Insights

Like many institutionals, insurers are exposed to multiple risk components, but the main component is interest rate risk. Interest rate risk stems from liabilities and it is necessary to have exposure in order to hedge this same risk carried under balance sheet liabilities. Fixed income instruments are thus a significant portion of the balance sheet and make the main contribution towards earnings on liabilities. This is a key factor of financial output for the euro-denominated fund.

Diversification and bond portfolio management often go hand in hand. There are two reasons for this: firstly, because the multitude and variety of asset classes underlying the bond market means there is a wide gap between the asset considered to be the safest in the world (Treasury notes) and the debt of financially fragile companies (high-yield bonds). Secondly, because at the “lower” level, i.e. within the indices, these asset classes contain hundreds of different securities.

The credit market has recovered in 2023. Companies are showing their resilience, yields are at their highest for 10 years. For those wanting to take advantage of this interesting opportunity, Emilie Huot, Credit Portfolio Manager at Ostrum AM presents our new SRI Crossover 2026 hold-to-maturity credit strategy !

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?