What is it with insurance companies? The natural suspicion among investors is that they messed up so badly during the last market crash that they are bound to mess up in this one. Indeed, the European sector has fallen by 30 per cent since the credit crunch began – twice the fall of the broader market. Yet insurers have escaped the massive losses suffered by other financial firms. Those that have beenhit either own banks, as was the case with Germany’s Allianz, or have behaved like banks, in the manner of AIG in the US. Might this time be different for the rest?

It looks that way. Four years ago, the sector was desperate for capital. Now insurers are returning money to investors. By the end of 2009, Swiss Re plans to have bought back almost a fifth of itself, while other firms are maintaining – or in some cases, increasing – dividends. In the UK, life insurers yield about 5 per cent, substantially more than the market.