One of the many advantages of commenting on the capital markets is their continuous development. During the May 2006 General Assembly of the Geneva Association, the markets were entering a period of some volatility. Volatility has been a recurring challenge to the development of insurance financing and linked securities; however, this latest bout of febrile conditions was met robustly.Taking the senior debt and hybrid capital markets first, in May, the differential between bank and insurance spreads had narrowed consistently during the equity bull market phase that was established in June 2003. May and June 2006 were very testing times for capital markets, yet insurance spreads held up very well in absolute terms and relative to banks.Although...
