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Insurers caught up in the Swiss roil
21 March 2023The fall of Credit Suisse, hot on the heels of SVB and Signature Bank, has sent insurers scrambling to assess the risks to their portfolios. While the hit seems manageable, Sarfraz Thind asks if there could be worse to come
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Regulators consider capital for climate risk
15 December 2022Insurance regulators are keen to ensure their prudential frameworks properly incorporate climate risk. But whether this should be reflected in capital requirements is proving a difficult question to answer, as Christopher Cundy reports
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Gilts crash: a boon out of a crisis for insurers
18 October 2022Another day, another UK financial market crash. But while it has gone wrong for British politics and pension funds, the current crisis may actually benefit insurers in the long run. Ronan McCaughey and Sarfraz Thind report
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Plenty of runway left for life consolidation in Europe
04 October 2022The business of consolidating life insurance portfolios is looking healthy, according to participants, as inflation provides a catalyst and supervisors become more familiar with transactions. Joshua Geer reports
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PRT market set for a blazing H2
16 August 2022The UK's pension risk transfer market (PRT) is on course for a very busy second half of the year, after relatively modest activity in H1. Solvency II reforms are also likely to impact the sector, as Ronan McCaughey explains
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Japan steps forward with ICS-based capital framework
20 July 2022Japan is midway through development of a new capital framework that takes its lead from the Insurance Capital Standard. This should make it a beacon for international prudential rules, as the FSA's Shigeru Ariizumi explains to Sarfraz Thind
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ALM and capital management under Hong Kong's RBC
07 July 2022Richard Chan, Hong Kong chief investment officer and Asia head of ALM at Axa, discusses Hong Kong's forthcoming risk-based capital regime and how insurers will respond
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Bigger does not mean better for insurers
02 June 2022Expanding an insurance business in good times typically meant growing profits. In today's tougher economic environment, Europe's largest insurers are being much more prudent about spending capital, and are only considering very careful expansion, as David Walker writes
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Scepticism about the UK's Solvency II savings
30 May 2022The UK government is projecting a meaningful reduction in capital requirements from its prudential regulation reforms. But some question whether the redesign will make any difference, as Christopher Cundy reports
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Sarah Williams cultivates new risk strategy at Guardian Life
10 May 2022Sarah Williams found a new job and a new hobby during the pandemic. Now chief risk officer at Guardian Life - and a keen gardener - she is planning to make both flourish, as she explains to Ronan McCaughey