Green Industry Act | Anaïd Chahinian, Managing Director, Spirica

Video interview with Anaïd Chahinian, Chief Executive Officer of Spirica

"The Green Industry Act was a real challenge for most insurers, because there was so much at stake": while Spirica was ahead of the game, integrating non-listed products into its product ranges as early as 2018, its Managing Director, Anaïd Chahinian, has faced a number of challenges for the insurance industry in recent months. For our part, at Spirica, we have several years' experience, so the phase of integrating non-listed offerings into our managed funds was easier," says Anaïd Chahinian.We had been able to fine-tune our processes and train our teams, who are now comfortable with this asset class, because we were convinced that it was an important way of diversifying our customers' savings, enabling them to benefit from the growth of SMEs".

A liquidity challenge

The liquidity of these vehicles is also "a crucial issue for life insurers", confirms Anaïd Chahinian. Upstream, the aim is to "select partner management companies with great care, then build a range of funds in which we have confidence". By analysing the profile of subscribers, these funds should be open to "investors who are aware that this is a long-term investment". With this in mind, support for distribution partners is key. "We want to provide our partners, our sales networks, with relevant information, so that they can offer informed advice," stresses Anaïd Chahinian.

However, she points out that "there is an asymmetry between policyholders and insurers, since life insurance is a fundamentally liquid product, from which customers can easily withdraw, which implies an ability to manage this liquidity on the part of insurers, thanks to their long time horizons and large stocks of assets".In this area, the Green Industry Act has provided insurers with tools to manage liquidity risk, but "the regulations are still a little old, very demanding, and would perhaps benefit from updating, to adapt to the contracts and risks that exist today, so that we can really price this risk".

Contributing to the financial education of end customers

Finally, Anaïd Chahinian hopes that Spirica will also work to improve "the financial education of end customers through educational materials". "We are convinced that the role of advisers will be facilitated by a better understanding on the part of their clients of financial issues, the differences between liquid and non-liquid assets, and short- and long-term investments," concludes Anaïd Chahinian.