Insurance Risk North America: Insurers must 'break addiction to policy guarantees' in low-rate environment

Lack of product innovation means not enough products work in the low interest rate environment, panellists complain

Insurers need to develop new products that are appropriate to long-term low interest rates and should not rely on their assets to produce sufficient returns to meet high guarantees, said speakers at a panel discussion on managing the impact of low interest rates.

Gerald Wilson, chief risk officer at Transamerica, said there had been little product innovation by insurers, despite the fact that interest rates had been falling for a number of years.

"People are looking at their portfolio of