Academy’s Insurance Investment Summit Increases Understanding of Sector

By Ted Gotsch 
Policy Content and Publications Manager 

(6/3/25)

Asset managers and actuaries each play an important role in the growing insurance investment space. However, too often they don’t have a full understanding of each other’s roles. Bridging that gap was one of the top priorities of the Academy’s first Insuring the Future: Insurance Investment Summit.  

The two-day forum, held May 22-23 in New York City, brought together multiple experts across five panels, along with a keynote. Panelists engaged in dynamic conversations with attendees, discussing differing perspectives and experiences related to the insurance investment sector. Regulators also weighed in, with all attendees focused on practical solutions for navigating this evolving landscape.  

“This summit comes at a crucial time for the insurance industry,” said Marc Altschull, chairperson of the Academy’s Investment Analysis Subcommittee. “Globally, insurance companies are increasingly turning to alternative assets and asset-intensive reinsurance to meet the growing demand for competitive asset-intensive retirement savings products to close the protection gap.”  

The event kicked off with a conversation with Tom Kalvik, managing director of Canada Pension Plan Investments, who shared his thoughts on key trends shaping the ever-changing investment landscape for insurance companies.   

Asked about the growth of reinsurance in the life insurance industry, Kalvik said the market has become more competitive, so companies need to be more deliberate. “It is [about] sticking to knowing what you are the strongest at,” he said. “It is an evolving marketplace, but it’s about thinking more creatively for your clients … and zigging when [others] are zagging.”  

Another panel, focused on illiquidity in insurance portfolios, discussed recent investment changes shifting from more liquid to less liquid assets and how industry leaders approach liquidity risk-taking in their portfolios.  

“If I go back to when I first started my career, the typical life insurance portfolio was 95% private assets,” said Edward Toy of Risk & Regulatory Consulting, LLC. But noting today’s increased focused on annuities, “these days, when I look at life insurance liability structure, it’s not close to that anymore.”   

However, there is a need for insurers to consider liquidity in their investments. “Liquidity is like oxygen,” said Thomas A. Hendry of New York Life Insurance Company. “If you don’t have it, you are going to die very quickly.”  

Regulators, meanwhile, shared insights into how they are adapting to new market realities, including ways in which investment managers are reshaping the industry and potential future regulatory actions that may arise as these trends continue.  

Wisconsin Insurance Commissioner Nathan Houdek said that increased private equity (PE) investment in the insurance space has introduced additional challenges, as regulators and PE firms often don’t speak the same language. Regulators, he noted, are accustomed to working with insurers, not PE operators. “That is still a point of friction,” he said.  

Houdek noted, for example, that information requests sent to PE firms are often met with resistance. “Regulators need to get the information to get comfortable,” he said. “The sooner we can get the information, the faster that transaction can get approved.”  

These discussions, however, are just a sampling of topics that were raised during the event. Additional sessions explored asset-based finance; investment strategies for cross-border reinsurance; and approaches to asset-liability management for long-dated liabilities. 

Keep an eye out across the Academy’s content channels for more coverage of this impactful event, as well as updated on future summits, meetings, and publications in this space.