Gary Zhu, CFA
5 Years at AB|23 Years of Experience
Gary Zhu is a Senior Vice President and Deputy Chief Investment Officer of Insurance, where he is responsible for portfolio performance, strategic positioning and customized investment solutions for AB’s Insurance platform. Zhu joined AB in 2020 as the global head of Multi-Sector Insurance on the Fixed Income team, primarily focusing on developing and implementing multi-sector income portfolio strategies. In 2021, he was named director of Insurance Portfolio Management, where he led AB Fixed Income’s insurance business. Under Zhu’s leadership, the Multi-Sector Insurance team was named Investment Team of the Year in 2022 and 2023 by Insurance Asset Risk. He is also a portfolio manager in the US Investment Grade Credit and Sustainable Thematic Credit teams. Prior to AB, Zhu was a senior publishing research analyst and the head of cross-sector research at Wells Fargo Securities. He ranked first for cross-asset strategy in the 2019 Institutional Investor survey and earned the title of Best Cross-Asset Analyst in Global Fixed Income Strategy. Before joining Wells Fargo, Zhu was a senior securitized assets trader and portfolio manager at Genworth, where he managed ~$10 billion of fixed-income investments. Prior to his portfolio-management role, Zhu helped manage Genworth’s $70 billion general account, with a focus on US and European banking exposures during the 2008 financial crisis, and held various roles across the company. He holds a BS (summa cum laude) in finance and economics from Virginia Commonwealth University and an executive MBA (with Dean’s Honors) from Columbia Business School. Zhu is a CFA charterholder and holds the Fellow, Life Management Institute designation. Location: New York
Published Work
A holistic approach may help insurance investors navigate an expansive opportunity set.
We explore key themes for 2025 that we think will help shape the landscape and strategy for insurance investors.
Publications on private equity net asset value (NAV) loans have tended to focus on the perspective of private equity sponsors and limited partners. Here, we examine NAV lending from the perspective of asset owners, particularly insurance investors: What is NAV lending, why is it appealing, and what are the considerations in accessing the opportunity?
We assess the investment landscape for insurers with half of 2024 in the books.
As US insurance investors turn their eyes toward 2024, they’ll face a macroeconomic backdrop in transition. With this in mind, their efforts should include maintaining duration positioning, diversifying risks, emphasizing quality as credit conditions begin to soften, identifying relative value opportunities and balancing private allocations with liquidity considerations.
Lower bond-market liquidity and insurance investors’ unique needs raise the stakes for liquidity management in what’s likely to be a volatile environment. The responses should be multifaceted: reviewing liquidity profiles and private-market allocations, tapping supplemental liquidity sources, and ensuring that investment capabilities can find liquidity at the ground level in public markets.
US insurance investors enter 2023 facing a less- than-stellar macro environment as well as looming regulatory change. There are opportunities, but it will take selectivity and flexibility to capitalize on them.
European insurance investors enter 2023 in healthy shape but face a less-than-stellar macro environment and regulatory change. It will take selectivity and flexibility to tap opportunities.
A reshaped market environment has altered the landscape of public and private market opportunities. However, we expect private-market allocations to continue growing as we move forward.
Recent proposals could change the regulatory treatment of securitized assets—and have implications for insurers’ asset allocations.