Don’t Become the Market
It was late 1993, and I knew that we could make a lot of money if I sold floating-rate Guaranteed Investment Contracts. Let me quote an earlier piece: My goal as an actuarial businessman was to make profits with modest risk for my ultimate owners, who were the mutual policyholders. Once I faced a situation...
Skewed Incentives
May is a tough month for me, because I have to submit reports for the nonprofits that I work with, and this year is worse, because I have a moderate injury that I need to see a doctor about, but can’t until next week, because of the schedule. But I do want to say a...
The Best of the Aleph Blog, Part 15
This stretches from August 2010 to October 2010: The Education of a Corporate Bond Manager, Part VII On the value of credit analysts. The Education of a Corporate Bond Manager, Part VIII On price discovery in dealer markets, and auctions gone wrong. I never knew that I could haggle so well. The Education of a...
Aviva Seeks Sale of Malaysian Unit
More insurance assets could be up for grabs in Asia as another European insurer retrenches in the region in order to raise capital.
Aviva Seeks Sale of Malaysian Unit
More insurance assets could be up for grabs in Asia as another European insurer retrenches in the region in order to raise capital.
Buffett Musings
Buffett made a few comments over the weekend that I thought were significant. Warren Buffett, who built Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK/A) with stock picks before focusing on takeovers, said he recently opted against a $22 billion acquisition because he didn’t want to sell investments in marketable securities. (Article here) and Berkshire Hathaway Inc is adding...
Solvency II securitisation slapdown!, from Fitch
Should insurers use the history of Greek bond prices as a benchmark for holding capital against holdings of sovereign debt?You might well ask.You might also realise that’s...
Massive catastrophe! bond
Behold — what could be the largest natural catastrophe bond ever:That’s S&P’s ratings doc for Everglades Re Ltd. It’s a bond to transfer some of...
Misunderstanding the Tax Debate (II)
I’m going to do something different to start this post. I’m going to highlight those that disagreed with the last post. Thanks for disagreeing, because it makes this post better. Response 1: It’s all well meaning but it’s likely to fail in practice, with unintended consequences and nasty corner cases where you have to reintroduce...
Sizing Up ING’s Suitors in Asia
A long list of potential bidders have their eyes on ING Groep NV’s Asian life-insurance business. According to Credit Suisse research, the business is most likely going to be divvied up among U.S. and Asian insurers.
Sorted Recent Tweets
Miscellaneous “When women stay home and they raise their kids & maintain the household, it is a job. It’s a job of love.” http://t.co/NV1JddlL #wellsaid Apr 13, 2012 @historysquared Have not seen anything definitive on that, but production from fracking decays faster than conventional production. $$ Apr 13, 2012 10 Things I Hate About...
Sorted Recent Tweets
Miscellaneous “When women stay home and they raise their kids & maintain the household, it is a job. It’s a job of love.” http://t.co/NV1JddlL #wellsaid Apr 13, 2012 @historysquared Have not seen anything definitive on that, but production from fracking decays faster than conventional production. $$ Apr 13, 2012 10 Things I Hate About...
