Proprietary trading - insurance companies

[Naked shorts]

Do insurance companies still have in house traders? Or is all the money management outsourced to hedge funds these days?

If they are still around, does anyone know anyone working in them? what age are most of the people working in them? do they need to have a degree? Do they enjoy it? (add anymore information relelvant to someone interested in working in the field)

 

[doctorj]

From what I've seen in a few different Aussie insurers, all trading/investment is outsourced, unless it's very basic.

There is only one insurer (GWP of ~$150m PA) I've seen that does it internally and their portfolio was entirely AUD denominated bank bills issued by Australian banks with a standardised maturity.

Management of the funds isn't outsourced to hedge funds, but fund managers or investment advisers. Typically the board will set bands of acceptable investment holdings (%Cash, %Au Stocks, %Int Stocks, %Bonds etc) and it will be up to the fund manager to maximise returns within the ruleset.

 

[Nick Radge]

Most larger insto's have money market facilities, although the Treasurer can be the single responsible person. It really depends on what they need. I highly doubt they outsource to a hedge fund.