Analysis

• Restricting access to health data creates competition issue

  07 March 2014

  Changing rules on access to UK national health data may have consequences for actuarial research and could make it harder to develop new products - and for new entrants to break into life insurance markets. Christopher Cundy reports

• Diversification and caution characterise insurers' 2014 asset strategies

  05 March 2014

  Another year of weak yields from bonds is prompting some insurers to continue diversifying their investment portfolios. But with predictions of weaker equity markets and continuing low interest rates, others are battening down the hatches. Jamie Bullen and Christopher Cundy report

• Solvency II pillar 3 reporting moves into the spotlight

  28 February 2014

  Complying with Solvency II reporting requirements will be no easy ride - especially when there are so many uncertainties to be resolved. The level of detail and the speed with which reports are needed are posing big challenges, as Christopher Cundy reports

• Insurers' models introduce poorly understood risks

  26 February 2014

  Models have become indispensable to managing a modern re/insurer, but their use is creating new risks that are not well understood. Christopher Cundy speaks to the insurer and the academic who are leading a major project to study the systemic risks in modelling

• Oasis: a threat or a complement to the cat model giants?

  21 February 2014

  A new open-source loss modelling framework, Oasis, is threatening to shake up the catastophe modelling establishment. Jamie Bullen asks insurers, scientists and cat modellers how they see it developing

• FCA dices with actuaries in annuity profits probe

  14 February 2014

  The UK's Financial Conduct Authority wants to make the annuity markets more competitive, but tackling excess profitability and price differentiation may be a bigger challenge than it thinks. Christopher Cundy reports

• Equality in insurance - still a decade or two away?

  13 February 2014

  InsuranceERM and BNY Mellon recently hosted a discussion on issues of diversity and gender in insurance. A panel of industry leaders described the state of play and what needs to be done to make the sector more reflective of society

• Implementing "intelligent ERM" at Swiss Re

  11 February 2014

  Swiss Re's recent changes to its ERM framework have focused on encouraging a more adaptive and intuitive approach to risk – and one that adds value to the business. David Baxter and Phil Vermeulen explain

• To call or not to call? Transition to Solvency II poses debt questions for insurers

  07 February 2014

  Morgan Stanley analysis of Solvency II's capital grandfathering rules suggests some insurers' bonds may not be redeemed at first call. But insurers will have to balance their capital needs against their reputation in the debt markets

• Raising the standard of internal model governance

  05 February 2014

  Internal models are increasingly used for decision making and producing figures for financial reports, but model governance procedures have not kept pace with these changing demands. Dominic Rau and Christian Wegmann outline a framework for improving assurance