FSA opens doors to securitisation

The UK's Financial Services Authority has outlined a new approach to insurance securitisation. A vital capital and risk management tool for banks, securitisation currently sits outside the mainstream of the insurance industry, but there are growing signs of change.

For example, France-based insurance group Axa recently completed a EUR200 million securitisation of part of one of its subsidiary's French individual motor insurance portfolio - the first time an asset in this class has been securitised, and this is a move that is likely to be replicated across the market.

At an industry briefing hosted in November by the Association of British Insurers