Market views: How should insurers handle ultra-low rates?

Last Friday (July 31), the real yields on the benchmark 10-year US Treasuries hit minus 1%, as investors lost faith in risky assets and rushed to quality instead.  Meanwhile in Asia, the Philippines’ real interest rates have turned negative as the country’s annual inflation rate rose to a six-month high of 2.7%, tarnishing the local government bonds’ appeal. The yields on the nation’s 10-year sovereign bond stood at 2.759% as of August 6, down 174.8 basis points (bp) from six…