Potential drivers of insurers’ equity investments

As a consequence of the ongoing low-yield environment, insurers are changing their business models and looking for new investment opportunities to deliver the required return. This paper focuses on investments in equities and main drivers of their changes in insurers’ portfolios. In this respect, an empirical analysis for a period before and after the Solvency II introduction using both panel and pool regression was conducted. The obtained results suggest that macroeconomic as well as company specific indicators could explain changes in shares of equities in insurers’ portfolios.