New risk-based solvency requirements for insurance companies across European markets have been introduced by Solvency II and will come in force from 1 January 2016. These requirements, derived by a Standard Formula or an Internal Model, will be by far more risk-sensitive than the required...

We perform an empirical analysis to identify the main factors driving the liquidity of corporate and government bonds both in ordinary times and in times of market turmoil. Our findings highlight the importance of credit ratings, amount issued and bond duration as factors affecting bond...