Over a third of insurers in Europe with assets over $500 million are concerned about regulatory constraints relating to investment in non-traditional assets, research suggests.
A survey of 1,000 insurance investment and accounting professionals in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region found the top five asset classes for insurers in 2021 were private placements, private funds, mortgage loans, equity ETFs, and bond ETFs.
More than a third of respondents said they will increase their exposure to non-traditional assets, but insurers of all sizes said a solution was needed to navigate these investments.
More than a quarter of those surveyed said that company investment guidelines stood in the way of investments in non-traditional assets, and 23% said regulatory concerns were the issue. A lack of expertise was also cited by 12% of respondents.
The results of the survey – which was published by Clearwater Analytics in the ‘2021 Insurance Investment Survey Report’ last week – also found that the five fastest growing asset classes compared to 2015 were forwards, futures, syndicated loans, swaps and options.
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