NEAM Insights

Executive Summary Private debt has become one of the most closely watched segments of the credit markets, yet insurers’ exposure remains difficult to quantify. Traditional private placements,1 privately negotiated debt securities outside the public markets, represent an identifiable component of insurers’ private debt exposure that can be consistently tracked through statutory filings. Using these filings, we examine private placement allocations, portfolio characteristics, and historical performance across life insurers, P&C insurers, and private equity (PE)-backed life insurers.2 Read More

August Overview The July Fed minutes revealed an emerging, though not yet dominant, hawkish tilt. Three voting members ultimately supported a 25-basis-point increase in the federal funds rate. Although “most participants supported maintaining the current target range,” the minutes also noted that “several participants favored an increase,” indicating broader support for tightening than the three recorded votes alone suggested. Read More

Executive Summary In 2025, the U.S. health insurance1 industry’s net investment income declined, as lower income contributions from cash and short-term investments as well as Schedule BA assets more than offset the benefits of higher fixed income bond yields and equity dividend yields, both of which reached decade highs in 2025. Read More

July Overview With a 9–3 vote, the Fed held its benchmark rate steady at the July meeting. In a brief statement designed to avoid signaling its rate outlook, the Fed again highlighted the economy’s “solid” growth and elevated inflation. However, unlike the previous meeting’s unanimous decision, the July vote revealed clearer dissent: three members favored raising the federal funds rate by 25 basis points. Read More

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

2Q 2026 UK Economy Overview As oil prices finished the second quarter roughly US$3 above the level seen for a barrel of oil in the days leading up to the 27 February conflict escalation in the Middle East, inflation in the UK, too, fell as the quarter closed. Headline CPI rose to 3.3% in March, driven by higher fuel and energy costs, before easing to 2.8% in both April and May as lower regulated electricity prices and softer services inflation more than offset continued strength in energy inflation. In its April Monetary Policy Report (MPR), the Bank of England (BoE) had expected inflation to reach 3.0% and 3.3% in April and May, respectively. Core inflation also moderated, falling from 3.1% to 2.6% over the quarter, while services inflation declined from 4.5% to 3.7%, suggesting limited evidence of significant second-round effects thus far. Read More

June Overview June marked the first FOMC meeting under Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh, with the committee maintaining the funds-rate target at 3.50%–3.75% in a unanimous vote. The shorter statement removed explicit forward guidance while still describing an expanding economy facing uncertainty and inflation that remains above target. The updated Summary of Economic Projections leaned more cautious: 2026 growth was trimmed, near-term inflation assumptions rose, unemployment was little changed, and the median policy-rate path shifted higher. The message is that the Fed still views activity as durable, but it is less willing to assume disinflation will resume quickly; the hurdle for easing has risen. Read More

During his Senate confirmation hearing, Federal Reserve Chair nominee Kevin Warsh called for “regime change” at the Fed to restore its credibility. The June 17 FOMC meeting gave markets a first glimpse of what that could look like: a more hawkish tone, a renewed focus on the inflation mandate, and a decisive step away from the forward-guidance-heavy playbook of the post-financial-crisis era. In this new regime, investors may receive fewer signals from the Fed, leaving markets more vulnerable to sharp reactions when key economic data or policy pronouncements surprise. Read More

May Overview Fed minutes from the last FOMC meeting highlighted a shifting policy tendency of the committee, from one with an “easing bias” to a more balanced two-way outlook for future interest rate decisions to account for persistently elevated inflation. While participants generally saw a potentially longer holding pattern until more certainty emerged on the economic implications from the Middle East conflict, the minutes shared that “many participants” would have favored a statement that removed an easing bias regarding future policy decisions. Read More