“Prepare for the worst …. But hope for something better” was the mantra at an insurance industry conference on Brexit in London last week.

The Insurance Investment Exchange Awards 2018, the original and premier awards for investment excellence in the insurance sphere, are now open for entries.

The pressure on insurers and their CIOs to move investments away from fossil fuels has been building up steadily since the Paris climate change summit in September 2015.

The Insurance Investment Exchange has expanded its popular events programme for 2018.

According to the report, while the global economic outlook continues to improve, the prolonged low yield environment and low market volatility coupled with high levels of economic and political uncertainty continue to represent major challenges for European insurers and pensions funds.

This time last year as nervous eyes were cast towards 2017 many were worried about the uncertainty that geo-political events could cause in the financial markets. Such worries were not without foundation as the Brexit vote and the election of Donald Trump were vivid illustrations of the extent to which the march of populism was shaping world events.