The scare story and the stress test
S&P found UK annuity writers hold enough capital for a repeat of 2008. Everyone read the scary version instead. Part 3 of my private credit series.
The Insurance Black Box
Breaking Down the Insurance Black Box provides free analysis of the life insurance sector. From time to time, I also publish in-depth standalone research reports, available separately.
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The one report I'm not giving away
After a year of giving it away, this one I am charging for.
The World Cup one-pager that broke the rules
Analysts were told to write long. I compressed the sector onto a single page with the World Cup fixtures on the back, and half the client list opened it. Here is how every line reads today.
Capital punishment, 24 years on
In 2002 a falling market nearly sank UK life insurers. Today the same crash would barely move them.
A £21bn overreaction to a rule that isn't about insurance
The new rule bans something AIA and Prudential never did.
Decoding private capital’s BPA play
Public markets have been mispricing UK life insurers, and private capital has spotted the arbitrage. Full slides and transcript from my talk at the Westminster and City conference, 28 April 2026.
I Lost Resolution in 2007. The Professional Buyer Keeps Winning.
Across five eras and 30 years, the same UK life insurers keep changing hands at a discount; only the type of buyer changes. Today it is the global asset managers, and L&G may be next.
27 years on: is L&G back in play?
The model has flipped: asset managers now want to own insurers. Five ways to capture the value at L&G.
The regulator doesn’t do favours, this time it did.
How PRA Consultation Paper CP8/26 reprices the Funded Re lever, ends the BPA price war it built, and gives the listed UK life insurers the discipline they could not impose on themselves.
Is Standard Life about to trade 20% IRRs for a re-rating?
If the FT report lands as described, Standard Life is doing what its shareholders want. The harder question is whether its shareholders want the right things.