Articles from Conning

Conning, a leading global investment management firm, today released its annual State of the States Report ranking analyzing the fiscal and economic health of all 50 U.S. states. This year’s report shows U.S. states entered 2026 with continued fiscal resilience and economic conditions. While rising cost pressures and moderating economic growth are creating headwinds, state finances remain resilient overall, supporting Conning’s “stable” outlook. The report’s ranking offers explanations as to why some states thrive while others struggle, based on a unique combination of 13 metrics which include such factors as GDP and employment growth; socioeconomic trends such as population shifts, income levels and tax policy; and state balance sheets.

U.S. insurers remain optimistic about investment conditions for 2026, even as they anticipate a more challenging macroeconomic environment marked by higher inflation, liquidity risk and lower Fed interest rates, according to the new annual Conning Insurance Investment Risk survey. Despite these headwinds, insurers detect opportunities in private markets, high-quality fixed income and infrastructure which will allow them to increase the investment risk necessary for growth in the year ahead, 201 U.S. P&C and Life insurance investment decision-makers noted. The survey was completed in December of 2025.

Conning, a leading global investment management firm, today released its annual State of the States Report analyzing municipal credit quality across all 50 U.S. states. Conning’s “Stable” outlook overall aligns with the five-year recovery trend following the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the report notes new uncertainties linked to federal policy shifts that will increase state responsibility and financial accountability for the remainder of 2025 and into 2026.

While U.S. life and P&C insurers are willing to assume increased investment risk for the third consecutive year, their market optimism is tempered as inflation is replaced by concerns about the domestic political environment, portfolio yield, market volatility, geopolitical events, and the impact of artificial intelligence. Indeed, their investment plans for 2025 reflect more restraint given greater uncertainty, according to the annual Conning Insurance Investment Risk survey, conducted in late November 2024 and completed by 310 investment decision-makers in the U.S. insurance industry.

Conning, a leading global investment management firm, today released its annual State of the States Report that analyzes municipal credit across all 50 states. Conning’s outlook on state credit quality for 2024 is upgraded to “Stable” from 2023’s “Declining” outlook in anticipation of a return to pre-pandemic fiscal conditions. This year, the report detected signs that some of the pandemic migration patterns toward Southern and Western states are slowing.

Conning Holdings Limited (Conning and its Affiliates1), a leading global asset manager serving the needs of insurance company and institutional clients, today announced that its acquisition by Generali Investments Holding S.p.A. (GIH), an entity comprising the majority of asset management activities of Generali Group (Generali), has closed.

Over half (62%) of U.S. insurers say they are willing to take more investment risk in 2024 despite mounting concerns about election year politics, fiscal/monetary policy, persistent inflation and volatility, according to a survey sponsored by Conning, a leading insurance asset management firm. This is Conning’s third annual survey of insurers and was completed by 300 investment decision makers at U.S. insurance companies in November 2023.

Conning, a leading global investment management firm, today released its annual State of the States Report that analyzes municipal credit across all 50 states. Reserves are at all-time highs, pension and other post-employment benefit contributions have increased, and resource-dependent states caught up in 2022. However, the outlook on state credit quality is less favorable as economic conditions soften, the inflation that supports sales tax revenues will likely wane, and personal income taxes will probably decline with the labor market worsening, contributing to a declining 2023 outlook on state credit quality.

Global investment management firm Conning today announced that Matt Daly, currently head of the corporate and municipal bond teams at the firm, will become Head of Conning North America effective September 30, 2023. Daly, with over 25 years of industry experience and more than 20 of those years at Conning, will succeed Mike Haylon, who will retire at the end of 2023.

U.S. insurers are expected to increase their risk tolerance and grow portfolio allocations to private assets amid their concerns about higher market volatility and inflation, according to a new survey of U.S. life and property & casualty (P&C) insurers, sponsored by leading global insurance asset management firm Conning. The 2022 market environment guided the survey’s focus on risk tolerance and metrics and the survey also captured insurers’ latest thinking on environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) principles.

Conning, a leading global investment management firm, and Pearlmark Real Estate, L.L.C. (“Pearlmark”), a specialist investment manager of commercial real estate debt and equity strategies, today announced the signing of a definitive agreement for Conning & Company to acquire a majority stake in Pearlmark. Pearlmark will continue to operate autonomously with its investment team led by Stephen Quazzo and Doug Lyons.

Leading global investment management firm Conning’s U.S. and London-based investment operations received a five-star (out of five) rating for the four relevant categories in their latest PRI Assessment Report from the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI).* Their operations received a five-star rating for their Investment & Stewardship Policy as well as three fixed income categories -- including Corporates and Securitized Products – in the PRI report, which offers an overarching approach to responsible and transparent investments.

Leading global investment management firm Conning today released its annual State of the States municipal credit research report. In this year’s report, Conning maintains a stable outlook on state credit quality, even as the U.S. grapples with inflation and rising interest rates.

The interest of U.S. insurance companies in incorporating Environmental, Social and Governance ("ESG”) factors into their investment strategies grew significantly in the past two years, according to a new survey by leading global insurance asset management firm Conning, which polled decision-makers at U.S. life and P&C insurers. A Conning Viewpoint summarizing the results is available on the Conning website.

Leading global investment management firm Conning today released its latest State of the States municipal credit research report. The firm changed its outlook to stable from declining on state credit quality. Conning found that states are in a good position as they emerge from the pandemic and in the report cited a few important factors that helped support state credit quality.