Gareth Haslip
Latest From Gareth Haslip
Projecting the insurance balance sheet
Understanding the forward-looking risks and assessing the robustness of their business plans provide insurers with a rare opportunity to extract value from their Solvency II investment
The continued hunt for yield in a low interest rate environment
The investment thesis that a balanced portfolio delivers strong and stable results through the market cycle very much held true in 2014
A smarter approach to credit portfolio management
A "buy and maintain" strategy provides an effective way for liability-driven investors such as insurers to match income from a portfolio of investment-grade bonds to their balance sheet liabilities – but there are a few important rules
Towards a more robust investment performance
The reinsurance marketplace has been evolving rapidly in recent years, driven by the inflows of additional capital from insurance-linked securities fund managers and hedge fund reinsurers, alongside a relatively benign period of catastrophe losses. In combination, these factors have led to a continued softening of the reinsurance market, with renewal rates across the majority of classes in decline. Reinsurance margins in some programs today stand at levels not seen for a generation (1). Furthermore, investment yields are at historical lows, caused by the ongoing low yield environment that has persisted since the Global Financial Crisis in 2007-08.
Insurers must respond to rate rise threat
The results of a study to gauge the historical level of investment risk assumed by UK non-life insurance companies raise a number of questions about the industry’s investment strategy over the past 13 years and how they must prepare themselves for the future
Bridging the gap between investment, risk and capital management
A key challenge for insurers today is developing investment strategies that are effective in the context of the group’s wider enterprise risk and capital management policies