The CII’s position paper no.1 (‘A professional body forretail financial services?’), published in October, set outan overview of the possible professional response to theFSA’s Retail Distribution Review and to the challenge ofestablishing, against the background of more...

The subprime crisis which hit the United States in summer 2007 and morphed into a full blow global financial upheaval in autumn 2008 has taken a heavy toll on the insurance industry. Some industry players with significant financial markets and banking operations were seriously damaged by the...

Open Road strongly endorses the move towards professionalism being led by CII. This is essential both in the public interest, and in the interests of CII members and the insurance and financial services industry generally. In summary the recommendations fall into six principal areas.[...]

This paper develops a theoretical framework to shed light on variation in credit rating standards over time and across asset classes. Ratings issued by credit rating agencies serve a dual role: they provide information to investors and are used to regulate institutional investors. We show that...