Insurance investment managers are under extraordinary pressure.  On one hand, they can no longer get the returns they need from traditional low-risk investments such as government and Global 1000 bonds.  In fact, because many funds have been under-performing in relationship to the liabilities they have to cover, pressures to achieve higher returns have become especially intense. On the other hand, those returns can’t be gained at the expense of unacceptable risk—especially with regulators keeping a close eye on how insurers factor risk into their total portfolios.

http://www.insurancenetworking.com/news/risk_management/insurance-investment-managers-hampered-by-aging-obsolete-systems-35190-1.html