The volume of assets that insurance companies have allocated to third-party investment management firms increased by close to 20% in 2004, according to a survey published today by Insurance Asset Manager (IAM).
The top ten firms managing outsourced non-affiliated “general account” insurance assets, the most closely-watched category of investments, were (in order): Deutsche Asset Management (DeAM), BlackRock, Inc., Conning Asset Management, General Re-New England Asset Management, Wellington Management, Western Asset Management, Evergreen Investment Management, AllianceBernstein, PIMCO and Standish Mellon Asset Management.
The IAM survey, titled the Insurance Asset Manager Survey (2005 Edition), reports that as of Dec. 31, 2004, total outsourced non-affiliated insurance assets under management (AUM) — including “subadvised” as well as “general account” assets — amounted to $682 billion, as compared with $578 billion a year earlier. Of this total, assets in the key “general account” category amounted to $481 billion, up from $415 billion.
Counting all outsourced insurance assets, including affiliated as well as non-affiliated assets, the grand total came to $1.45 trillion at end-2004 compared with $1.24 trillion a year earlier.