Insurance Quick Takes: One regulator's view of geopolitics’ impact on the industry

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In this month’s insurance Quick Take, Tim Antonelli breaks down a new regulatory stress test of insurers' capital adequacy and liquidity in the face of increased geopolitical tension and inflation. He discusses the important lessons insurers from all regimes could learn, plus provides ideas on how insurers could think about the investment implications.

Key points: 

• In our 2024 Insurance Outlook, I discussed geopolitical risk as a key theme for insurers in 2024.
• Fast forward, the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) recently announced its sixth European Union-wide stress test for insurance companies, which will require 48 insurers across 20 EU jurisdictions to provide data by August of this year.
• While this is not the first stress test the EIOPA has conducted, the focus on geopolitical risk is important to note. Specifically, this test includes a severe scenario in which geopolitical tensions disrupt supply chains, reduce economic growth, and continue to prop up inflation.
• While this stress test is required for EU insurance companies, we believe this is essential for all global insurers to monitor. As history has shown, regulators tend to move together.
• As you’d expect, the asset shocks could be significant. I believe this could be a good opportunity for insurers to think about their strategic asset allocation and how it could cover multiple economic regimes. 

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