A majority of insurance asset managers expect to turn to external fund managers to diversify their investments and to tap into private markets, according to survey findings by Clearwater Analytics.
The US software firm polled insurers in Asia Pacific with US$3.8 trillionof combined assets under management last October and found that two-thirds anticipate increasing the use of external managers.
Their main reasons are for diversification of investment portfolios, and greater allocation to private markets assets, Clearwater says in a report on March 20.
More than half the respondents in the poll of 150 senior executives working for the asset management arms of life/health insurance companies in Asia Pacific, or third-party investment firms working for Asia Pacific life insurers, were C-level executives.
“Over the next five years, most expect to shift more of their assets to external managers,” the report says. “As insurers diversify their investment strategies and engage more external managers, the ability to unify, normalise, and analyse data across disparate asset classes and systems become critical.”
Over 90% of respondents plan to allocate more to private credit, private equity and venture capital, while 12% expect to cut allocations to public equities.
