half of 2024, analysis from Aon has suggested

Finnish insurer, Sampo, has agreed to buy Topdanmark in an all-share deal worth 33bn crowns ($4.73bn)

The US life/annuity industry saw its net income drop by 80% in Q1 2024 compared with the same prior-year period, AM Best has revealed

A 40% rise in investment income, on average, for insurers in the largest eight life markets in the five years to 2027 has been forecast by Swiss Re

CNP Assurances is now refraining from any new investment in companies generating more than 20% of their revenue from the manufacture or sale of pesticides, and in companies that exploit or trade in certain agricultural commodities that have not implemented a recognised deforestation policy

The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) has highlighted its policy work over the past year with the publication of its annual report

Smaller insurers are to benefit from new Solvency UK thresholds, but need to consider non-Directive firm (NDF) rules, Broadstone has warned

US insurers’ investment in residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) increased by 13% between YE 2022 and YE 2023, totalling $386bn in BACV, according to the NAIC

MetLife has announced that its subsidiary, Metropolitan Tower Life Insurance Company, has entered into an agreement with 3M to provide annuity benefits to approximately 23,000 retirees and beneficiaries in the 3M Employee Retirement Income Plan (Plan), the company’s US defined benefit (DB) pension plan, representing pension obligations of approximately $2.5bn

Austrian insurers increased their volume of premiums written by €436.9m to €6.96bn in Q1 2024 compared to Q1 2023, and the total of all assets at market value was €106.71bn as of 31 March 2024, an increase of €1.78bn from the comparable figure a year earlier

A new entrant to the UK bulk annuity market is expected by the end of the year, taking the market to 11 insurers, LCP has predicted

BlackRock’s private debt business is looking at ways to tap the deep pockets of insurance companies that are looking to boost their allocations to the asset class

The recent update of the EU’s Solvency II regulatory framework is expected to benefit the insurance sector by up to 25 ppts on an aggregate basis, with the industry seeing total capital relief of up to €80bn over 2026-2027, S&P Global Ratings has said

Total assets of Chinese insurance companies amounted to RMB 32.9trn as of the end of 2024, up by RMB 1.4trn or 10.4% from the beginning of the year, latest supervisory statistics published by China’s National Financial Regulatory Administration have revealed

Legal and General (L&G) is to create a single asset management division, bringing Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM) and Legal & General Capital (LGC) together as a unified, global, public and private markets asset manager

AXA XL’s alternative capital team has selected Clearwater Analytics to provide strategic support for a portion of its investment portfolio

The Medical Protection Society Pension Scheme has completed a £125m buy-in with Rothesay, securing benefits for all 618 scheme members, comprising of 174 pensioners and dependants and 444 deferred members

M&G Investments has selected Clearwater Analytics as its SaaS-based investment accounting solutions for its investment accounting and reporting.

M&G Investments has selected Ortec Finance’s GLASS modelling platform to enhance its investment solutions offering for insurance clients

US insurers invested US$34.4bn in ETFs as of year-end 2023, as large outflows from large insurers were witnessed for the second year in a row, latest figures from S&P Dow Jones Indices have shown

AM Best has revised its market segment outlook for the global reinsurance segment to positive from stable, citing robust profit margins along with higher attachment points and tighter terms and conditions that followed a period of drastic repricing

Sompo as appointed Thomas Leone as chief investment officer (CIO), effective 1 October 2024

The PRA has published final rules for the new Solvency UK matching adjustment (MA), easing some of the restrictions and thus allowing greater flexibility for insurers to invest in a wider range of assets

The heightened regulatory scrutiny for funded reinsurance (funded re) transactions is “well warranted”, according to S&P Global Ratings, with new measures from UK and Bermudian regulators expected to help improve risk management on funded re transactions

Aon has announced that it will form a new subregion for its operations in Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg

The European Central Bank’s (ECB) Governing Council has cut the three key ECB interest rates by 0.25 percentage points, with effect from 12 June

Phoenix Group has launched a bespoke ‘Climate Aware’ index series in collaboration with FTSE Russell

The recent collapse of two German life insurance closed-book transactions does not signal a weakening in prospects for closed-book consolidation in Germany, Fitch Ratings has said

Five EU member states’ national supervisors reported instances of greenwashing in 2024, up from three in 2023, EIOPA has revealed

Eighty per cent of global insurers with significant life insurance business plan to increase their private credit holdings over the long term, Moody’s has revealed

Payden & Rygel has announced an expansion of its London-based insurance investment team with the appointment of Niall Clifford as senior vice president

Individual annuity premium in the US grew by 22% in 2023 and reached $348bn, representing the highest growth seen in a decade for US providers, according to AM Best

Broadstone has launched its standalone insurance, regulatory & risk advisory division

US Alt-IM backed insurers bring higher but manageable risk, Fitch Ratings has said

The Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC) has identified policy-related barriers to achieving net-zero created by the EU’s sustainable finance policy framework and outlined recommendations to address them

AXA Group deputy CEO, Frédéric de Courtois, has been elected President of Insurance Europe

Vienna Insurance Group (VIG) has increased its gross written premiums by 11% to €4.3bn after Q1 2024

Pacific Life Re has announced an asset intensive reinsurance agreement in Japan with Tokio Marine & Nichido Life (Anshin Life)

The UK's Arqiva Defined Benefit (DB) Pension Plan has secured a £204m full scheme buy-in with Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC), securing the retirement benefits of all deferred and pensioner members of the scheme

Insurance investment management outsourcing continues to grow with $3.6trn in insurance AuM reported for YE2023, compared to $3.2trn in 2022, Clearwater Analytics has revealed

Net investment income in the US P&C insurance segment hit a record high in 2023 of $73.9bn, bolstered by the higher interest rate environment, AM Best has revealed

Aviva Investors has appointed Fraser Lundie as global head of fixed income, and Steven Gardner as head of institutional, EMEA

An additional US$1.5trn of global life savings premiums will be generated over the next decade, more than double the amount of the previous decade, Swiss Re Institute has forecast

Legal & General (L&G) has completed its third and final buyout with the Nortel Networks UK Pension Plan

The trustee of the Telereal Pension Plan has completed a £130m full scheme buy-in with Aviva, securing the defined benefit (DB) liabilities for around 500 scheme members

abrdn has confirmed that its group CEO, Stephen Bird, is stepping down after a four-year run in the role

Spain’s general insurance industry is set to be worth €56.6bn by 2028, new estimates from GlobalData have indicated, with the private health sector expected to accelerate growth

The global insurance industry grew by 7.5% in 2023, a new report published by Allianz has revealed

Aviva delivered growth across the board over Q1, according to its latest trading update, with general insurance gross written premiums (GWP) rising 16%, ignoring the effect of exchange rates, to £2.7bn

Ireland’s funds and asset management industry has surpassed €4.3trn AuM at end-March 2024, a 15% increase year-on-year, the Irish Funds Industry Association (Irish Funds) has revealed

UK inflation has fallen to 2.3% in the year to April, missing the expected analysts' figure of 2.1%, bringing some doubt to a potential cut in the Bank of England (BoE) base rate in June

The ICI Pension Fund has completed a £900m buy-in with Legal & General Assurance Society (L&G), securing the benefits of over 7,000 retirees

Broadstone has launched a new carbon footprinting service to enable employers, trustees and asset owners to accurately measure, manage and monitor their corporate sustainability progress in line with increasing regulatory requirements

Insurance companies are ahead of pension funds with their investments in funds or strategies allocating to transitioning companies, a new report published by Robeco has stated

Rising interest rates in 2023 helped boost the portfolio yields of US life/annuity insurers by nearly 30 basis points, to 4.74% from 4.47% in the previous year, according to AM Best

BNP Paribas Cardif is set to acquire French life insurance firm Neuflize Vie from its parent companies AXA and Dutch investment bank ABN Amro

AllianceBernstein (AB) has appointed Souheir Asba as investment grade credit portfolio manager

Phoenix Group is today making four major net-zero recommendations in a new policy paper, Charting the UK’s Net Zero Future: Policy Recommendations to Unlock Investment

Independent Governance Group (IGG) supported the completion more than £8.5bn of bulk annuity transactions in 2023, according to figures from the professional trustee and governance services firm

The number of privately rated securities reported by US insurance companies totalled 8,152 at year-end 2023, a 20% increase from 6,792 in 2022, and is on pace to triple the count of 2,850 in 2019 by the end of 2024, the NAIC has revealed

Phoenix Group has hired Cecile Retaureau as its new head of private markets to lead Phoenix’s growing private market team of 16 investment professionals across real estate, infrastructure, public finance, corporate credit and private equity

A majority of institutional investors and wealth managers are turning their focus to yield as opposed to growth in response to the changing geo-political and macroeconomic environment, new research from Managing Partners Group (MPG) has revealed

Baloise has successfully issued a 10-year senior bond with a coupon of 1.75% for a total size of CHF150m

AIG is selling approximately 120 million shares of its Corebridge common stock to Nippon Life for an aggregate purchase price of $3.8bn

Vienna Insurance Group (VIG) has tightened its sustainability rules in asset management and underwriting, whilst also establishing its own Group Sustainability Office

German insurers are becoming less enthusiastic about private credit as rising interest rates make asset classes with higher liquidity more attractive, according to the country’s top financial regulator

Sun Life intends to issue in Canada $750m principal amount of series 2024-1 subordinated unsecured 5.12% fixed/floating debentures due 2036

Sweden’s Folksamgruppen has invested just over SEK 500m in the Norrsken Venture Capital Fund II

Finnish pension insurance company, Ilmarinen, returned 3.2% on its investments in the first quarter of 2024, its latest data has revealed

Everest has launched its Australian insurance operations after receiving approval from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority

Risks in the EU insurance sector are stable and overall at a medium level, with pockets of vulnerabilities stemming from market uncertainty and potential risks in the real estate sector, EIOPA’s latest Insurance Risk Dashboard has revealed

Prudential Financial has announced that Andrew Yorks will join the company as head of global investment strategy, effective 15 July

The Norgine Limited Retirement Benefits Scheme has insured the benefits of its defined benefit pension scheme with Canada Life in a full buy-in transaction of £28m, following a competitive tender process run by Mercer

The global investment industry must double the resources dedicated to stewardship, a new report from the Thinking Ahead Institute (TAI), commissioned by the United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), has said

Bermuda’s P&C insurers rely more heavily on a single individual, such as the CRO, to managed ESG risk overall than long-term insurers, a survey by the Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA) has revealed

Continental European life insurers’ Solvency II ratios will “stay very strong” into 2024, despite the likely rate cuts by the ECB, Fitch Ratings has said

The Malaysian general insurance industry is set to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.8% from MYR22.6bn ($5bn) in 2024 to MYR30.5bn ($6.8bn) in 2028, in terms of direct written premiums, GlobalData has said

The Rathbone Group 1987 Pension Scheme and the Laurence Keen Retirement Benefits Scheme has completed a £100m buy-in deal with Canada Life, insuring the defined benefit (DB) pension liabilities for around 480 members

Industry experts have argued that insurance transactions are “entirely achievable” for small defined benefit (DB) schemes, highlighting a number of recent small scheme deals as evidence of the opportunities available for schemes that are prepared and ready

The US insurance industry reported $8.5trn in total cash and invested assets at year-end 2023, an increase of 4.4% versus year-end 2022, the NAIC has revealed

The John Turner Construction Group has completed a full scheme buy-in with Aviva

Just Group has completed 400 bulk annuity transactions since it entered the defined benefit (DB) de-risking market in 2012

The Insurance Asset Management Awards 2024 is now open for entries

India’s life insurance industry is set to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10% from INR9.3trn ($151.7bn) in 2024 to INR13.5trn ($216.bn) in 2028, in terms of gross written premiums (GWP), GlobalData has stated

MAPFRE has announced €15m investment support for its biomethane fund from Spain’s Official Credit Institute (ICO)

Actuarial consultancy, OAC, has launched a new asset projection tool designed for investment managers working with insurers

RBC ratios for Fitch’s universe of US life insurance companies increased eight percentage points to 445% in 2023, compared to the previous year

La Française Asset Management has merged with Crédit Mutuel Asset Management, forming “New” Crédit Mutuel Asset Management

The number of US insurers that reported outsourcing investment management to an unaffiliated firm at year-end 2023 remained relatively consistent with year-end 2022, increasing by less than 1%, the NAIC revealed

Spanish insurer, VIDACAIXA, and MEDVIDA Partners have completed the transfer of a run-off portfolio of almost 30,000 policies