
CWAN research insight: Are “alternatives” still alternative?
Explore the evolution of the alternatives market for insurers, drawing on CWAN’s proprietary database to reveal real-time allocation trends.
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Explore the evolution of the alternatives market for insurers, drawing on CWAN’s proprietary database to reveal real-time allocation trends.

The chart-busting growth of alternative assets over the past decade has prompted many asset managers to increase their allocations to a wide range of private credit, equity, real estate, and hedge fund strategies. Multiple surveys and reports, including our recent Rise of Alternatives analysis, have commented on this phenomenon. But few (if any) have had access to CWAN’s database of nearly 400 insurers representing $4.4 trillion in combined AUM (as of August 2025).

Investment operations have long been burdened by inefficiencies—teams tied up in manual reconciliations, tight monthly close deadlines, and stitching reports across systems. At the pace of today’s financial markets, these challenges aren’t just inconvenient—they’re costly in time and error risk. And markets aren’t slowing down.

Adopting a dynamic approach to cash management is a necessary step to better bottom lines. CWAN data suggests dozens, if not hundreds, of firms on our platform could achieve better portfolio performance by paying more attention to shifts in monetary policy and the bond market.
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