It’s easy to get so caught up in your job’s daily demands that you don’t have time to stop and consider the Big Picture. For instance, when was the last time you asked yourself: How are we doing relative to other organizations? What investment accounting roadblocks do our peers experience? How are they addressing these challenges? How long does it take other companies to close their books? Which asset classes are other investment teams considering in this low-yield environment?
The answers to these questions are important to us as well. That’s why Clearwater recently conducted the 2015 Insurance Investment Benchmark Survey. We wanted to explore the challenges that keep investors up at night, identify industry-wide perceptions of the investment and regulatory environment, learn more about the tools you and your peers use to tackle age-old investment accounting and reporting challenges, and uncover emerging trends and best practices.
We conducted the survey in April and collected responses from more than 450 insurance accounting and finance professionals, including more than 100 CFOs at leading insurance companies. We are now in the process of compiling the results and writing a comprehensive benchmarking report. The 2015 Insurance Investment Benchmark Survey Report will be published this fall and will offer accounting and reporting best practices. Based on in-depth data analysis from Clearwater’s insurance industry experts, this report will enable you to measure your own internal accounting and reporting processes against your peers’.
Key Findings
Clearwater recently presented preliminary survey results at the IASA National Conference in Las Vegas in June. Some of the key findings included:
- Nearly two in three respondents indicated that the low-yield and investment rate environment is their primary investment-related concern
- 96% of respondents believe interest rates will rise in the next three years by an expected average increase of 1.06 points
- Manual data processing represents the primary efficiency-related challenge for CFOs, and over half (52%) identify it and data availability as the top reasons preventing a more efficient monthly close process
Industry Trends
As we expected, the survey data reveals a number of interesting trends among investors in the insurance industry, including the concerns, processes, and strategies taking shape in a variety of roles and with a variety of perspectives. Some of these trends include:
- The investment and regulatory environment is affecting the investment strategies of insurance companies
- Institutional investors currently in less common vehicles (syndicated loans, LPs, private placements, etc.) are likely to increase their exposure in the coming year
- CFOs point to manual processes as the top barrier to more efficient investment accounting operations
- CFOs and accounting teams agree that manual processes, data availability, and delays from providers are significant barriers to a faster monthly close
The complete 2015 Insurance Investment Benchmark Survey Report is now available for download.