NEAM Insights

Executive Summary In 2025, the U.S. P&C insurance industry’s net investment income declined modestly, as lower equity dividend income more than offset the benefits of higher bond yields. Nevertheless, book yield for the industry reached a decade high of 4.39%, extending its upward trend since 2021. Read More

Executive Summary In 2025, the U.S. life insurance industry’s net investment income continued to rise, though at a slower pace, extending the upward trend since 2023. Supported by elevated interest rates, book yield increased to 4.85%, its highest level in a decade, from a recent low of 3.78% in 2021. Read More

Executive Summary In 2024, the U.S. life insurance industry’s net investment income increased by 25 bps, extending the upward trajectory observed in 2023. This growth was primarily supported by persistently elevated interest rates. Read More

Executive Summary In 2024, the U.S. Property and Casualty (P&C) insurance industry’s net investment income reached a decade high of 3.63%, supported by elevated interest rates and increased equity dividend income. Over the past three years, one large insurer has notably influenced industry asset allocations by reducing its exposure to Schedule BA assets and equities, while increasing holdings in cash and short-term investments. Excluding this outlier, the industry’s overall asset mix has remained relatively stable. Meanwhile, the fixed income portfolio experienced a continued increase in book yield, along with improved credit quality and stable duration. The industry’s allocation to tax-exempt municipal bonds declined steadily, replaced by growing investments in corporate bonds and structured securities. Read More

Introduction The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in 2023 served as a wake-up call for the banking industry, highlighting the critical importance of asset liability management (ALM). Banks may need to liquidate assets to meet customers’ cash flow needs, sometimes realizing losses at inopportune times. This focus on ALM is not unique to banking; it is also a cornerstone of risk management in the insurance industry. Life insurance companies, in particular, employ ALM approaches to manage risk. Their investment portfolios need to be “liability-driven” due to the unique nature of their life insurance and annuity products. When it comes to Property and Casualty (P&C) insurance companies, the benefits of incorporating asset liability duration matching in constructing asset portfolios are less clear. Unlike life insurance companies, P&C insurers deal with shorter-term and more unpredictable liabilities, such as claims from natural disasters or bodily injury, potentially leading them to perhaps think about ALM differently. This paper will first outline the various ALM approaches used by life insurance companies. We will then examine the enterprise, fixed income, and liability profiles of P&C companies based on the latest public statutory statements. Read More

Executive Summary Asset allocations within the U.S. Property and Casualty (P&C) insurance industry have remained largely consistent, with bonds, equities, and Schedule BA assets representing the top three sectors. In 2023, the industry’s holdings in cash and short-term investments surged to an unprecedented 8.3%, a trend likely driven by attractive short-term interest rates. Read More

Executive Summary In 2023, the asset allocations of the U.S. life insurance industry have remained largely stable, with bonds, mortgage loans, and Schedule BA assets representing the top three sectors. In contrast, the industry’s holdings in cash and short-term investments soared to an unprecedented 3.5%, a surge likely driven by attractive short-term interest rates. Consequently, the overall net investment income increased. Read More

Executive Summary The U.S. life insurance industry’s broad sector allocations remain largely unchanged, with bonds and mortgage loans combined representing 83% of total invested assets. In 2022, the industry’s annual net investment income (%) declined marginally, largely driven by reduced contribution from alternative assets. Read More

Executive Summary With the Fed’s aggressive tightening policy, 2022 turned out to be a historic outlier year in terms of the magnitude of market value declines for both fixed income securities and equities. However, the sharp rise in yields had a positive impact on income. On a statutory accounting basis, the U.S. P&C insurance industry experienced meaningful net investment income growth while maintaining elevated liquidity as companies dealt with inflationary pressures and high replacement costs. Read More

LDTI comes live in 2023 Starting in 2023, U.S. public life insurers are expected to adopt Accounting Standard Update (ASU) 2018-12, the updated GAAP accounting rules for long-duration contracts. Among various changes required by this accounting update, standardizing the discount rates in long-duration contracts reserving could have implications (or unintended consequences) as life insurers attempt to manage, or mitigate, the reported earnings or book value volatility under this new accounting rule. This issue of Perspectives focuses on how liability discounting could influence life insurers’ enterprise optimization and investment strategy. Life Insurers are expected to navigate accounting, regulatory and rating agencies’ requirements and economic realities when evaluating and optimizing their enterprise values. Sometimes these are not aligned, or even conflicting, and insurers need to understand the trade-offs and choose measures that are most appropriate for their operational needs and stakeholder expectations. Read More