Trade finance is weathering the economic storms of the coronavirus pandemic and still offers insurers looking for greater diversification an attractive investment opportunity.

UK insurers hopes that the Prudential Regulation Authority could ease some Solvency II regulations after Brexit have been boosted by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak.

Influential climate change campaigners are growing in ambition when it comes to demanding action from the finance sector. Initially they focussed on coal – pressing insurers to walk away from underwriting and investing in coal – but they have now added oil and gas to their targets.

Insurers will be focussing hard on protecting investment portfolios against the potential downsides as the Covid-19 crisis continues to reverberate around the world.

The focus of this week’s Insurance Investment Exchange seminar - held over two mornings - was private credit. Will Nicoll, Chief Investment Officer, Private and Alternative Assets at M&G Investments, who joined one of the panels, expanded on his thoughts in an interview with the Insurance Investment Exchange.

The Insurance Investment Exchanges’s first virtual event opened up the discussion about the challenges insurers face on the investment front in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.