If you have fixed liabilities not doing well on the asset side of your book, that is fatal.

FORBES: Hedge Funds Do Risk, And Now Risk Management Too

That was splendid for the purchasers, but rather unwise of the life companies, which had no way of hedging their liabilities with fixed-interest assets with a similarly high yield.

ECONOMIST: Not all it should be

Insurance companies often have long term liabilities that they wish to hedge, which require low risk and predictable cash flows and fixed income securities such as government bonds that offer a predictable stream of payments by way of interest and principal payments.

FORBES: Fed's Twisting Is No Fun For Insurance Companies Like MetLife, AIG, Hartford