Asian insurers look to Europe for portfolio guidance

Insurance firms in Asia are tracking how their European peers cope with Solvency II and hoping to take a lead from them, where possible, as similar capital requirements take hold in parts of the region.

 

That includes seeing how the 33-month old regulatory regime helps reshape investment portfolios, say European asset management professionals who have liaised with Asian insurers over the summer.

 

“A key area of discussion we are having with insurers in [Asia] is how have we worked with European companies on solvency requirements and the low-yield environment,” Stefan Gans, a senior sales executive at DWS Investments, formerly Deutsche Asset Management, told AsianInvestor.

 

“We’re being asked how insurers have implemented Solvency II,” he said last month after visiting Asia in July. "We find insurers in the region looking at what might be next; the next iteration of [risk-based capital [RBC] rules] and how it will work.”