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UPDATE 1-UK's BoE to scrutinise insurer investment in infrastructure

Tue, 02nd Jun 2015 12:36

* Policymakers look to insurers to fund infrastructure

* Bulley says board members must understand solvency rules (Adds more detail from speech)

By Huw Jones

LONDON, June 2 (Reuters) - The Bank of England (BoE) willscrutinise whether insurers are taking on too much risk byinvesting in infrastructure projects which may not be suitablefor traditional portfolio management, it said on Tuesday.

Insurers have been coming under pressure from policymakersto invest in economic growth through building new roads, bridgesand telecoms networks, projects that can offer higher yieldsthan government bonds.

Any suggestion that insurers should not invest in suchprojects could endanger a 315 billion euro ($346 billion)European Commission plan for loans to infrastructure and smallbusinesses.

These infrastructure investments can be attractive toinsurers, but present "idiosyncratic risks" that are notsuitable for traditional portfolio level management alone, saidAndrew Bulley, director of life insurance at the BoE'ssupervisory arm, the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA).

New European Union insurer solvency rules that come intoforce next January will help the sector judge whether to investin infrastructure, Bulley said in a speech in London.

He said the PRA was "neutral" on whether insurers shouldincrease their exposure to the sector, but said: "We shallcontinue to review the evidence as the new regime beds down."

As banks rein in lending following the financial crisis,governments are turning to the vast pools of money held byinsurers, hoping they can be put to work to boost economicgrowth.

Legal & General, for example, has allocated 1.5billion pounds ($2.3 billion) to a British infrastructure fundand is seeking external financing to expand the fund to 15billion pounds.

Bulley also spelled out what board members should know aboutthe new models insurers will use, vetted by regulators, tocalculate capital requirements under the EU rules, known asSolvency II.

Regulators want board members to be more accountable forwhat goes on in the company.

"In general, we would expect executives to have a moredetailed understanding than non-executives, and we look to theexecutives to ensure that their non-executive colleagues areadequately trained and informed about all aspects of the model,"Bulley said.

Chairs and members of an insurer's risk and audit committeesshould have a more detailed understanding of Solvency II modelsthan other board members.

"But we would expect all board members, both individuallyand as a collective unit, to be rigorously inquisitive, criticaland challenging of the model, regularly questioning theoutputs," Bulley said.

($1 = 0.6564 pounds)

($1 = 0.9111 euros) (Additional reporting by Carolyn Cohn; Editing by David Clarkeand Mark Potter)

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