(Bloomberg) — Swiss Re A.G. Chief Executive Officer Michel Lies called for the creation of a special infrastructure asset class to allow insurers to invest in projects such as roads and bridges.
"If you take all the insurance industry, all the money they can invest, and if you take the infrastructure need of this planet — there is a perfect match," Lies said in an interview in Davos, Switzerland.
Insurers and reinsurers, which help primary insurers cover the costs of damage claims, are looking for alternative opportunities as low interest rates erode earnings from fixed-income investments. At the same time European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker is seeking private-sector support for his 315 billion-euro ($365 billion) investment plan.
Market regulators could "define infrastructure investment as a specified class which allows a secondary market and which allows investors who can invest long term to have an investment that is liquid during the time of investment," Lies said.
