How Are Insurers Staying Ahead of the Curve?

This article is reprinted from the Indexology blog of S&P Dow Jones Indices.

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) has been a nearly ubiquitous topic of conversation among investors in recent years, bringing to light important questions: How do you measure it? How do you report it? Why should you use it? However, to date, few U.S. insurance companies have incorporated ESG into their policy guidelines, and the practicalities of implementing ESG are rarely addressed.

At our Annual Insurance Investment Summit – How Are Insurers Staying Ahead of the Curve?, NEPC’s Andrew Coupe and Liberty Mutual’s Patrizio Urciuoli explore the practical considerations of incorporating ESG into an insurance portfolio, alongside a host of other industry experts who tackle other topics relevant to insurance company investments. Since the Global Financial Crisis, insurance companies have had two major trades—trading illiquidity for yield and going down the credit curve. Two sessions at our summit focus on these critical issues and the challenges they pose for insurance companies. First, we explore whether illiquidity still has a place in an insurance investment portfolio with experts from BlackRock, F&G, S&P Global Market Intelligence, and S&P Global Ratings. Second, panelists from QBE Insurance, Voya Investment Management, Callan, and S&P DJI discuss the credit impact of COVID-19 on insurance portfolios.

We also look back at 2020 and the lessons we learned in the context of trading and liquidity. Even though the concept of ETFs originated out of the 1987 stock market crash, no one was sure how fixed income ETFs would behave during a stressed period—especially when the underlying securities weren’t trading. The chaos of spring 2020 was the perfect crucible to test fixed income ETFs, and panelists from Citadel, State Street, One America, and S&P DJI discuss how ETFs behaved during this liquidity crunch and what those lessons could mean for insurance companies moving forward.

Looking prospectively, we also examine areas of consideration or opportunity for insurance investors. Will inflation play a role in investments in the near future? How might liquid alternative indices help insurers diversify? What’s driving the high yield muni tailwind?

Access our Annual Insurance Investment Summit on-demand to explore these questions and more.

The posts on this blog are opinions, not advice. Please read our Disclaimers.