In need of reassurance

The knock-on effects of the crisis in equities has hit the insurance sector particularly hard – so much so that UK regulatory body the FSA has been forced to step in and allow certain insurers to breach mimimum solvency ratios.

Unless you have recently returned from a long holiday in Antarctica, you will probably have noticed that the insurance sector is going through what analysts might euphemistically term a ‘rough patch’. The turmoil in global stock markets – since 2000, the Dow has fallen 30% and the FTSE is down 51% – has left insurance companies with greatly reduced assets to meet their liabilities.

Equity