Insights

After a complicated interest-rate hike phase, new promising horizons are opening-up for insurance management, although there are other challenges to be met.

The rate movement since mid-2022, both highly anticipated and surprising in its magnitude, has upset some investment paradigms anchored for several decades. The new IFRS accounting rules also change the classification of assets for a large number of insurers. The year 2023 therefore offers the opportunity to review the structure of the portfolios and to implement a more active management, in order to take full advantage of the new market conditions, while integrating accounting concerns, explains Rémi Lamaud, Expert Solutions, Insurance Management and ALM solutions department at Ostrum AM.

The volatility risk premium represents the premium investors are ready to pay to get protection against large market movements. Our Volatility Risk Premium Strategy is based on a quantitative model and is designed as an income product. It focuses on selling equity volatility and targets a beta lower than Equities without the structural duration risk that most income products onboard. 2022 gave us the opportunity to show that our strategy was more resilient than most income strategies in the rising interest rates environment thanks to its duration-free characteristic. With now over 5 years of live track-record, our strategy delivered robust risk adjusted returns and a Sharpe ratio above 0.6 over the period. It proves to be diversifying as a long-term strategic investment in an allocation. Main risks of the strategy: capital loss risk, volatility-linked risk, risk related to the underlying asset, model-based risk.

Latin America is extremely well positioned to benefit from the (near) end of the Fed's tightening cycle.

After 3 years of absence due to the Covid-19 pandemic, China is making a strong comeback on the international scene, notably in the G-20’s common framework for renegotiating the debt of poor countries created in 2021. What are the stakes and implications in terms of investment strategy?

The combination of stricter regulatory requirements, a volatile market and rising interest rates will necessarily have an impact on insurers’ investment strategies. Although there is no simple answer to these market conditions, Rémi Lamaud, solution expert, insurance management & ALM solutions at Ostrum AM, explains how portfolio allocation has to reviewed to respond to each insurer’s accounting objectives, asset-liability backing and socially responsible ESG investments.

Given the diversification of the market in terms of issuers and securities, a rigorous analysis is imperative. Because greenwashing is an ambush.

The insurance industry is highly affected by climate change. ESG has become a more global challenge for shareholders, customers, employees, suppliers and communities. Consequently, insurers must consider environmental, social and governance risks and opportunities within their strategies, as insurers and investors. Although they are primarily affected by environmental issues – physical and transition risks – they are also impacted by societal transformation and governance issues. Insurers need to adapt and innovate to remain competitive. This is a key concern, currently and for coming years.

How insurers can gain an edge by combining tailored servicing and active investment.

Understanding the Booming Market for Sustainable Bonds The sustainable bond market has experienced strong growth in 2020, with the rise of new instruments. Ostrum AM reviews the major themes impacting the sustainable bond market today: an analysis of the market and the outlook, the impact of regulation, the risks of greenwashing and the concept of just transition.