A quarter of the sovereign debt of European countries is owned by insurers

In 2012, assets under management totaled 11 235 billion USD, well before the 4 890 billion USD of assets run by pension funds and the 661 billion USD of sovereign funds. European insurers, the first institutional investors, were in possession of a quarter of the sovereign debt of the European countries, 21% of company’s bonds and 18% of European shares by the end of 2011. Once Basel III comes into effect, banks will be required to seek 6 609 billion USD of additional funding by 2015. Banks will turn to long-term savings and insurance to finance the economy.