The business climate for insurance firms has been so positive that they have been far less active than commercial and investment banks in pursuing investment returns through riskier assets. US-based property and casualty insurers have less than one per cent of their invested assets in subprime. If the difficulties with subprime lending spread more broadly to the rest of the mortgage sector, however, life insurers in particular may be adversely affected. Their investments typically include exposure to residential mortgage-backed securities and high yielding corporate loans. More broadly, a prolonged period of turbulence would likely dampen economic growth and consumer demand for insurance products. In the meantime, as the chart suggests, insurers have fared far better than other FSI's, in relation to problems with the subprime sector.