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New capital muscles into the reinsurance business
12 July 2013Hedge funds, pension funds and wealth managers are among the newer investors reshaping the way that reinsurance operates and prices risk. These non-traditional investors like the returns available and the lack of correlation with other capital markets. But do they fully appreciate the risks? Sarfraz Thind reports
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What the LTGA really says about the matching adjustment
10 July 2013A workable matching adjustment is critical for many insurers facing the prospect of complying with Solvency II, but Eiopa's recent study on long-term guarantee measures has left some aspects ambiguous and others unfeasible. Kim Durniat delves into Eiopa's concluding report to bring out the nuances
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Low interest rates challenge regulators as well as insurers
05 July 2013Current economic policies are creating market distortions that insurers and their regulators should tackle sooner rather than later, says Daniel Hofmann, advisor to the chairman of Zurich Insurance Group
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Phoenix breathes new life into its actuarial systems
03 July 2013The UK closed-fund consolidator has replaced its myriad modelling systems with just one, in a huge three-year project that is said to have been on time and on budget. For Phoenix, the project was not only operationally necessary; it was a strategic imperative. InsuranceERM explains
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Emerging risks test re/insurers' monitoring systems
28 June 2013In an ever more complex, interconnected and fast-moving world, the task of spotting the emerging risks that could have critical impacts on insurance companies is becoming harder. Christopher Cundy reports on how firms are tackling the issue
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Protests against FTT build up steam
21 June 2013Europe's Financial Transaction Tax has now been adopted by 11 states. Many insurers argue that the tax will make running their businesses more difficult and costly -- to the detriment of their customers. With less than six months left until the official implementation date, Sarfraz Thind looks at whether the industry has time to make its voice heard
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US has more reservations about Solvency II than a year ago
21 June 2013The federal threat to the US system of state-based insurance supervision is waning, according to Jim Donelon and Ben Nelson, the president and CEO of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, but international pressure for reform is an ever-present danger. In a Q&A with InsuranceERM, the new officials also discuss progress on reinsurance collateral, the ORSA and principles-based reserving
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RMS cloud will be AIR-less
21 June 2013Catastrophe modelling firms are promising to shift risk management into a higher gear with the launch of their various platforms and RMS has even thrown open its new service to third-party modellers. AIR Worldwide's Bill Churney explains why his firm won't be joining in
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Industry digests impact of LTGA
18 June 2013The insurance industry has had barely three days to consider the report from Eiopa on the long-term guarantees assessment, but it's long enough for experts to have identified several problems and for lobby group Insurance Europe to express its disappointment at the latest proposals on Solvency II. Christopher Cundy reports
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Structural modelling offers new approach to operational risk
13 June 2013Structural or causal models also enable operational risk predictions to be explained to non-specialists in a way that is easy to understand, argue Josh Corrigan, Neil Cantle and Fred Vosvenieks