Optimal control problem for an insurance surplus model with debt liability

For an insurance company with a debt liability, they could make some management actions, such as reinsurance, paying dividends, and capital injection, to balance the profitability and financial bankruptcy. Our objective is to determine risk retention rate, dividend, and capital injection strategy so as to maximize the expected discounted dividends minus the discounted cost of capital injection until the time of ruin. We assume that the dividend payments and capital injection should occur with both fixed and proportional costs. We obtain explicit expressions of the optimal value functions as well as the corresponding optimal joint strategies by routine procedures in a comprehensive basic model using a new technique to solve the related equations. Our results show that whether recapitalizing is profitable or not depends on the costs of capital raising and that the firm injects capital only when the reserves are zero and recapitalizes to the optimal reserves level if the cost of external capital is low. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Optimal capital injection and dividend distribution for growth restricted diffusion models with bankruptcy

We consider the optimal capital injection and dividend control problem for a class of growth restricted diffusions with the possibility of bankruptcy. The surplus process of a company is modeled by a diffusion process with return and volatility being functions of the surplus process. The company can control the dividend payments and capital injections with the goal of maximizing the expectation of the total discounted dividends minus the total cost of capital injections up to the time of bankruptcy. We distinguish three cases and provide optimality results for each case.     

Optimal Dividend and Capital Injection Strategies with Transaction Costs and Exponentially Distributed Observation Time

In this paper, we consider the optimal joint dividend and capital injection strategy with proportional and fixed costs. It supposes that capitals can be injected whenever they are profitable, but dividends can only be paid at the arrival times of a Poisson process with intensity . Our objective is to determine an optimal strategy of maximizing the expected cumulative discounted dividends minus the expected discounted costs of capital injections before bankruptcy. By solving some impulse problems, we get the closed-form solutions depending on the parameters of model. Some known results in Lokka and Zervos (2008) can be viewed as limiting cases when .     

On optimal control of capital injections by reinsurance and investments

This is a review paper on the optimal control of capital injections by reinsurance and investments. We will focus on the two most popular models for the surplus process of an insurer: a classical risk model and its diffusion approximation. Both models are modified by the possibility of reinsurance and investments into a risky or riskless asset. The insurer is allowed to change the amount to be invested and the retention level of the reinsurance continuously, i.e. we consider dynamic reinsurance and investment strategies. In addition, the cedent has to inject capital in order to keep the surplus positive. As a risk measure we choose the value of the expected discounted capital injections. The problem is to minimize the expected discounted capital injections over all admissible reinsurance and investments strategies and to find the optimal strategy if it exists. A detailed discussion of the topic can be found in my doctoral thesis “Optimal Control of Capital Injections by Reinsurance and Investments” (Eisenberg in Optimal control of capital injections by reinsurance and investments. PhD thesis, Universität zu Köln, 2010), which is the Gauss prize winning paper of 2009.     

复合Poisson 模型带比例与固定交易费用的最优分红与注资

研究了复合Poisson 模型带比例与固定费用的最优分红与注资问题. 每次分红与注资时, 存在比例及固定的交易费用. 通过控制分红与注资的时刻以及分红及注资量,实现破产前分红减注资的折现期望的最大化. 由于存在固定交易费用, 问题为一个脉冲控制问题. 根据问题的参数不同, 问题的解可分为两大类. 一类解为只进行最优分红不需要注资, 而另一类情况需要注资. 需要注资时, 最优注资策略由最优注资上界以及最优注资下界描述. 当赤字小于最优注资下界的绝对值时, 进行注资. 最后, 在理赔为指数分布时明确地给出了两类共七种最优策略以及值函数的形式. 从而彻底地解决了该问题.     

Stochastic differential reinsurance games with capital injections

This paper investigates a class of reinsurance game problems between two insurance companies under the framework of non-zero-sum stochastic differential games. Both insurers can purchase proportional reinsurance contracts from reinsurance markets and have the option of conducting capital injections. We assume the reinsurance premium is calculated under the generalized variance premium principle. The objective of each insurer is to maximize the expected value that synthesizes the discounted utility of his surplus relative to a reference point, the penalties caused by his own capital injection interventions, and the gains brought by capital injections of his competitor. We prove the verification theorem and derive explicit expressions of the Nash equilibrium strategy by solving the corresponding quasi-variational inequalities. Numerical examples are also conducted to illustrate our results.     

Optimal financing and dividend control of the insurance company with proportional reinsurance policy

We consider the optimal control problem of the insurance company with proportional reinsurance policy. The management of the company controls the reinsurance rate, dividends payout as well as the equity issuance processes to maximize the expected present value of the dividends minus the equity issuance until the time of bankruptcy. This is the first time that the financing process in an insurance model has been considered, which is more realistic. To find the solution of the mixed singular-regular control problem, we firstly construct two categories of suboptimal models, one is the classical model without equity issuance, the other never goes bankrupt by equity issuance. Then we identify the value functions and the optimal strategies corresponding to the suboptimal models depending on the relationships between the coefficients.     

Optimal financing and dividend control of the insurance company with fixed and proportional transaction costs

We consider the optimal financing and dividend control problem of the insurance company with fixed and proportional transaction costs. The management of the company controls the reinsurance rate, dividends payout as well as the equity issuance process to maximize the expected present value of the dividends payout minus the equity issuance until the time of bankruptcy. This is the first time that the financing process in an insurance model with two kinds of transaction costs, which come from real financial market has been considered. We solve the mixed classical-impulse control problem by constructing two categories of suboptimal models, one is the classical model without equity issuance, the other never goes bankrupt by equity issuance.     

Optimal risk control and dividend policies under excess of loss reinsurance

We study the optimal reinsurance policy and dividend distribution of an insurance company under excess of loss reinsurance. The objective of the insurer is to maximize the expected discounted dividends. We suppose that in the absence of dividend distribution, the reserve process of the insurance company follows a compound Poisson process. We first prove existence and uniqueness results for this optimization problem by using singular stochastic control methods and the theory of viscosity solutions. We then compute the optimal strategy of reinsurance, the optimal dividend strategy and the value function by solving the associated integro-differential Hamilton–Jacobi–Bellman Variational Inequality numerically.     

Optimal dividend strategies in discrete risk model with capital injections

In this paper we consider a doubly discrete model used in Dickson and Waters (biASTIN Bulletin 1991; 21 :199–221) to approximate the Cramér–Lundberg model. The company controls the amount of dividends paid out to the shareholders as well as the capital injections which make the company never ruin in order to maximize the cumulative expected discounted dividends minus the penalized discounted capital injections. We show that the optimal value function is the unique solution of a discrete Hamilton–Jacobi–Bellman equation by contraction mapping principle. Moreover, with capital injection, we reduce the optimal dividend strategy from band strategy in the discrete classical risk model without external capital injection into barrier strategy , which is consistent with the result in continuous time. We also give the equivalent condition when the optimal dividend barrier is equal to 0. Although there is no explicit solution to the value function and the optimal dividend barrier, we obtain the optimal dividend barrier and the approximating solution of the value function by Bellman's recursive algorithm. From the numerical calculations, we obtain some relevant economical insights. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

方差保费准则下的最优脉冲控制

本文研究保险公司在有再保险控制下的最优脉冲分红问题. 对保险公司的理赔损失, 假定有两家再保险公司参与分保, 且保险公司与两家再保险公司采取不同参数下的方差保费准则. 进一步, 假定保险公司有股东红利分配, 且每次分红有固定交易费和比例税收, 即脉冲分红. 在扩散逼近模型下, 本文应用随机动态规划方法研究破产前的最大期望折现分红, 给出值函数的解析表达式, 进而获得最优再保险策略和分红策略的具体形式.     

Optimal dividend and capital injection problem with a random time horizon and a ruin penalty in the dual model

In the dual risk model, we consider the optimal dividend and capital injection problem, which involves a random time horizon and a ruin penalty. Both fixed and proportional costs from the transactions of capital injection are considered. The objective is to maximize the total value of the expected discounted dividends, and the penalized discounted both capital injections and ruin penalty during the horizon, which is described by the minimum of the time of ruin and an exponential random variable. The explicit solutions for optimal strategy and value function are obtained, when the income jumps follow a hyper-exponential distribution.Besides, some numerical examples are presented to illustrate our results.     

Optimal periodic dividend and capital injection problem for spectrally positive Lévy processes

In this paper, we investigate an optimal periodic dividend and capital injection problem for spectrally positive Lévy processes. We assume that the periodic dividend strategy has exponential inter-dividend-decision times and continuous monitoring of solvency. Both proportional and fixed transaction costs from capital injection are considered. The objective is to maximize the total value of the expected discounted dividends and the penalized discounted capital injections until the time of ruin. By the fluctuation theory of Lévy processes in Albrecher et al. (2016), the optimal periodic dividend and capital injection strategies are derived. We also find that the optimal return function can be expressed in terms of the scale functions of Lévy processes. Finally, numerical examples are studied to illustrate our results.     

Optimal dividend and capital injection problem in the dual model with proportional and fixed transaction costs

In this paper we consider the dividend payments and capital injections control problem in a dual risk model. Such a model might be appropriate for a company that specializes in inventions and discoveries, which pays costs continuously and has occasional profits. The objective is to maximize the expected present value of the dividends minus the discounted costs of capital injections. This paper can be considered as an extension of Yao et al. (2010), we include fixed transaction costs incurred by capital injections in this paper. This leads to an impulse control problem. Using the techniques of quasi-variational inequalities (QVI), this optimal control problem is solved. Numerical solutions are provided to illustrate the idea and methodologies, and some interesting economic insights are included.     

Optimal Dividend Payout under Compound Poisson Income

We consider an individual who receives income, which may be either positive or negative, and is allowed to pay out a dividend at any time as long as the accumulated income remains positive. In case the accumulated income become negative at some point in time, the individual declares bankruptcy, pays a penalty based on his accumulated income, and the process stops. Assuming that the input process is described by a compound Poisson process and that the individual's value is given by the accumulated dividends minus the penalty, both appropriately discounted, we demonstrate an optimal policy for paying dividends and provide an iterative means for estimating the corresponding value.     

Optimal risk and dividend control of an insurance company with exponential premium principle and liquidation value

Assume that an insurer can control it’s surplus by paying dividends, purchasing reinsurance and injecting capital. The exponential premium principle is used when pricing insurance contract instead of the expected value principle. Under the objective of maximizing the company’s value, we identify the optimal strategies with liquidation value and transaction costs. The results illustrate that the insurer should buy less reinsurance when the surplus increases, capital injection should be considered if and only if the transaction costs and the liquidation value are relatively low, dividends are paid according to barrier strategy if the dividend rate is unrestricted or threshold strategy if the dividend rate is bounded.     

Upper and lower bounds for dividends in the discrete model

A discrete model of the capital of an insurance company applying a barrier strategy is considered. Properties of the expected discounted dividends until ruin are studied. Assuming that the company can function after ruin and its shareholders cover the deficit and raise the capital up to some positive level, the total expected discounted profit is studied. Upper and lower bounds for dividends and profit are obtained.     

The optimal strategy for insurance company under the influence of terminal value

This paper considers a model of an insurance company which is allowed to invest a risky asset and to purchase proportional reinsurance. The objective is to find the policy which maximizes the expected total discounted dividend pay-out until the time of bankruptcy and the terminal value of the company under liquidity constraint. We find the solution of this problem via solving the problem with zero terminal value. We also analyze the influence of terminal value on the optimal policy.     

经典风险模型最优分红值的估计方法

本文考虑经典风险模型在障碍分红策略下的最优分红值的估计问题.当个体索赔额是混合指数分布时,给出最优分红值的解析表达式.但当个体索赔额是一般分布时,最优分红值的解析表达式往往不能得到,这时我们提供了两种估计方法,一是Lundberg渐近估计法,二是离散化模型估计法.最后给出几个数值例子,对不同计算方法下的估计值作出比较.     

On capital injections and dividends with tax in a classical risk model

Consider the classical risk model with dividends and capital injections. In addition to the model considered by Kulenko and Schmidli (2008), tax has to be paid for dividends. Capital injections yield tax exemptions. We calculate the value function and derive the optimal dividend strategy.