Timing will be crucial: if the rise in market interest rates is gradual, as well as the shift in policyholders' demand from existing contracts to new ones, then the regime change can be managed by companies and can result in a net benefit for them. Sudden hikes on both fronts may instead be dangerous, and SMIs may be the most affected.
Andreas Dombret: Shaken but not stirred? The banking system seven years after the crisis Speech by Dr Andreas Dombret, Member of the Executive Board of the Deutsche Bundesbank, at the Financial Markets Group Research Centre of the London School of Economics and Political Science, London, 29 October 2015. * 1.