As Solvency II Looms, Insurers Are Diversifying

In the head offices of insurers across Europe, investment specialists are anxiously eyeing their desk calendars, as each torn-off page brings them closer to January 1, 2016. That is the day when the European Union’s Solvency II directive, a full 12 years in the making, comes into force.

偿付能力II旨在通过对银行基于Basel III协议组的基于风险的资本要求施加保险公司来改善欧洲的保单持有人保护。通过基于保险公司投资组合的资本收费，新规则寻求鼓励健全的投资。欧盟监管机构对声音的评估已经导致保险公司投资风格的变化深远，特别是在某些资产课程，如资产支持的证券。

“每个人都专注于1月1日实施。这是开始推动投资行为，“伦敦欧洲ABS欧洲盟军主管道德＆Co有限公司是康涅狄格州康涅狄格州的搭配公司，康涅狄格州的搭乘设施，在保险公司中管理920亿美元。

The most important change to investment is the increased incentive to diversify. “Solvency II allows you to reduce the capital charge made against any asset class that’s seen as diversifying your risks,” says Patrick Liedtke, head of the financial institutions group for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at $4.7 trillion U.S. asset manager BlackRock in London. For example, if private equity accounted for the entirety of a portfolio, it would attract a capital charge of 49 percent. However, for an insurer with a conventional and conservative portfolio of主权和公司债券，新的私募股权投资的第一美元吸引了只有约27％的收费，在考虑多元化效益之后。

在实践中，有可能应对这一激励的保险公司如何进行多样化？Liedtke表示，他们正在进入诸如房地产，银行贷款和基础设施之类的非水资源资产，继续通过激进的中央银行货币削弱，推动债券延缓历史低水平的趋势。2015年2月，Blackrock的49名最大保险客户的民意调查显示，59％的人计划将私募股权的分配增加57％，到房地产57％，44％到银行贷款。保险公司的稳定收入流使他们能够灵活地投资这些资产并获得他们提供的溢价溢价。

布鲁斯普遍存在的保险解决方案投资总监，标准寿命投资，2.58亿英镑（403亿美元）的资产管理部队的爱丁堡的保险公司标准生活，已经进入Multiadset资金（通过标准的生活本身，以及其他方式insurers) because multiasset investing is also rewarded by the directive’s preference for diversification. “Under Solvency II, investors in multiasset funds have to look through the funds to the underlying assets,” explains Porteous. “These funds contain diversifying strategies, with falls in one asset offset by rises in another.” SLI has found that its multiasset Global Absolute Return Strategies Fund requires capital charges under Solvency II that are only one third to one half the charges for conventional single-asset strategies that offer a similar return.

欧盟新规则以及opport创建问题unities for insurers, though. In particular, Solvency II takes a tough stance on asset-backed securities. It requires a capital charge of 100 percent for a BB-rated, ten-year ABS security, compared with 35 percent for a comparable bond.

“Charges on ABS have been set too high for political reasons,” says Porteous, who explains that regulators have imposed high capital charges because ABS backed by subprime U.S. mortgages played such a prominent role in the global financial crisis. “Insurers are quite happy with the asset class, but when Solvency II kicks in, the charges will be penal, so they’re already getting out,” says Porteous.

保险公司最大的问题是限制，布雷利说，新规则首先投资资产支持的证券。“偿付能力二世为收购ABS引入了相当繁重的要求，”他说。保险公司只有在满足几项质量要求时，才能投资ABS。这些包括一项规定，发起人必须持有5％的资产，以使他们与投资者的利益对齐。目前正在发布的大多数美国ABS不符合这种风险保留要求，留下欧洲保险公司无法购买。如果他们可以持有这些规则的原因，但在偿付能力II生效之前，英国的保险公司就会要求监管机构。他们尚未接受任何澄清。为了使图片复杂化，普通的SLI认为欧盟委员会和Eiopa，欧盟的保险和养老金监督员可能同意减少ABS资本指控 - 但如果他们这样做，1月1日之前不会发生减少。

The doubt over the status of ABS underlines a sense of confusion, even as the directive’s entry into force gets nearer by the day. “Solvency II is less than six months away, but there’s still all this uncertainty,” says Porteous. Brealey of Conning says that many European reinsurers, who hold up to a quarter of their funds in ABS, plan to sell their ineligible ABS this autumn, when trading picks up after the summer vacation period.