21 January 2010
Published in: Risk governance, Insurance risk, Investment risk
UBS creates insurance and pensions industry group
UBS has announced the creation of an insurance and pensions industry group within its fixed income, currencies and commodities (FICC) division, covering Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA).
The investment bank has hired a team of four from insurer Paternoster to provide experience in structuring a range of pension scheme de-risking solutions including longevity swaps. Tesula Mohindra (managing director) and Ian Aley (executive director) will focus on business development, reporting to Mahnaz Safa, co-head of debt capital markets, EMEA. David Still (executive director) and Tim Coulson (director) will focus on actuarial and pricing activities, reporting to Andrea Sambo, head of private side structuring, EMEA.
The group aims to be the leading provider of risk advisory and capital markets products to insurance and pension fund clients, according to Safa.
"The insurance and pensions industry in Europe, Middle East and Africa is developing rapidly in response to regulatory changes and pressure on performance," Safa said. "The implementation of Solvency II will fundamentally change the way insurance clients manage risk and capitalize their business lines, whilst pension funds are also looking to proactively manage the realistic risks inherent within their schemes."
The group will have expertise in insurance and pensions within debt capital markets, distribution, structuring and UBS Delta - a market and portfolio analysis tool for managing risk and performance across fixed income, commodities and equities. The initiative will be lead by Mark Jones, co-head of EMEA FICC distribution, Safa and Fabio Lisanti, co-heads of European debt capital markets, and Jamie Robinson.