A joint valuation of premium payment and surrender options in participating life insurance contracts

In addition to an interest rate guarantee and annual surplus participation, life insurance contracts typically embed the right to stop premium payments during the term of the contract (paid-up option), to resume payments later (resumption option), or to terminate the contract early (surrender option). Terminal guarantees are on benefits payable upon death, survival and surrender. The latter are adapted after exercising the options. A model framework including these features and an algorithm to jointly value the premium payment and surrender options is presented. In a first step, the standard principles of risk-neutral evaluation are applied and the policyholder is assumed to use an economically rational exercise strategy. In a second step, option value sensitivity on different contract parameters, benefit adaptation mechanisms, and exercise behavior is analyzed numerically. The two latter are the main drivers for the option value.     

A simple model of deferred callability in defaultable debt

Banks and other financial institutions issue hybrid capital as part of their risk capital. Hybrid capital has no maturity, but, similarly to most corporate debt, includes an embedded issuer’s call option. To obtain acceptance as risk capital, the first possible exercise date of the embedded call is contractually deferred by several years, generating a protection period. We value the call feature as a European option on perpetual defaultable debt. We do this by first modifying the underlying asset process to incorporate a time-dependent bankruptcy level before the expiration of the embedded option. We identify a call option on debt as a fixed number of put options on a modified asset, which is lognormally distributed, as opposed to the market value of debt. To include the possibility of default before the expiration of the option we apply barrier options results. The formulas are quite general and may be used for valuing both embedded and third-party options. All formulas are developed in the seminal and standard Black–Scholes–Merton model and, thus, standard analytical tools such as ‘the greeks’, are immediately available.     

Further calculations for Israeli options

Recently Kifer introduced the concept of an Israeli (or Game) option. That is a general American-type option with the added possibility that the writer may terminate the contract early inducing a payment not less than the holder's claim had they exercised at that moment. Kifer shows that pricing and hedging of these options reduces to evaluating a stochastic saddle point problem associated with Dynkin games. Kyprianou, A.E. (2004) "Some calculations for Israeli options", Fin. Stoch. 8, 73-86 gives two examples of perpetual Israeli options where the value function and optimal strategies may be calculated explicity. In this article, we give a third example of a perpetual Israeli option where the contingent claim is based on the integral of the price process. This time the value function is shown to be the unique solution to a (two sided) free boundary value problem on (0, ∞) which is solved by taking an appropriately rescaled linear combination of Kummer functions. The probabilistic methods we appeal to in this paper centre around the interaction between the analytic boundary conditions in the free boundary problem, Itô's formula with local time and the martingale, supermartingle and submartingale properties associated with the solution to the stochastic saddle point problem.     

Callable risky perpetual debt with protection period

Issuances in the USD 260 Bn global market of perpetual risky debt are often motivated by capital requirements for financial institutions. We analyze callable risky perpetual debt emphasizing an initial protection (‘grace’) period before the debt may be called. The total market value of debt including the call option is expressed as a portfolio of perpetual debt and barrier options with a time dependent barrier. We also analyze how an issuer’s optimal bankruptcy decision is affected by the existence of the call option by using closed-form approximations. The model quantifies the increased coupon and the decreased initial bankruptcy level caused by the embedded option. Examples indicate that our closed form model produces reasonably precise coupon rates compared to numerical solutions. The credit-spread produced by our model is in a realistic order of magnitude compared to market data.     

Pricing Parisian down-and-in options

In this paper, we price American-style Parisian down-and-in call options under the Black–Scholes framework. Usually, pricing an American-style option is much more difficult than pricing its European-style counterpart because of the appearance of the optimal exercise boundary in the former. Fortunately, the optimal exercise boundary associated with an American-style Parisian knock-in option only appears implicitly in its pricing partial differential equation (PDE) systems, instead of explicitly as in the case of an American-style Parisian knock-out option. We also recognize that the “moving window” technique developed by Zhu and Chen (2013) for pricing European-style Parisian up-and-out call options can be adopted to price American-style Parisian knock-in options as well. In particular, we obtain a simple analytical solution for American-style Parisian down-and-in call options and our new formula is written in terms of four double integrals, which can be easily computed numerically.     

Exercisability Randomization of the American Option

Abstract

The valuation of American options is an optimal stopping time problem which typically leads to a free boundary problem. We introduce here the randomization of the exercisability of the option. This method considerably simplifies the problematic by transforming the free boundary problem into an evolution equation. This evolution equation can be transformed in a way that decomposes the value of the randomized option into a European option and the present value of continuously paid benefits. This yields a new binomial approximation for American options. We prove that the method is accurate and numerical results illustrate that it is computationally efficient.     

The Valuation of American Options with Stochastic Stopping Time Constraints

Abstract

This paper concerns the pricing of American options with stochastic stopping time constraints expressed in terms of the states of a Markov process. Following the ideas of Menaldi et al., we transform the constrained into an unconstrained optimal stopping problem. The transformation replaces the original payoff by the value of a generalized barrier option. We also provide a Monte Carlo method to numerically calculate the option value for multidimensional Markov processes. We adapt the Longstaff–Schwartz algorithm to solve the stochastic Cauchy–Dirichlet problem related to the valuation problem of the barrier option along a set of simulated trajectories of the underlying Markov process.     

Calibration of a basket option model applied to company valuation

Applying real options thinking to company valuation seems theoretically and intuitively appealing. However, the real option analogy of a single European option as well as the compound option proxy perform poorly when applied to company valuation. We therefore suggest to rework the building blocks of real option applications to corporate valuation.  We introduce a framework to delineate the distribution of the underlying asset in the risk neutral world, which is important in order to value any derivative. This is achieved by an algorithm to calibrate a basket option model using real world data of observed share prices. The fitting takes account of the class of stable distributions. The index of stability of asymmetric α stable distribution serves as an over-all parameter to characterise the specific distribution.     

货币政策、非国有企业投资与R&D项目中的共享型复合实物期权价值预期

如何合理评估货币政策对R&D项目中的共享型复合实物期权价值的影响已成为非国有企业决策者面临的重要问题。本研究根据非国有企业决策者的认知偏差和分子动力学理论,在分析R&D项目中的实物期权特征及价值相互作用的基础上,构建了共享型复合实物期权价值预期模型,研究表明:当货币扩张程度增强时,项目价值预期增大;当货币扩张程度减弱时,项目价值预期减小。另外,货币扩张强度对期权价值的上、下限和预期值具有非线性影响;货币政策的变化范围对期权价值预期的解释程度不同;货币扩张系数与期权价值的上下限成正比,但与期权价值的预期值不完全成正比。最后通过仿真实验检验了该影响的变化机理和效果,从而为非国有企业决策者提供经验参考。     

Pricing life insurance contracts with early exercise features

In this paper we describe an algorithm based on the Least Squares Monte Carlo method to price life insurance contracts embedding American options. We focus on equity-linked contracts with surrender options and terminal guarantees on benefits payable upon death, survival and surrender. The framework allows for randomness in mortality as well as stochastic volatility and jumps in financial risk factors. We provide numerical experiments demonstrating the performance of the algorithm in the context of multiple risk factors and exercise dates.     

Patent-investment games under asymmetric information

This paper analyzes preemptive patenting in a two-stage real options game where an incumbent firm competes with a potential entrant firm for the patent of a substitute product in a product market with profit flow uncertainty. The incumbent suffers loss of monopoly in the product market if the entrant acquires the patent of a substitute product and later commercializes the product. Our patent-investment game model assumes that the entrant has complete information on the incumbent’s commercialization cost while the incumbent only knows the distribution of the entrant’s cost. We investigate the impact of information asymmetry on the preemption strategies adopted by the two competing firms on patenting the substitute product by comparing the optimal preemption strategies and the real option value functions of the two competing firms under complete information and information asymmetry. Our analysis reveals that the informationally disadvantaged incumbent always suffers from loss in its real option value of investment since it tends to act more aggressively in competing for the patent. On the other hand, the real option value of investment of the informationally advantaged entrant may be undermined or enhanced. The incumbent’s aggressive response under information asymmetry may lead to reversal of winner in the patent race. We also examine how information asymmetry may affect the occurrence of sleeping patent and the corresponding expected duration between the two stages of patenting and product commercialization.     

Fixed versus flexible production systems: A real options analysis

In this work, we address investment decisions in production systems by using real options. As is standard in literature, the stochastic variable is assumed to be normally distributed and then approximated by a binomial distribution, resulting in a binomial lattice. The methodology establishes a discrete-valued lattice of possible future values of the underlying stochastic variable (demand in our case) and then, computes the project value. We have developed and implemented stochastic dynamic programming models both for fixed and flexible capacity systems. In the former case, we consider three standard options: the option to postpone investment, the option to abandon investment, and the option to temporarily shut-down production. For the latter case, we introduce the option of corrective action, in terms of production capacity, that the management can take during the project by considering the existence of one of the following: (i) a capacity expansion option; (ii) a capacity contraction option; or (iii) an option considering both expansion and contraction. The full flexible capacity model, where both the contraction and expansion options exist, leads, as expected, to a better project predicted value and thus, investment policy. However, we have also found that the capacity strategy obtained from the flexible capacity model, when applied to specific demand data series, often does not lead to a better investment decision. This might seem surprising, at first, but it can be explained by the inaccuracy of the binomial model. The binomial model tends to undervalue future decreases in the stochastic variable (demand), while at the same time tending to overvalue an increase in future demand values.     

OPTIMAL TIMING OF SALVAGE HARVEST IN RESPONSE TO A STOCHASTIC INFESTATION

Abstract Following a catastrophic disturbance, forest managers may choose to perform a salvage harvest to recoup timber losses. When the disturbance process evolves stochastically, a unique option value arises associated with the salvage harvest decision. This option value represents the value of postponing a salvage harvest to gain more information about the disturbance process. This paper uses a real options approach to determine how much of a forested area must be infested to trigger a salvage harvest when the forest provides both timber and nontimber values. Analytical results indicate slower rates of forest recovery will optimally delay a salvage harvest while forested areas with large timber values and where nontimber values are more sensitive to the presence of dead and dying trees should be harvested more immediately. The model is applied to a mountain pine beetle outbreak in Idaho's Sawtooth National Forest using readily available aerial detection survey data.     

Optimal commutable annuities to minimize the probability of lifetime ruin

We find the minimum probability of lifetime ruin of an investor who can invest in a market with a risky and a riskless asset and who can purchase a commutable life annuity. The surrender charge of a life annuity is a proportion of its value. Ruin occurs when the total of the value of the risky and riskless assets and the surrender value of the life annuity reaches zero. We find the optimal investment strategy and optimal annuity purchase and surrender strategies in two situations: (i) the value of the risky and riskless assets is allowed to be negative, with the imputed surrender value of the life annuity keeping the total positive; (ii) the value of the risky and riskless assets is required to be non-negative. In the first case, although the individual has the flexibility to buy or sell at any time, we find that the individual will not buy a life annuity unless she can cover all her consumption via the annuity and she will never sell her annuity. In the second case, the individual surrenders just enough annuity income to keep her total assets positive. However, in this second case, the individual’s annuity purchasing strategy depends on the size of the proportional surrender charge. When the charge is large enough, the individual will not buy a life annuity unless she can cover all her consumption, the so-called safe level. When the charge is small enough, the individual will buy a life annuity at a wealth lower than this safe level.     

A semigroup approach to American options

In this paper we give new conditions for the existence and uniqueness of the value of an American option by using semigroup theory. Some open questions given by Gozzi et al. and Kholodnyi are solved and improved, specifically, that the Black-Scholes operator is degenerate and that it is sectorial. Moreover, our results are extended to the original American problem. Finally, we obtain an integral equation which gives the value of an American option, providing an alternative method to calculate the value of American options.     

Capacity switching options under rivalry and uncertainty

Deregulated infrastructure industries exhibit stiff competition for market share. Firms may be able to limit the effects of competition by launching new projects in stages. Using a two-stage real options model, we explore the value of such flexibility. We first demonstrate that the value of investing in a sequential manner for a monopolist is positive but decreases with uncertainty. Next, we find that a typical duopoly firm’s value relative to a monopolist’s decreases with uncertainty as long as the loss in market share is high. Intriguingly, this result is reversed for a low loss in market share. We finally show that this loss in value is reduced if a firm invests in a sequential manner and specify the conditions under which sequential capacity expansion is more valuable for a duopolist firm than for a monopolist.     

实物期权方法在自主创新项目投资决策中的应用

传统的投资决策方法由于蕴含着不确定性和可逆转性的假设使其不适应于高风险、高收益并存的自主创新项目投资决策.将实物期权思想融入自主创新项目投资决策方法,考虑了项目由于柔性经营的期权价值,能更准确地反映项目的价值,从而提高投资决策的科学性和合理性.从实物期权理论的基本原理出发,通过具体实例对比说明实物期权方法应用于自主创新项目投资决策的优势.     

Generalised soft binomial American real option pricing model (fuzzy–stochastic approach)

The stochastic discrete binomial models and continuous models are usually applied in option valuation. Valuation of the real American options is solved usually by the numerical procedures. Therefore, binomial model is suitable approach for appraising the options of American type. However, there is not in several situations especially in real option methodology application at to disposal input data of required quality. Two aspects of input data uncertainty should be distinguished; risk (stochastic) and vagueness (fuzzy). Traditionally, input data are in a form of real (crisp) numbers or crisp-stochastic distribution function. Therefore, hybrid models, combination of risk and vagueness could be useful approach in option valuation. Generalised hybrid fuzzy–stochastic binomial American real option model under fuzzy numbers (T-numbers) and Decomposition principle is proposed and described. Input data (up index, down index, growth rate, initial underlying asset price, exercise price and risk-free rate) are in a form of fuzzy numbers and result, possibility-expected option value is also determined vaguely as a fuzzy set. Illustrative example of equity valuation as an American real call option is presented.     

Pricing and Hedging of Lookback Options in Hyper-exponential Jump Diffusion Models

ABSTRACT

In this article, we consider the problem of pricing lookback options in certain exponential Lévy market models. While in the classic Black-Scholes models the price of such options can be calculated in closed form, for more general asset price model, one typically has to rely on (rather time-intense) Monte-Carlo or partial (integro)-differential equation (P(I)DE) methods. However, for Lévy processes with double exponentially distributed jumps, the lookback option price can be expressed as one-dimensional Laplace transform (cf. Kou, S. G., Petrella, G., & Wang, H. (2005). Pricing path-dependent options with jump risk via Laplace transforms. The Kyoto Economic Review, 74(9), 1–23.). The key ingredient to derive this representation is the explicit availability of the first passage time distribution for this particular Lévy process, which is well-known also for the more general class of hyper-exponential jump diffusions (HEJDs). In fact, Jeannin and Pistorius (Jeannin, M., & Pistorius, M. (2010). A transform approach to calculate prices and Greeks of barrier options driven by a class of Lévy processes. Quntitative Finance, 10(6), 629–644.) were able to derive formulae for the Laplace transformed price of certain barrier options in market models described by HEJD processes. Here, we similarly derive the Laplace transforms of floating and fixed strike lookback option prices and propose a numerical inversion scheme, which allows, like Fourier inversion methods for European vanilla options, the calculation of lookback options with different strikes in one shot. Additionally, we give semi-analytical formulae for several Greeks of the option price and discuss a method of extending the proposed method to generalized hyper-exponential (as e.g. NIG or CGMY) models by fitting a suitable HEJD process. Finally, we illustrate the theoretical findings by some numerical experiments.     

A moment-based analytic approximation of the risk-neutral density of American options

The price of a European option can be computed as the expected value of the payoff function under the risk-neutral measure. For American options and path-dependent options in general, this principle cannot be applied. In this paper, we derive a model-free analytical formula for the implied risk-neutral density based on the implied moments of the implicit European contract under which the expected value will be the price of the equivalent payoff with the American exercise condition. The risk-neutral density is semi-parametric as it is the result of applying the multivariate generalized Edgeworth expansion, where the moments of the American density are obtained by a reverse engineering application of the least-squares method. The theory of multivariate truncated moments is employed for approximating the option price, with important consequences for the hedging of variance, skewness and kurtosis swaps.