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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Four months after 12 of the world’s largest pension funds and insurers committed to decarbonise their investments by 2050, Generali has joined the Alliance alongside the Church of England’s three investment bodies, with the group now numbering 18

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

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

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

Everest Re Group has announced that Artur Klinger will join the Everest Reinsurance Division later in 2020 as managing director of Continental Europe, succeeding Stephan Knipper who will retire after 33 years in the industry

Gothaer Asset Management, a division of the German insurer Gothaer, has issued a €500m mandate to invest in Dutch residential mortgages

Swedish insurance company, Folksam Group, has announced it is investing SEK 1bn in the Silvestica Green Forest Green Forest Fund

Financial Risk Solutions (FRS), the provider of fund administration software to global life assurance and asset management companies, has announced the launch of Invest|Tax for fund managers to calculate and report capital gains tax (CGT) on real estate investments for non-UK residents

Economies in Latin America are expected to rebound in 2020, helping the insurance markets in these countries to realise their growth and potential, according to a new report published by AM Best

The Bank of England (BoE) has announced that outgoing Governor, Mark Carney, has been appointed as Boris Johnson’s finance adviser for COP26

The PRA and FCA have both warned major banks and insurers to cease links with Libor, as part of a push to meet a 2021 deadline of moving away from the benchmark

AMICE is supporting proposals to increase the thresholds at which Solvency II applies to small insurers, the application of an appropriately calibrated regime for medium-sized insurers, and any work to ensure that the principle of proportionality works consistently in practice

Insurers’ commitment to carbon divestment won favour with activist groups in 2019, with AXA, Allianz, Swiss Re and SCOR all on SIGWATCH’s annual rankings of the brands most praised by NGOs

Finnish pension insurance company Veritas has appointed Kari Vatanen as its new chief investment office, who joins from Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Company

BlackRock is making sustainability integral to the way it manages risk, constructs portfolios, designs products and engages with companies, and is cementing it as its new standard for investing

The 10 largest German life insurers have reduced their bonus rates for policyholders (not including bonuses paid out at maturity) for 2020 by approximately 20 basis points to 2.1% from 2.3% on average, a credit positive move due to combat the effect of falling interest rates over 2019 on capitalisation

Balance sheets of Dutch insurers are showing an increase in investments towards mortgages and derivatives

Life insurers' Solvency II ratios could be impacted by more than 100 percentage points, as the industry gears up for the 2020 review of the European regulation, according to S&P Global Ratings

The Asset Management Exchange (AMX) has announced the appointment of Kerrie Mitchener-Nissen as head of product

The total gross premiums of the Hong Kong insurance industry increased by 5.2% to HK$514,538m in 2018, according to latest figures released by the Hong Kong Insurance Authority (IA)

Belgian insurer, Ageas, has issued a Restricted Tier 1 subordinated instrument which has offset the negative impact of 12% on the group’s solvency ratio caused by the financial impact of the tender offer for the FRESH securities

Royal London has signed up to the UN-supported Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) as part of its commitment to being a responsible investor

EIOPA has published the technical specifications for the Market and Credit Risk Comparative Study (MCRCS) YE2019

Almost a third (30 per cent) of investment managers are still not considering environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors across all asset classes, LCP’s has revealed

Aberdeen Standard Investments (ASI) has appointed Aileen Mathieson as its new global head of insurance following the retirement of Stephen Acheson

Brazil’s reinsurance sector outlook has continued to be held at negative by AM Best, due predominantly to macroeconomic instability and a declining interest rate environment that has led to lower investment income

A new record was set in 2019 for the volume of sustainable debt issued globally in any one year, with the total hitting $465bn globally, up 78% from $261.4bn in 2018

Coface North America Insurance Company has announced the selection of Clearwater Analytics’ SaaS solution for investment data aggregation, reconciliation, accounting, and reporting

Danish insurer, Gefion Insurance, has complied with the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority’s (DFSA) order to have liquid assets of at least €5m by end of December 2019 towards the end of February 2020, following further investment from shareholders

Road Safety Authority (RSA) chief exec Moyagh Murdock has been appointed chief executive of Insurance Ireland and will take up her role at the end of March 2020

American Financial Group has announced that it plans to exit the Lloyd’s of London insurance market in 2020

Prudential Vietnam, a subsidiary of Prudential, and Southeast Asia Commercial Joint Stock Bank (SeABank – Vietnam) have entered into an exclusive bancassurance partnership with a 20-year term

Specialist global insurer Hiscox has today announced the appointment of James Millard as its new chief investment officer for the group

Premiums written in the non-life insurance segment in Poland jumped by 7% in 2018 and by 3% in H1 2019, and is expected to top PLN 42bn by year-end 2019, according to a report

ABI director of regulation Hugh Savill is to retire in October

ReAssure Group has agreed to acquire Quilter’s insurance and pensions operations Old Mutual Wealth Life Assurance Limited and Old Mutual Wealth Pensions Trustees Limited for a total of £445m

The French life insurance market recorded positive net inflows in November 2019 of €1.2bn

Regulators in China are intensifying efforts to offload the assets of scandal-hit Dajia Insurance by looking to sell its stake in a major Chinese bank

The outstanding amount of French insurance companies’ financial investments, at the end of June 2019, increased by €52bn to reach €2,642bn as a result of the rise in assets prices: +€34bn including €24bn on debt securities

The removal of a cap on foreign ownership in Chinese life insurers will spur international insurers to expand in the segment, Fitch Ratings has said

Allianz has completed the planned acquisition of the remaining 51% of LV General Insurance Group (LV GIG) from Liverpool Victoria Friendly Society (LVFS). The total consideration by Allianz for 100% of LV GIG will be up to £1,078bn

High-quality accounting standards support long-term investment by giving accurate and timely information about financial performance, trends and risks as well as visibility of short-term economic volatility, chair of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) Hans Hoogervorst has said

The Hartford insurance company has announced a new policy restricting tar sands and coal insurance and investing

Chancellor, Sajid Javid, has today announced that FCA head, Andrew Bailey, will become the new Governor of the Bank of England (BoE) from 16 March 2020

The Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA) has fined Baloise Belgium €250,000

EIOPA has published a report on insurers' asset and liability management in relation to the illiquidity of their liabilities

The average SCR ratio of (re)insurance undertakings across Europe using long-term guarantees (LTG) measures and measures on equity risk is 235%, but would drop to 159% if the measures were not applied, new research published by EIOPA has revealed

The Sustainable Investment Summit for 2020 has been launched

Insurers’ confidence in achieving their expected returns has fallen for the second successive year, with only half optimistic they will meet their investment goals, Schroders Institutional Investor Study 2019 has revealed

Eight National Competent Authorities (NCAs) set capital add-ons to 21 solo undertakings in 2018, out of 2819 (re)insurance undertakings under the Solvency II Directive in the EEA, according to EIOPA

Liberty Mutual has announced a new policy that restricts coal insurance and investing

The ABI has said it is committed to working with the new government, but warned there are urgent challenges ahead particularly around investing in the changes necessary to tackle climate change

Australia’s general insurance sector has had a tough year with profits falling 12% to $4.4bn in the 12 months to 30 June 2019, reversing the trend of the last two years, according to KPMG Australia’s annual General Insurance Industry Review

Monument Re has announced that subject to regulatory approval it has acquired Cattolica Life DAC from Cattolica Assicurazioni

The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) has decided to defer discussions on the effective date of IFRS 17 until the extent and complexity of all amendments has been determined, expected end of February 2020, and to significantly broaden the scope around reinsurance contracts

Three international regulatory authorities have been approved by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) as Reciprocal Jurisdictions

US insurance industry M&A deals totalled $4.17bn in Q3 2019

Finnish pensions insurer, Varma, has established an ETF that invests in the US and takes sustainability criteria broadly into account

Lloyd’s of London has secured £300m of senior debt to fund a series of phased deliveries beginning in 2020 to implement a revised governance, oversight and funding framework

The outlook for the global life insurance sector is stable, reflecting insurers’ solid regulatory capital and relatively conservative investment portfolios, and their efforts to adapt their products to a low interest rate environment, Moody’s Investors Service has said

Global specialty insurer and reinsurer Brit has launched a new Lloyd’s of London focused insurance-linked securities (ILS) fund, Sussex Specialty Insurance Fund (SIF)

Willis Towers Watson has launched ResQ Financial Reporter, an out-of-the-box software solution designed to help P&C insurers implement IFRS 17

Pensions Insurance Corporation (PIC) has invested £250m in debt issued by the City of London Corporation for a programme of projects in the Greater London area

The sector outlook for the Brazilian insurance industry remains stable reflecting the view that the sector is well developed and will maintain its credit metrics at its current favourable level through 2020

The board of Phoenix Group Holdings has announced the proposed acquisition of ReAssure Group for £3.2bn

Coface has received authorisation from the French Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority (ACPR) to use the group’s partial internal model for calculating its regulatory capital requirement under the SII Directive as soon as at 31 December 2019

The life and non-life segments of the Chilean insurance market face a challenging 2020, Fitch Ratings has said

The fundamental sector outlook for the US life insurance industry has been revised from stable to negative, according to Fitch Ratings

The 2020 outlook for the global asset management sector is stable, reflecting high profit margins, manageable debt burdens, and sustained risk appetite among investors, Moody’s Investors Service said

Europe’s largest insurers are set to maintain a financial leverage between 23% to 25% over the next 18 months

French insurers and reinsurers held €61bn in green investments by the end of 2018, compared with €49bn in 2017

Insurers are stating they have a “good understanding” of investment risks in their investment portfolios, despite most having a heavy reliance on ex-post risk metrics, new research has shown

Institutional investors including insurance companies expect a global financial crisis to hit in the next five years and believe this environment will favour active management

Aviva has announced the appointment of Amanda Blanc as an independent non-executive director of the company with effect from 2 January 2020

Sri Lankan insurers' risk-based capitalisation (RBC) ratios have fallen with the adoption of new accounting standards for lease contracts; SLFRS 16, the local equivalent of IFRS 16, Fitch Ratings says

Fitch Ratings’ sector outlook for the German non-life insurance market remains stable for 2020, reflecting its expectation that underwriting discipline will be maintained and that insurers will achieve further premium growth

Fitch Ratings has maintained a stable sector outlook on the Dutch insurance market for 2020, despite a decline in government bond yields in 2019

Italian insurer, Generali, is looking to make a formal bid for the European assets of MetLife, according to sources

More than 93% of small and mid-sized insurers and 100% of large insurers are expected to show either strong or moderate interest in direct lending funds between now and 2020, according to Cerulli Associates

The 2020 outlook for the Italian life and P&C insurance sectors is stable, reflecting robust earnings, moderate premium growth in P&C and a favourable shift in life new business mix, according to Moody’s

The number of insurers withdrawing cover for coal has more than doubled in 2019 as the industry’s retreat from the sector accelerates and spreads beyond Europe, the Unfriend Coal campaign’s third annual scorecard on the industry has revealed

The winners of the Insurance Asset Management Awards 2019 were announced last night at a gala ceremony at The Waldorf Hilton, London

The credit fundamentals of the Spanish insurance market are strong, with healthy profits in the life and non-life sectors, robust capitalisation, and sound reserving and investment practices, Fitch Ratings has said

MS Amlin has announced a new operating model and senior leadership team as part of the recent reorganisation of its international businesses

CNP Assurances has successfully launched its first subordinated green bond.

The sector for the UK non-life insurance company market in 2020 is negative, reflecting high claims inflation and a weak pricing environment for home and motor insurance, Fitch Ratings has said

AXA has put European coal companies on notice that they should publish plans to phase out coal that are compatible with the UN Paris climate agreement by 2021

BNP Paribas has announced it is to cease all financing related to the thermal coal sector by 2030 in the European Union, and worldwide by 2040

The US life/annuity industry increased its holdings in structured notes by one-third over a three-year period, with book adjusted/carrying value reaching $16bn in 2018, up from $12bn in 2015, according to AM Best

RobecoSAM has announced the transfer of its ESG Ratings and ESG Benchmarking Businesses to S&P Global

Fitch Ratings has kept its sector outlook for the Italian life insurance market at negative

Fitch Ratings has revised its sector outlook for the German life insurance industry from stable to negative

Eight-nine per cent of insurers globally say regulations are deterring them from investing in higher risk assets, according to Natixis Investment Managers

Net inflows into the French life insurance market reached €1.9bn in October 2019, according to the latest figures from the French Insurance Federation

Sun Life has announced a $293m annuity buy-out transaction with Rayonier Advanced Materials (RYAM) to transfer a portion of its Canadian defined benefit (DB) pension obligations

Chesnara, through its existing Netherlands-based closed book operation, the Waard Group, has agreed to acquire a portfolio of life insurance business in run-off from the Dutch branch of Belgian-owned Argenta Bank-en Verzekeringsgroep N.V. for €29.15m

Penson insurance company, Varma, is developing its investment portfolio towards carbon neutrality by 2035 and investing in companies that mitigate the progression of climate change

US state insurance regulators have announced that Team USA members have secured an agreement to advance critical US objectives as part of the International Association of Insurance Supervisor’s (IAIS) debate on the next phase of its Insurance Capital Standard (ICS) project

Dutch insurer, a.s.r. is investing over €100m in the CBRE Pan European Core Fund, the next step in the diversification of its international real estate portfolio

CNP Assurances has announced the intention to double its assets under management in green investments by 2023, as well as its acceleration of its coal exit policy

The European insurance sector’s 2020 outlook has been classed as negative by Moody’s Investors Service, reflecting growing profitability and solvency pressures amid low interest rates, macroeconomic uncertainty, and rising ESG risk

Global life insurers may seek to learn from their Japanese peers of how to preserve profitability amidst a low rate environment, according to a report published by Moody’s Investors Service

Schroders has announced a commitment to integrating ESG across all its investments by 2020

German insurer, Talanx, has signed up to the United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) and thereby aligned itself with a framework for sustainable investment

The general insurance market in Thailand is projected to grow from THB247.6bn (US$7.7bn) in 2018 to THB285.5bn (US$9.1bn) in 2023

Aviva has set a new 12% Solvency II (SII) ROE target by 2022 as part of its strategy update, calculated as own funds generated divided by own funds

Insurers and pension funds have a powerful role in mitigating the impact of climate change and must ‘act responsibly,’ according to EIOPA chairman, Gabriel Bernardino

The UK’s life insurance market has seen the largest increase year-on-year in aggregate GWP growth of all EEA countries of 22% closely followed by Sweden and Portugal

L&G is to launch a GBP-denominated benchmark Tier 2 subordinated debt issuance, taking advantage of current favourable market conditions

Investec Asset Management has announced its new name and branding – Ninety One – which will take effect after the completion of the firm’s demerger from Investec Group

Nippon Life Insurance Company has announced it has completed a partial Limited Partnership (LP) investment in Resolution Life Group Holdings L.P

Whilst there is existing research and modelling available to measure the potential impact of climate change, these do not directly provide inputs to life insurance financial models, according to a new report published by the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA)

NN Group has announced an operating result of €453m in the third quarter of 2019, against the €463m it recorded in Q3 2018

The International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) has adopted a comprehensive set of reforms that will enable effective cross-border supervision of insurance groups and contribute to global financial stability

Zurich Insurance Group (Zurich) has outlined a set of new and ambitious targets for 2020-2022, as the group strives to keep innovating to meet its customer needs

French insurance giant, AXA, is not doing enough to fill its commitments to exit the coal industry, according to a new report released by BankTrack and the Unfriend Coal campaign

Rising US P/C insurance premiums are unlikely to lead into hard markets with pricing that generates sustainable adequate capital returns, according to Fitch Ratings

Insurance markets continue to support resilience, with global premiums forecast to increase by 3% annually in real terms in 2020 and 2021, despite a slowing world economy

Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC) has completed a third pension risk transfer transaction for a pension scheme sponsored by Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE), converting a pensioner longevity swap held by the Scottish Hydro Electric Pension Scheme (SHEPS) into a £750m buy-in

The Talanx Group has reported it remains on course to meet its annual targets and announced a 52% year-on-year rise for its net income for the third quarter of 2019

Half of European insurers, representing over 95% of investment assets, are looking to increase illiquid assets by between 2% and 15% of their funds, according to a new report from AM Best

Capitalisation continues to be a strength for the US P/C insurance sector as measured by Prism, Fitch Ratings’ proprietary capital model

The insurance industry must seize the ‘$30trn investment opportunity’ to address climate change, according to Legal and General Group CEO, Nigel Wilson

Lloyd’s has announced its decision to merge the Council and the Franchise Board, effective from 1 June 2020, after receiving widespread support from across the market

Given that insurers have large and diversified investment portfolios, performing the sustainability assessment in the current taxonomy is complex and may lead to inconsistent results across different investors, Insurance Europe has argued, and therefore a reliable assessment should be made directly by investee companies instead

Non-life insurance premiums in Luxembourg rose by 203.49% over the first nine months of 2019, significantly impacted by the fallout from the approval of companies that chose the country as a place of installation following the UK’s decision to leave the EU

Prudential Financial has reported its net income was $1.418bn for the third quarter of 2019, a fall from the $1.672bn it recorded over the same quarter in 2018

More than half of the largest 30 European non-life insurers for 2018 and 2017 have solvency ratios above 200%, according to AM Best

The Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) has outlined that it is focusing on reserving adequacy, governance and controls for general insurance firms over the coming year

Institutional investments in liquid alternative ETFs will more than double in the next year, according to new research from Greenwich Associates

The Baloise Group has announced it is acquiring the non-life insurance portfolio of Athora Belgium for €60m

AIG has announced its net investment income has risen by 0.4% in the third quarter of 2019 to $3.4bn

The Autorité de contrôle prudentiel et de résolution (ACPR) has been encouraged to begin field testing on additional reporting and improved monitoring of liquidity risk for the French insurance market

EIOPA has published the responses from national competent authorities to the Recommendations for the insurance sector in light of the United Kingdom withdrawing from the European Union, a paper released earlier this year

Germany’s financial regulator has urged major asset owners to protest against the European Central Bank’s (ECB) ultra-low interest rate policy

DWS Group has announced a new research paper on how insurance companies, in their search for value, are increasingly turning to customised passive mandates rather than just ETFs

Swedish non-life and life insurance premium income has increased by about 50% during the past ten years, according to a report published by Insurance Sweden

MetLife has seen its net investment income rise by 3% to $4.6bn in the three months ended 30 September 2019 compared to a year earlier, driven by favourable changes in the estimated fair value of certain securities which do not qualify as corporate accounts under GAAP

Insurance stress testing must not be used as a parallel to SII and should not be designed or used in a manner which leads to an amplification of capital requirements, Insurance Europe has said

Three in five people believe that financial institutions and banks should no longer invest in fossil fuels (59%) and that they should be legally accountable if they choose to do so (60%), according to ClientEarth’s Climate Snapshot 2019

LV= GI has today appointed Jon Mansley to the newly created role of sales and marketing director

Insurance Europe, along with CFO and CRO Fora, has published a joint response to a consultation by EIOPA on its proposals for the Solvency II 2020 review package on supervisory reporting and public disclosure

The upcoming Solvency II (SII) review "should not lead, all other things being equal, to increased capital requirements on the European insurance sector", Banque de France governor and chairman of the French Prudential Supervisory and Resolution Authority (ACPR) Villeroy de Galhau has said

Insurance “is a safe refuge in an uncertain world”, BaFin president Felix Hufeld has said

Insurance Ireland has announced the appointment of Gerry Hassett as interim CEO, effective from 1 November 2019

Risk exposures for the European insurance sector have remained broadly stable for October, but macro and market risks continue at a high level, according to EIOPA

AXA has announced it has entered into an agreement with Crelan Bank to sell its Belgian banking operations, AXA Bank Belgium

Net inflows for French life insurance amounted to €2.9bn in September 2019

Life and non-life investments managed by Italian insurance companies amounted to €733bn in June 2019, up 6.4% compared to the same period of 2018

Aegon has announced it is exercising its right to redeem the $1bn perpetual capital securities with a coupon of 6.375% issued in 2005

Capital controls imposed by Argentina’s government to combat economic instability could limit the growth prospects and business opportunities for domestic insurance companies, according to a new AM Best commentary

Beazley, the specialist insurer, is making a strategic investment in Hong Kong-based coverholder, Pegasus Underwriting Limited, which will see Beazley become a 30% shareholder in Pegasus

AG2R La Mondiale, the multinational insurance firm, has obtained a historical interest rate of 4.375%, the lowest recorded rate to date on the issue by a European insurer on securities

Fifty-one per cent of insurance executives expect their investments in real assets to increase over the next 12 months, according to Aviva Investors’ 2020 Real Assets Survey

Clearwater Analytics has announced the launch of a new platform connection in partnership with Goldman Sachs

Fifteen Greenpeace activists have been peacefully protesting at a key reinsurance meeting in Baden-Baden, Germany, to expose the role of the reinsurance market in the climate emergency

EIOPA is launching a call for research proposals aiming at addressing open questions related to topics such as investment allocations of insurers and pension funds, liquidity stress testing in the insurance sector and early warning systems

Bermuda (re)insurers returned to underwriting profits in 2018 and saw moderate net income improvement despite above-average catastrophe losses, according to a new report by Fitch Ratings

The FCA has published a feedback statement on green financial products and services, setting out its proposals to improve climate change disclosures by issuers, as well as information to consumers

AXIS Capital has today announced a new policy addressing thermal coal and oil sands-related underwriting and investments

EIOPA has launched a public consultation on an Opinion that sets out technical advice for the 2020 review of Solvency II

MAPFRE's asset management company, MAPFRE AM, has been listed in the ‘Avant Gardist’ category of the Hirschel and Kramer (H&K) Responsible Investment Brand Index (RIBI), which identifies the European firms in the sector who are most committed to socially responsible investment

World insurance leaders have united to launch the first industry guide aimed at protecting the world’s most priceless and irreplaceable assets

The PRA is proposing to expand its expectation that insurers will deduct the maximum tax charge generated on write down, when including externally issued rT1 instruments in their own funds, to reflect the maximum tax charge that could be generated on conversion of such items into ordinary shares

Danish insurance company, Gefion Insurance, has closed the placement of SII-compliant subordinated notes in the aggregate principal amount of €6m with funds managed by Fermat Capital Management

French life insurers’ reported SII ratios have declined in the first nine months of 2019 because of falling interest rates, reflecting pressure on future profits if rates do not increase, Moody’s Investors Service has said

Total insurance industry M&A deals in August 2019 worth $4.04bn were announced globally, according to GlobalData’s deals database

EIOPA has launched today- as part of the 2020 Solvency II reporting and disclosure review – a field test on the revised and newly proposed templates

Insurers must increase the quantity and quality of climate-related disclosures; refine disclosure metrics to determine which ones are most decision-useful; spread knowledge on how to assess strategic resilience and consider how to disclose the extent to which portfolios are ready for the transition to net zero, Bank of England governor Mark Carney has stated

Florence Lustman has taken up her position as president, a position to which she was unanimously elected by the French Insurance Federation’s general meeting on 18 June last year

Mapfre, through its asset-management company, Mapfre AM, has finalised a strategic alliance with Boyar Asset Management, to boost its analytical capabilities in US equities

Munich Re has invested $250m in US start-up Next Insurance

Green and sustainability bond issuance by insurers may continue to grow, according to AM Best

The US life insurance industry is well capitalised with a median RBC ratio of 447%, however, applying a rating migration stress lowers the median RBC ratio by 69 points (15% decline), to 378%, according to Moody’s Investors Service

US direct written premiums in 2018 rose by 40.7% from levels recorded in 2009, according to latest data published by the NAIC on P&C insurance companies

Insurers have relatively sustainable equity holdings, and are on average investing less in carbon-intensive sectors, Dutch regulator DeNederlandsche Bank (DNB) has said

Everest Insurance Ireland, DAC (EIID) has announced that its UK branch is fully operational

Canopius Group has completed the merger of AmTrust at Lloyds

The ABI has appointed Julian Adams, director, public policy and regulation at M&G, holding company of the Prudential Assurance Company, as deputy chair

Tokio Marine Holdings has announced the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire 100% of the outstanding shares of Privilege Underwriters, Inc. and its subsidiaries (“Pure Group”), a US insurance group specialised in the US High Net Worth insurance market for $3.1bn

Lloyds insurer, Axis Capital, has become the latest insurer to withdraw support for the Adani Group’s plans to develop the giant Carmichael coal mine in Australia

The European insurance industry’s investment portfolio remained broadly stable with 2017, with €10.3trn invested in bonds, company shares and other assets on behalf of millions of life and non-life insurance customers, making it the largest institutional investor in the EU

Total life benefits paid in Europe increased by 2.6% to €705bn in 2018, equal to €1,186 per capita, partially due to a surge in life benefits paid in the UK

Total European insurance direct gross written premiums amounted to €1,311bn in 2018, up 6.2% on 2017

EIOPA has published an Opinion on Sustainability and Solvency II outlining how (re)insurers can contribute to identifying, measuring and managing risks arising from climate change, through their investment and underwriting activities

The UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association (UKSIF) has welcomed Michael Meehan as its new chair

Viridium Group has sold a real estate portfolio, comprising 49 office, residential and retail properties in seven German cities including Berlin and Frankfurt, to investment company Commerz Real for an undisclosed sum.

Rothesay Life and Prudential have confirmed they will appeal against the UK High Court’s decision to block a £12 billion annuity transfer deal that would have involved 400,000 pension scheme members.

Insurance Europe and AMICE have issued a joint call for the EC to improve Solvency II proportionality rules to ensure that insurers are not disproportionately burdened by the regulatory framework

German primary insurers increased their infrastructure investments in 2018 by almost a third to €32bn, figures published by the German Insurance Association (GDV) have shown

Rothesay Life has unveiled the UK’s largest pension scheme transfer deal, a bulk annuity deal worth £4.7 billion, with the telecoms firm telent. Rothesay Life will now be responsible for paying pensions to about 28,000 pensioners and 11,000 deferred members of the GEC 1972 Plan. It has also signed a £3.8 billion deal for a buy-in of Allied Domecq’s Pension Fund.

M&G has said it expects its demerger from Prudential, and subsequent listing in London, will occur no later than 21 October

Hymans Robertson has appointed Daniel Becker to the role of insurance investment lead within its life & financial services practice

Global insurance associations are calling for a delay to IFRS 17 so improvements can be made

Zurich Insurance Group is taking new steps to address climate change after its latest assessment shows the world is still not on course to meet the targets of the Paris Agreement

The world needs much more investment in infrastructure, and greater risk sharing of climate risks, according to Bank of England governor Mark Carney, with insurers having a unique ability to meet both needs

The PRA has been asked to clarify its expectations on the definition of risk limits within an insurer’s liquidity risk appetite framework and the role of the board in managing liquidity risks

The PRA has today published a supervisory statement on liquidity risk management for insurers, particularly focusing on the development and maintenance of proper policies; the identification of material liquidity risk drivers, effective contingency planning and considerations for the inclusion of highly liquid assets in the liquidity buffer

Royal London has announced that the PRA has approved its group and solo partial internal model application under Solvency II

DWS has announced the appointment of Peter McGloughlin as head of UK & Ireland Insurance

US multinational, Travelers Insurance Company, has received approval to transfer its European business to Dublin

A large group of financial industry associations – including Insurance Europe – has raised serious concerns in a joint letter to the EC regarding the current application timeline for new EU disclosure rules for sustainable investments and sustainability risks

Groupama Group, Crédit Agricole Assurances and Banque des Territoires have signed an agreement under which Banque des Territoires and Groupama will enter the capital of Predica Energies Durables (PED), Crédit Agricole Assurances’ dedicated subsidiary for investments in renewable energy production assets alongside Engie, the French market leader for solar and wind power generation

Brit Re is to expand its reinsurance portfolio in 2020 after receiving a financial strength rating of A (Excellent) and a stable outlook from AM Best

Finnish insurer, Varma, has invested €200m in the ETF it has developed together with LGIM and index investment company Foxberry

French insurers are currently relying on non-life to mitigate the pressure on their life results, according to latest analysis

Taiwan’s life insurers are likely to speed up activities to top up capital and adjust their product mixes following recent draft changes to capital adequacy retirements, Fitch Ratings has said

Hong Kong-listed Chinese life insurers net profits have risen strongly by 50%-130% yoy in H119 due mainly to higher investment income from invested-asset growth

Active managers recognise the importance of benchmark data to their business, but asset management executives think they can and should be deriving even more value from index providers’ vast databases and analytic expertise, according to a new study from Greenwich Associates gauging the perception of index providers by active investment managers

Lloyd’s has recorded a profit before tax for the first six months of 2019 of £2.3bn (June 2018: £0.6bn), underpinned by a combined ratio of 98.8% and investment income of £2.3bn, as the market benefited from unrealised gains due to reducing US and UK bond yields as well as robust returns from equities in the first six months of 2019

The PRA has today set out its proposed expectations for investment firms in accordance with the Prudent Person Principle (PPP) relating to a firm’s investment strategy, investment risk management and governance system

Assets managed in Europe amounted to €23.1trn in 2018, an increase of 71% since end-2007, with insurance companies having a share of 25% of total European AUM, according to EFAMA

The European Commission’s technical expert group’s (TEG) proposal for the usability of the EU environmental taxonomy should be made more useful for insurers’ investment decisions in different asset classes, especially public equity, corporate bonds and government bonds

Former Insurance Ireland CEO Kevin Thompson has been appointed CEO of RSA Ireland, after being approved by the regulator Central Bank of Ireland

Generali Group has announced a buyback offer for three series of subordinated notes for an amount up to €1bn with first call dates in 2022

The Superintendent of the Maine Bureau of Insurance testified today on behalf of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) before the US Senate Committee on Banking, Housing & Urban Affaira, outlining concerns of state insurance regulators in the development of an Insurance Capital Standard (ICS) and a holistic framework for systemic risk in the insurance sector

The median return on investment in the European insurance sector decreased significantly in 2017 to just 1.95%, compared to 2.83% in 2016, according to a report published by the Joint Committee of the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs)

UN Environment’s Principles for Sustainable Insurance Initiative (PSI) is carrying out the first research study on the risks of plastic pollution, marine plastic litter and microplastics to the insurance industry in its roles as risk managers, insurers and investors

The reinsurance market has stabilised after a difficult period marked by declining profitability, lower return-on-equity (ROE) and significant natural catastrophes, the industry has said

A joint call for further improvements to be made to IFRS 17 has been issued by Insurance Europe and CFO Forum

Legal & General (L&G) has announced a £35m buyout for the US owned law firm Edwards Wildman Palmer LLP’s UK pension scheme

AM Best is maintaining its negative outlook on the China non-life sector, owing to persistent pressure on the motor business, execution risks as the market turns toward a non-motor-focused business model and the industry’s dependence on investment returns to support earnings

Rothesay Life has written £3.7bn of new pension bulk annuity business in H2 2019, and year-to-date new business is totalling around £4.4bn

AXA Investment Managers (AXA IM) is to expand its suite of impact investment portfolios by launching a private market strategy focusing on opportunities that address the basic needs of emerging consumers across regions including Latin America, South and South East Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa

Polish insurer, PZU, recorded a return on equity in H1 2019 of 20.3%, nearly twice as high as the average ROE for other European insurance companies

Swedish insurance company, Folksam, is setting a new goal of increasing its real estate investments by another SEK 20bn, having previously communicated an expansion target of SEK 10bn for property holdings

The Federal Reserve Board (FRB) has invited public comment on a proposal to establish capital requirements for certain insurance companies supervised by the Board

AM Best has affirmed the financial strength rating of B++ and the long-term issuer credit ratings of bbb+ of ERGO Insurance Pte. Ltd. (ERGO Insurance)(Singapore)

Romanian insurance companies collected gross premiums amounting to almost RON 5.44bn (€1.15bn) in H1 2019, up 7.8% over the same period of 2018, according to a report published by the Financial Supervisory Authority

Direct Line Insurance Group will no longer form part of the elite roster of FTSE 100 firms from 23 September, according to FTSE Russell

Total reinsurance capital at H1 2019 has increased by 8%, driven by strong investment markets, Willis Re has said

Mapfre, the third largest insurer in Spain and Latin America, has signed a strategic deal with Abanate Asesores, to create an independent platform for financial advisory services and the distribution of the most competitive products in the Spanish market

SCOR has today unveiled its ‘Quantum Leap’ strategy, which aims to pursue strong growth of around 4% to 7% per year

The outlook for the global reinsurance sector in 2020 is stable, Fitch Ratings has said

Polish insurer PZU is “risking its business, reputation, and the health of tens of thousands of people across Poland’s southern border on a coal project dismissed by its competitors”, according to civil society organisations

French life insurance net inflows amounted to €1.6bn for the month of July 2019, according to the Fédération Française de l’Assurance

The PRA has today issued proposals designed to assist parties in better understanding the regulator’s approach and expectations in relation to the authorisation and supervision of insurance special purpose vehicles (ISPVs), consistent with Solvency II requirements

As much as £61bn of insurance business is shifting to rival financial centres in the EU, due to Brexit

The Personal Finance Society has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the think Tank for Chinese Insurers (TTCI) and the Peking University to build a professional standards framework

Over 109,000 petition-signers and protestors have descended on the Australian offices of insurer, AIG, demanding that the company backs out of Adani’s Carmichael coal mine

Operating results of Italian insurers remained strong in H119 as non-life technical margins were supported by stable prices in motor and by lower claims frequency that more than offset higher weather-related claims compared with H118

Chinese insurer, Ping An, has become a signatory of the United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), the first Chinese asset owner to participate in the initiative

Insurance market activity in Luxembourg continues its “strong growth” in Q2 2019 with premiums increasing by 53.8% compared to the same period last year, the Commissariat Aux Assurances has said

Insurance Europe and the Pan-European Insurance Forum (PEIF) have written to European Commission (EC) vice president, Valdis Dombrovskis, to stress the need for a global level playing field for all internationally active insurance groups and all participating jurisdictions in the monitoring period of ICS 2.0

South Korea’s non-life insurers are in a better position than their life counterparts to weather the impact of the IFRS 17 accounting standard and K-Insurance Capital Standard (K-ICS) solvency regime when they take effect, AM Best has said

Total income in the US life/annuity industry essentially remained flat in the first half of 2019, dropping slightly to $422.4bn compared with $424.6bn in the same prior-year period

UK life insurers seeking to reduce their exposure to annuity risks by offloading portfolios to other insurers may have to rethink their plans as a result of the High Court’s decision in August to block Prudential Assurance Company’s proposed £12bn transfer to Rothesay Life, Fitch Ratings has said

Insurance premiums written in Finland increased by 3% to a total of €23.6bn between 2017 and 2018

Gross written premiums of insurance companies in the Republic of Croatia at the end of 2018 amounted to €1.329.306.989, a rise of 8.8% from the previous year, of which non-life insurance premiums accounted for €906.573.735 or 68.2% (+9.9%), while life insurance premium was €422.733.254 or 31.8% (+ 6.6%)

Assets placed in Swiss investment funds in July increased by CHF 18.4bn, or 1.6%, according to data compiled by Swiss Fund Data AG and Morningstar

The largest French insurers conducting business in the UK “have made good headway” in implementing their continuity plans in the face of Brexit, the French Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority has said

IFRS 17 should be implemented without further delay by 2022, and any proposed changes to the regulations should only be taken into account if they are essential for the modelling of the business model and can be implemented in the given timeframe, German trade body, GDV, has argued

Everest Insurance has announced the appointment of Kyle Adams to lead the Everest Insurance Bermuda operations

A greater focus by the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) on potentially systemic activities of the insurance sector as a whole is warranted, Insurance Europe has argued

Below-average catastrophe losses in H1 2019 boosted non-life reinsurers’ underwriting profitability, offsetting mixed results for life reinsurers, according to Fitch Ratings

Assets of Dutch investment funds have reached a new all-time high of €924m, due to two quarters of continuous positive returns on equity investments, according to the Dutch regulator, De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB)

The UK’s Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has published its draft response to IASB ED/2019/4 amendments to IFRS 17, broadly agreeing with proposals but underlying concerns around the element addressing accounting mismatches between “reinsurance contracts held and onerous underlying insurance contracts”

Finnish insurer, Varma, has recorded its most profitable first half of the year in 20 years with a return on investments of 6.9% or €3bn

Avid Insurance Services has sold a majority stake to Beech Tree Private Equity (BTPE)

RBC Capital Markets lowered its target price for shares in Standard Life Aberdeen (SLA) from 210p to 205p, highlighting that institutional net flows tended to be driven by the firm’s three-year track record, which remains weak

The estimated financial impact of the Ogden rate change on insurers has so far reached over £160m, with those insurers that have reported their interim results for H1 2019 incurring hits of varying sizes

Florida-based insurance broker Brown & Brown announced it has acquired substantially all of the assets of CKP Insurance

Recent activity in Bermuda relating to regulatory assignment of capital credit for certain securities raises questions given certain conflicting language between the debt offering documents and Bermuda Monetary Authority’s (BMA) Tier 3 regulatory requirements, Fitch Ratings has said

American International Group (AIG) has announced that Richard Olsen will join the company as chief actuary, GI, effective immediately

Aegon Netherlands has seen its estimated Solvency II ratio in the Netherlands decrease to 152% on 30 June 2019 from 181% on 31 December 2018, mainly driven by adverse market impacts

Alternative insurance products such as “parametric solutions that use an index-based trigger on windspeed, rainfall, the burned area or even smoke haze” could assist governments, businesses and individuals to deal with the increased operational costs associated with climate trends, Swiss Re’s head of Australia and New Zealand Mark Senkevicks has said

Prudential has today announced that M&GPrudential intends to list its shares under the name M&G plc when it demerges from Prudential plc later this year

The deal value of M&A activity in the insurance world totalled more than $20bn through the first half of 2019, according to S&P Global Ratings

Insurance brokers Aon and Marsh are being called to retract their advisory roles in the proposed $2.6bn Vietnamese coal-fired power station, which has been linked to “excessive” environmental, health and human rights impacts

Premiums in the Italian life and non-life business amounted to €37.7bn, slightly up
(0.8%) compared to 2018, according to IVASS

Sun Life has become the first life insurance company globally to offer a sustainability bond

Prudential Insurance Company of America (PICA) and the HSBC Bank (UK) Pension Scheme have agreed to a £7bn longevity swap, advised by Aon

David Knibbe is to succeed Lard Friese as CEO of NN Group[

Financial institutions’ leveraged loan and CLO exposures are manageable to sector capital but risks may rise sharply in a stress, Fitch Ratings has said in a new report

Italy’s Cattolica Assicurazioni has presented a non-binding offer for the life insurance business of UBI Banca, chief executive Alberto Minali said.

Pictet Asset Management has added a new fixed income strategy to its $10bn actively managed total return franchise in the form of the Pictet TR-Sirius fund

Life insurer, Rothesay Life, has agreed a £520m buy-in with the Cadbury Mondelēz Pension Fund

Aviva has delivered strong general insurance results with a combined ratio of 95.9%

A global coalition of 32 environmental, indigenous and citizen groups is calling on insurance companies listed on the insurance certificate for the existing Trans Mountain Pipeline to drop their policies ahead of the 31 August renewal deadline

Phoenix Group has seen strong cash generation of £287m in H1 2019 and expects to be towards the upper end of its cash generation target range of £600m to £700m for full year 2019

Former DWS CEO, Nicolas Moreau, has been appointed as the new CEO of HSBC Global Asset Management

Legal & General’s SII coverage ratio has fallen from 188% to 171% between FY 2018 and H1 2019, according to latest figures, with the insurer attributing the impact to discounting the balance sheet at lower interest rates

LV= has seen its profit before tax from continuing operations hit £35m for HY2019 up from £12m in HY2018, despite life business PVNBP sales taking a £260m hit in the same period

The Prudential Insurance Company of America is to insure around £7bn of pensioner liabilities for The HSBC Bank (UK) pension scheme

Insurers stand to lose business in the short term from their anti-coal stance, but the long-term benefits to the industry could be considerable, data and analytics company, GlobalData, has said

A degree of positive correlation exists between AM Best’s proprietary capital model – Best’s Capital Adequacy Ratio (BCAR) and Solvency II’s quantitative risk-based assessment of capitalisation, with those companies attaining higher BCAR scores generally also having better Solvency II SCR coverage

Over 90 per cent of insurers based in and serving the Irish market have solvency ratios that are at least 1.5 times the regulatory minimum, the Central Bank of Ireland has said

Insurance company, ReAssure, has announced the acquisition of Quilter UK Heritage business for £425m, which will see 200,000 customers from Old Mutual Wealth Life Assurance and its subsidiary Old Mutual Wealth Pensions transfer to the life insurer

Portugal’s Autoridade da Concorrência has applied a fine totalling more than €54m on insurance companies, board members and directors involved in the ‘insurer cartel’

Insurance Ireland’s Kevin Thompson has advised the board that he is resigning his position as CEO to take up a senior role within the industry

777 Re, a newly formed Bermuda-based reinsurance company, has announced the completion of a $307m annuity block reinsurance transaction with a US based insurance company

The International Accounting Standards Board (Board) has published proposed narrow-scope amendments to IAS 1 Presentation of Financial Statements and IFRS Practice Statement 2 Making Materiality Judgements to help companies provide useful accounting policy disclosures to users of financial statements

Completed M&A in the global insurance industry rose in H1 2019, with 222 completed deals worldwide, up from 196 in H2 2018

RSA’s investment income fell from £160m to £154m in the year to H1 2019, offset by investment expenses of £7m (H1 2018: £7m) and the liability discount unwind of £16m (H1 2018: £17m)

Generali’s group net profit stood at €1.8bn as at 30 June 2019, up 34.6% form a year earlier, according to its latest results

The US insurance industry’s overall holdings of structured securities rose for a third straight year, by nearly 7% in 2018, and now top the $1trn mark, according to a new AM Best report

The Bank of England’s (BoE) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted unanimously to maintain bank rate 0.75 per cent in its latest meeting

Net inflows for French life insurers were €2.4bn in February 2019

Direct Line’s total investment returns decreased by £19.7m to £75.7m in H1 2019 from H1 2018 due to a reduction in investment income, primarily as a result of lower assets under management, and a reduction in realised and unrealised gains excluding hedging

The California Department of Insurance and the United Nations Environment Programme (UN Environment) have launched a year-long effort to develop a Sustainable Insurance Roadmap to confront California’s climate risks

MAPFRE and Swiss Life France have invested €296.1m in nine buildings across Paris, adding to a joint investment fund which was setup last year with the aim of providing a 4% return paid per annum

EIOPA should consider proportionality and flexibility in any potential sustainability requirements in Solvency II, Insurance Europe has argued

Maiden Life & General has continued its growth drive into 2019 with news that Maiden General Försäkrings AB (Maiden General) has extended its passporting rights to include the Republic of Ireland

Institutional investors, including insurers, are increasingly seeking secure, inflation-linked cashflows from investing in European long income property

The International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) has joined the Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS) as an observer

Investment returns at Hiscox for the first six months of 2019 have hit $147.5m, up from $19.8m in 2018

Britain is being urged to seek ‘equivalence’ based market access to the EU for the reinsurance market after Brexit, the London Market Group (LMG) has said

Australian insurance giant, Suncorp, will no longer invest in, finance or insure new thermal coal mines and power plants, and will not underwrite any existing thermal coal projects after 2025

Concerns have been raised about the potential impact of a no-deal Brexit on the Irish insurance sector

The French insurance industry is facing a number of vulnerabilities stemming from concentrated exposures, mostly to parent banks

Moody’s Corporation has acquired RiskFirst, a leading FinTech company providing risk analytic solutions for the asset management and pension communities

Risk exposures for the European insurance sector are remaining overall stable, despite macro and market risks now at a high level due to a further decline in swap rates and lower returns on investments in 2018 which put strain on life insurers offering guaranteed rates

AM Best has revised the outlooks to positive from stable and affirmed the financial strength rating of B++ (Good) and the long-term issuer credit ratings of 'bbb+' of Liberty Bankers Life Insurance Company (Oklahoma, OK) and its wholly owned life insurance subsidiaries

MAPFRE’s revenues during the first half of the year totalled €15.05bn, a 6.8% increase compared to the same period the previous year, thanks to the increase in premiums, which reached €12.53bn (+4.7%), and higher financial income

Swiss insurance group Vaudoise Insurance Holding has acquired the Swiss consultancy firm Pittet Associates

US insurers now have around $122bn in BACV exposure to CLOs, with the majority, or 77%, held by life insurance companies

EIOPA has today presented the draft opinion on supervision of remuneration principles in the insurance and reinsurance sector

Moody's has today affirmed the insurance financial strength (IFS) ratings of Aspen Insurance UK Limited and Aspen Bermuda Limited (collectively, Aspen), and the Baa1 senior unsecured debt rating and Baa3(hyb) preferred stock ratings of Aspen Insurance Holdings Limited

The proportion of firms highlighting Brexit as a key risk to solvency has nearly doubled over the last 12 months from 33% to 64%

Beazley has recorded profit before tax of $166.4m for the period ended 30 June 2019, up from $57.5m a year earlier

Former Mayor of London and Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson, has been announced as the new Conservative leader, succeeding Theresa May

After being dubbed as the favourite by many and winning today’s Tory leadership race, deVere Group CEO and founder Nigel Green claimed the pound will “not drop too much” or “for too long”

The Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC) has called on cement and construction companies to take steps against cement, the source of 7 per cent of global man-made CO2 emissions

The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) published today a Discussion Paper on Methodological Principles of Insurance Stress Testing

The Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) has set out in its latest consultation paper (CP) its proposed approach to the determination of the availability of subordinated liabilities and preference shares in group own funds, and its expectations of firms in presenting relevant analysis to the regulator

Asset managers are beginning to regain some initiative after having control of the market taken away from them as a result of the Retail Distribution Review (RDR) in Q4 2012, according to Platforum research director Richard Bradley

Schroders has increased its stake from 50.1 per cent to 100 per cent in Secquaero Advisers in a bid to bolster its private assets business

Italian insurance giant Generali has agreed to acquire Portuguese insurer Seguradoras Unidas and a smaller service firm AdvanceCare in a transaction worth €600m

Dutch asset manager PGGM has increased its interest in offshore windfarm Walney Offshore Windfarms, acquiring a further 9.9 per cent stake

Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market value, jumped 9 per cent on Thursday, despite U.S. lawmakers’ and Trump’s recent criticisms of digital assets, with the U.S. president last week tweeting they were “based on thin air”

The European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) is broadly supportive of latest proposed changes to IFRS 17, but has highlighted a number of concerns

Ireland’s largest life and pension group, Irish Life, has exited the competition to acquire the Dublin-listed property group Green Reit, according to The Irish Times

German life insurers paid out almost €79bn to customers, 2.5% higher than in the previous year, according to trade body, GDV

AM Best has introduced enhancements to its Solvency II SFCR filings database and analysis system, Best’s Financial Suite – Solvency II

The Executive Board of the French Insurance Federation has appointed three new vice-chairs

The prudential treatment of equity investments should be among the “priority objectives” of the Solvency II Review, French regulator, ACPR, has said

Four of France’s biggest financial associations have partnered up to attract international investors to Paris by launching a collective association called Invest Week Paris

The European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA) has said some of the regulatory concerns around ETFs are misplaced, publishing a response to the European Central Bank’s (ECB) November 2018 findings

The Dutch Association of Insurers and Insurance Ireland consider the current SII reporting framework disproportionate for non-complex small and medium-sized insurers

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has today issued a consultation proposing important changes to the UK’s Ethical and Auditing Standards

PIC has announced its intention to raise further debt capital through a benchmark issue of GBP perpetual non-call 10 year Restricted Tier 1 contingent convertible notes in reg S registered format

EIOPA has launched a consultation package on supervisory reporting and public disclosure in the context of its work linked with the 2020 Solvency II Review

Allianz Insurance CEO Jon Dye has been named as the new chair of the Association of British Insurers (ABI)

Swiss Re has announced the suspension of its previously communicated plans for an initial public offering (IPO) of ReAssure

Nordea Liv & Pension Sweden has moved SEK 22bn (€2.1bn) from traditional investments to investments with a low-carbon footprint and strict sustainability requirements in its biggest shift in investment strategy ever

Fifty pension funds, asset managers, insurers, banks and their umbrella organisations have committed to the Dutch government’s climate goals

The Hungarian non-life insurance sector expanded more than 12% in 2018, while the life sector grew by 3.9%, according to the Association of Hungarian Insurance Companies (MABISZ)

MAPFRE and China Re have signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on insuring investments related to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), an infrastructure plan launched by the Chinese government in 2013 to connect China with the world’s major economies

Dutch pension funds, asset managers, insurers and banks today signed a commitment to follow the government’s goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions

AXA UK has been condemned for its “financing of companies involved in the illegal Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Territory and the production of banned weapons”

The first government bond index to adjust index weights based on each country’s preparedness and resilience to climate change risk has been launched by FTSE Russell

Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin could play a significant role in reshaping the UK’s financial services sector post-Brexit, repairing the “unprecedented damage” inflicted on the UK as a result of the uncertainty, according to deVere CEO and founder Nigel Green

Proposals by the Canadian Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) to limit the ability of insurers to use reinsurance would require firms operating in Canada to more than triple their current capital base

Finance Finland (FFI), Insurance Sweden, Finance Norway and Insurance and Pension Denmark have agreed on shared high-level policies in three important insurance themes

Gross premium income for all insurers based in Bulgaria as at 31 December 2018 amounted to BGN 2,470m, recording an increase of 14% on an annual basis

During January to April 2019, the Albanian insurance market experienced an increase by 8.30% compared to January to April 2018

Foresters Friendly Society (Foresters), the mutual insurance provider, has appointed AXA Investment Managers (AXA IM) to manage a £175m multi-asset mandate on behalf of its members, with capacity for the mandate to grow to £300m in the medium-term

AM Best has affirmed the FSR of A and the Long-Term ICR of a+ of QBE Europe nv/sa (Belgium), QBE UK Limited (United Kingdom), and all the pooled members of QBE North America Insurance Group, with the exception of National Farmers Union Property and Casualty Company (NFU P&C) (Sun Prairire, WI)

Global insurance premiums topped $5trn for the first time ever in 2018, with solid growth in non-life but a subdued performance in life, according to Swiss Re

The implementation of a mechanism for monitoring and assessing the climate-related commitments taken by Paris financial centre institutions, has been announced by François Villeroy de Galhau, Governor of the Banque de France, Chairman of the Autorité de contrôle prudentiel et de résolution (ACPR), and Robert Ophèle, Chairman of the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF)

The Internal Capital Standard’s (ICS) margin is approaching the level of the Solvency II risk margin as a proportion of capital, but if borne out by field testing, could be concerning to insurers who consider the quantum of the Solvency II risk margin to be too high at present levels of interest rates, Deloitte has said

The German life insurance sector continues to reduce its exposure to persistent low interest rates, supporting Fitch Ratings stable outlook for the sector

Generali Insurance Asset Management (GIAM) has announced the appointment of Antonio Pilato as its new head of investments

Private U.S. property/casualty insurers’ profitability as measured by their annualized rate of return on average policyholders’ surplus increased to 9.4%, the best first-quarter result since 10.8% in 2015, according to data analytics provider Verisk and the American Property Casualty Insurance Association (APCIA)

Investors have been concerned over the global economic outlook, leading to suffering equity UCITS funds in April, the European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA) has revealed

Gross insurance premium income for life and non-life sectors in Ireland rose by 16.7% between 2016 and 2017

Zurich has announced that its CEO EMEA Amanda Blanc has resigned

Total GWP for both life and the non-life insurance sector in Europe grew by 4.2% on an annual basis, and now amounts to €1.3trn at the end of 2018

Japan’s four major life insurers increased their total unconsolidated core insurance profit by 3.8% year on year in fiscal 2018, mainly due to better interest margins

Private equity investments by the US life/health and property/casualty insurance industries have risen sharply by around 25% over a two-year span to $55.4bn and $16bn, respectively, according to AM Best

The UK government has today published its Green Finance Strategy, recognising the role of the financial sector in delivering global and domestic climate and environmental objectives

A no-deal Brexit could be a key risk on UK insurers because it may have important short-and long-term implications for the country’s economy, financial markets, and insurance industry, according to S&P Global Ratings

The risk of a prolonged low yield environment is now “more prominent again”, and the low level of interest rates continues to pose “significant challenges for life insurers” according to EIOPA

Italian insurer, Generali, is now believed to be the lead insurer to acquire Tranquilidade, the second-largest non-life insurer in Portugal

More than half (55 per cent) of European institutional investors are now considering environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks in their schemes, growing from 40 per cent in 2018, Mercer has revealed

Chubb has become the first major US insurer to cease insuring and investing in coal

The direct financial impact of Brexit on major financial services firms in the UK has almost reached £4bn, as of 31 May 2019, EY’s Financial Services Brexit Tracker revealed

China has created a new company called Dajia Insurance Group to take over the assets of Anbang Insurance Group

AM Best has removed from under review with negative implications and changed the Financial Strength Rating (FSR) to a non-rating designation of E from B++ and the long-term issuer credit rating to ‘e’ from ‘bbb’ of Colarado Bankers Life Insurance Company (CBL)

US insurer MetLife is to sell its Hong Kong operations to FWD, owned by tycoon Richard Li, the companies said in a joint statement

Following the announcement of Facebook diving into the world of cryptoassets with its own virtual currency, Libra, eToro analyst Simon Peters has predicted the value of Bitcoin could soar to $50,000 “or even $100,000” this year

The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) has today published six proposed amendments to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) 17, after the standard received mounting pressure from the insurance industry

The European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA) has reported that worldwide regulated open-ended fund assets increased by €48.02trn, or 9.2 per cent, in the first quarter of 2019

Ahead of the G20 summit taking place in Osaka, Japan, this week, deVere CEO and founder Nigel Green said leaders must take decisive steps towards a multilateral cryptocurrency regulatory framework, arguing that failure to do so would be “irresponsible and negligent”

Zurich Insurance Group has updated its fossil fuel policy that details moves to wind down investments and insurance coverage for coal developers, utilities, mine operators, and companies heavily involved in tar sands and oil shale

The French Insurance Federation (FFA) has elected Florence Lustman, finance director at the Banque Postale, as chair for a term of three years beginning on 1 October 2019

Assets under management in the European ETF industry decreased in May due to the negative performance of the underlying markets, latest research has shown

Allianz is to sell its 60 per cent stake in Allianz Popular SL to Banco Santander

The FPC and the PRC of the BoE will stress test the UK financial system for resilience against different climate pathways

U.S. insurance giant Liberty Mutual has publicly confirmed that it will not provide insurance for the Adani Carmichael coal mine in Australia

The European Commission’s expert group on sustainable finance has published a draft list of projects that can be deemed ‘green and climate-proof’

It is in “no-one’s interest” for the insurance industry to spend “vast sums of money on the implementation of IFRS17”, ABI director general Huw Evans has argued, with the industry already having experienced a “painful and expensive” process implementing Solvency II (SII)

TMK’s UK insurance company, Tokio Marine Kiln Insurance (TMKI), and portfolios of UK property, liability, marine, and engineering risks currently underwritten through TMKI, will be placed into run-off

Spanish insurer, Mapfre, is launching the first investment fund which focuses on companies that are committed to the inclusion of people with disabilities

AXA Group deputy CEO and CFO, Gérald Harlin, is to retire on 1 January 2020 after 29 years with the group

Generali has finalised the completion of the transaction with German Group Union Asset Management Holding AG to acquire Union Investment TFI S.A. in Poland

The PRA has warned life insurers to “not place too much reliance on the proxy model output” and “make sufficient allowance for the risk of model error”

German insurance company, Talanx Group, has continued to expand its investment activities as largest investor of a PV solar park portfolio in the south of Spain via wrapped project bonds

The Sixth Macquarie European Infrastructure Fund has raised €6bn, exceeding its initial €5bn target, bringing the total funds raised globally to €13bn, according to Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (MIRA)

UK assets and the pound can be expected to fall further, according to deVere Group CEO Nigel Green, who highlighted that the debate between the five men vying to become the next Prime Minister “underscores that the pound can be expected to fall further

The Swiss Insurance Association (SIA) has called for adjustments to be made to the Swiss solvency test (SST), criticising its excessive capital requirements

The majority of US life/annuity insurance companies posted favourable operating results in 2018; however, statutory pre-tax operating gains declined by 25% - the largest drop in five years – to $47.8bn in 2018 from $63.7bn in 2017, according to AM Best’s Favourable 2018 Statutory Results for Life/Annuity Industry report

The PRA is asking the largest regulated life and general insurers to provide information about the impact of a range of stress tests on their business

US life insurers’ ‘BBB’ exposure is now at record levels, according to latest data published by S&P Global Ratings

The average financial strength for the North American insurance sector resides in the upper half of the strong ‘A’ category, according to S&P Global Ratings North American Insurance Outlook Midyear 2019.

Switzerland, Singapore and the US are the most sustainable investment markets in the world with companies listed in these countries delivering the most positive social and environmental benefits, research by Schroders claims

During Q1 2019, all combined insurance premiums lines in Luxembourg increased by 46.18% compared to the same period last year

Yesterday, the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) and the European Central Bank (ECB) published common minimum standards for data revisions for supervisory and statistical reporting by reinsurance undertakings

Specialist insurance and financial services provider Ecclesiastical has appointed Denise Cockrem as its group chief financial officer (CFO)

Venture capital firm InsurTech Gateway is targeting up to £30 million of investment for a new fund aimed at supporting tech startups in the insurance and reinsurance space

During his speech, Financial resilience and economic earthquakes, at the University of Warwick yesterday, Bank of England (BoE) senior official Alex Brazier emphasised that suspending funds can be a “double-edged sword”

Independent power producer Soltage has received funding from Prudential Capital Group, a subsidiary of the Prudential Insurance Company of America, to fund its corporate growth and acquisition prospects

Deloitte has appointed Clive Buesnel as its new UK head of insurance, bringing in 30 years of experience and was previously the chief executive of a Lloyd’s managing agency

Financial intelligence firm Moody’s Analytics has added new accounting and reinsurance capabilities to its RiskIntegrity IFRS 17 solution, which will allow insurers and reinsurers to better meet the requirements of International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS 17)

If Boris Johnson were to win a general election, deVere Group CEO and founder Nigel Green has warned that UK asset prices and the pound would tumble

Quilter has today announced that it has completed the acquisition of advisory firm Lighthouse, purchasing the company for £42.2m

Royal London paid 99 per cent of claims in 2018, with more than £506m paid out in UK protection claims and assisting more than 38,000 customers, the insurer revealed

Acquis Insurance Management has launched a company in the Netherlands, Acquis Insurance Management B.V., as part of its European expansion strategy, also allowing the company to provide its services across the EEA without being impacted by the uncertainty caused by Brexit

LAMP, an insurance firm authorised and regulated by the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission (GFSC) has entered liquidation following an application to the Supreme Court of Gibraltar

Following the comments from Michael Saunders, highlighting that the Bank of England’s (BoE) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) will need to vote in favour of a rate rise ahead of expectations, a further two members have warned that the central bank is on track to increase rates several times over the next couple of years

Insuretech firm Lemonade, which has recently raised $780m, has announced its launch into Europe, now offering its products and services in Germany

LexisNexis Risk Solutions has announced that Jeffrey Skelton will replace Keith Binley as its head of insurance for UK and Ireland

Two executives at Tokio Marine Kiln (TMK), a Lloyd’s of London insurance company, have resigned amid fresh allegations of sexual harassment claims

The Bank of England (BoE) may be required to raise interest rates ahead of financial market’s expectations, according to central bank policymaker Michael Saunders

Aviva chief people officer Sarah Morris announced she was “handing over the baton” over the weekend after going on maternity leave in July 2018

Boris Johnson’s vow to cut income tax for higher earners is “half-baked”, according to deVere Group CEO Nigel Green

The European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA) says compliance with the revised Shareholder Rights Directive (SRD II), which comes into effect today, is a challenge as country-specifics are still unclear

German P&C insurance continues to be extremely stable with a coverage ratio of 291%, reflecting strong business models and strong financial resources, according to the German trade body GDV

Aviva is to cut 1,800 jobs across the group, as it looks to cut costs

Net inflows into the French life insurance market hit €3.4bn for February 2019

The PRA and the FCA have published a number of observations across eight key areas linked to the transition from LIBOR to alternative interest rate benchmarks

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) board has appointed Baroness Zahida Manzoor as chair of the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), having already been approved by HM Treasury

Just one day ahead of an investor meeting, in which CEO Maurice Tulloch will announce a restructure, CFO Tom Stoddard has announced he will step down as of 30 June 2019 while also leaving his director position

PIB Group has acquired the Cobra Group of companies, boosting the amount of premium placed or influenced by PIB from £550m to £900m

A group of the world’s largest companies, jointly representing almost $17trn in market capitalisation, have valued the climate risks to their business at almost £1trn, with many likely to hit within the next five years, according to a report published by CDP

Vienna Insurance Group (VIG), the largest insurer in Austria, has today published an anti-coal policy which sees the firm turning its back on the coal industry

The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) has said the “most pressing need” is for insurers to develop and embed long-term scenario analysis in the risk management, governance and ORSA, in its opinion on sustainability within Solvency II (SII)