Go-To Resource for Insurance Firms Outsourcing Investment Management Delivers Additional Insights
BOISE, Idaho — May 18, 2023 – Clearwater Analytics (NYSE: CWAN), a leading provider of SaaS-based investment management, accounting, reporting, and analytics solutions, today announced the release of the 2023 Insurance Investment Outsourcing Report (IIOR). The tenth annual ‘Yellow Pages’ of insurance-focused asset managers contains details on asset classes and AUM, insurance client types and counts, as well as related services asset managers provide to insurers. Sixty-seven managers participated in the report, up from 58 last year. The report shows the outsourcing trend continues and grows as investors search for yield. Download the report today.
Top findings of this year’s global report:
- Total insurance AUM reported by the managers was $3.2 trillion. This amount was slightly down from last year, attributed to the market declines of 2022.
- Despite less AUM, growth in the use of outside managers continued as reported total client count across all managers grew 7% to 5,800.
- Fixed income continues to be the dominant allocation among the insurance sector, representing over 70% of investments reported by managers.
- Many of the participating managers offer full-service capabilities managing this ‘core’ strategy along with ‘solutions’ capabilities that help insurers devise overall asset allocation strategies in the context of the unique accounting, regulation, and rating agency matters of insurers.
- Most of the new participating managers bring private asset class capabilities, a trend we have seen in recent years as insurers expand their asset allocation. While insurer absolute allocations to privates is modest, the percent increases in reported AUM of certain strategies was significant.
- PE/VC up 79%
- Structured private debt up 46%
- Corporate middle market debt up 24%
“Insurer investment programs have grown in sophistication since the 2008 financial crisis and the prolonged low-rate environment convinced many insurers to look beyond investment grade bonds,” said Sandeep Sahai, CEO at Clearwater Analytics. “As investors diversify to increasingly complex asset types, they invested the time to understand these asset classes with the support of experts represented in our guide. We have seen increased alternative investments among the 800-plus insurance clients on the Clearwater platform and their money managers featured here.”
“When it comes to using third-party investment management solutions, insurers continue to lean on external managers as a critical resource,” said Steve Doire, Strategic Advisor at Clearwater Analytics and owner of DCS Financial Consulting. “Many insurers have recognized the talent and services that the scale of external managers brings, and they are clearly taking advantage of their expertise.”
Additional details from this year’s IIOR:
- Looking back on the reports over the past 10 years, the top 40 outsourced investment managers in the survey reported a huge increase in total AUM managed for insurers, from $1.3 trillion in 2012 to $3 trillion in 2022.
- This year’s IIOR manager profiles contain 14 service categories and indicate which insurance asset managers deliver ESG strategies, provide value-added services, specialize with certain types of insurers such as P&C, understand book yield, and can project investment income, and more.
The report contains analysis and ranking across managers, as well as detailed ‘Manager Profiles’ providing firm specific details and contact information.
About Insurance Investment Outsourcing Report
The Report, in its 10th year running, profiles investment management firms who offer the specialized resources and expertise required to manage insurance companies’ investment assets. The report can be downloaded here.