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Helping insurers understand the key drivers of performance.
This is the ninth survey we have conducted into the investment performance and strategies of UK with-profits funds.
Our aim is to stimulate debate with insurers as to whether the approaches others take may be appropriate for them and whether their asset manager has performed well compared to peers.
"This year’s analysis covers £201bn of assets spread over 43 funds from 20 insurers — and is the largest and most comprehensive of its kind."
Key highlights
- Most market levels at the end of 2021 were above pre-pandemic levels. However, wholesale energy prices began rising in the second half of 2021, driving an increase in inflation and volatility in markets.
- As might be expected, this led to significant variation in returns between different with-profits funds. The larger funds have performed relatively better than smaller funds on a 1-year, 3-year and 5-year horizon.
- Geopolitical risk is viewed by most funds as one of the top three risks to affect asset allocations over 2022 and may be the driver for the overall anticipated increased allocations to overseas equity and corporate bonds.
- The proportion of funds using sustainability targets or criteria to manage at least some of their assets has significantly increased since last year — suggesting that sustainability is seen as more than just a selling point for new business.
Interactive Tableau dashboard
This report is accompanied by an interactive Tableau dashboard. Participating firms are given secure online access and can use the dashboard to review results in more detail than presented in this report, and to carry out their own bespoke benchmarking analysis. If you already have a login to our secure BWebstream platform, then you can access the results by clicking here.
If you would like additional colleagues to have secure access to the dashboard, then please let us know their e-mail addresses and phone numbers by emailing withprofitsinvestmentsurvey@barnett-waddingham.co.uk.
Please contact Scott Eason or Amit Lad if would to discuss any of the report topics in more detail.
Read our research
Get the latest UK with-profits funds insights here, covering £201bn of assets spread over 43 funds from 20 insurers.
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