Analyzing surplus appropriation schemes in participating life insurance from the insurer’s and the policyholder’s perspective

This paper examines the impact of three surplus appropriation schemes often inherent in participating life insurance contracts on the insurer’s shortfall risk and the net present value from an insured’s viewpoint. (1) In case of the bonus system, surplus is used to increase the guaranteed death and survival benefit, leading to higher reserves; (2) the interest-bearing accumulation increases only the survival benefit by accumulating the surplus on a separate account; and (3) surplus can also be used to shorten the contract term, which results in an earlier payment of the survival benefit and a reduced sum of premium payments. The pool of participating life insurance contracts with death and survival benefit is modeled actuarially with annual premium payments; mortality rates are generated based on an extension of the Lee-Carter (1992) model, and the asset process follows a geometric Brownian motion. In a simulation analysis, we then compare the influence of different asset portfolios and shocks to mortality on the insurer’s risk situation and the policyholder’s net present value for the three surplus schemes. Our findings demonstrate that, even though the surplus distribution and thus the amount of surplus is calculated the same way, the type of surplus appropriation scheme has a substantial impact on the insurer’s risk exposure and the policyholder’s net present value.     

Valuation and risk assessment of participating life insurance in the presence of credit risk

In participating life insurance, management decisions regarding the asset composition can substantially impact the value of a policy from the policyholders’ perspective as well as the insurer’s risk situation. Due to the long-term guarantees often embedded in these contracts, life insurers typically invest a considerable portion of their capital in long-term assets such as corporate and government bonds. Besides interest rate risk, the value of these bond investments is thus particularly influenced by credit risk. Thus, the aim of this paper is to examine the impact of market risk associated with the asset composition on fair valuation and risk assessment with focus on credit risk and its interaction with equity risk and interest rate risk. Our analysis emphasizes that the consideration of credit risk associated with bonds has a strong impact on the fair valuation and risk measurement in the context of participating life insurance contracts, even in case of higher grade bond exposures.     

Asset management and surplus distribution strategies in life insurance: An examination with respect to risk pricing and risk measurement

In this paper, we investigate the impact of different asset management and surplus distribution strategies in life insurance on risk-neutral pricing and shortfall risk. In general, these feedback mechanisms affect the contract’s payoff and hence directly influence pricing and risk measurement. To isolate the effect of such strategies on shortfall risk, we calibrate contract parameters so that the compared contracts have the same market value and same default-value-to-liability ratio. This way, the fair valuation method is extended since, in addition to the contract’s market value, the default put option value is fixed. We then compare shortfall probability and expected shortfall and show the substantial impact of different management mechanisms acting on the asset and liability side.     

应对长寿风险的分红年金:随机精算建模与应用

我国的商业养老保险作为养老金体系的重要组成部分,在实践中的发展比较缓慢,原因之一是保险公司缺乏长寿风险管理的经验。本文将探索我国商业养老保险使用分红年金管理长寿风险的可行性。研究该分红年金在给付规则和分红来源方面的特征,并基于实际数据,构建动态随机死亡率模型和随机收益率模型,采用蒙特卡洛随机模拟方法,比较分红年金和传统年金在待遇分布、资产和损失分布、破产概率等方面的特征,得出分红年金能够在精算公平原则下有效应对长寿风险,并且在待遇给付、偿付能力和盈利能力方面具有明显优势的结论。     

Optimal investment–reinsurance strategies with state dependent risk aversion and VaR constraints in correlated markets

In this paper, we investigate the optimal time-consistent investment–reinsurance strategies for an insurer with state dependent risk aversion and Value-at-Risk (VaR) constraints. The insurer can purchase proportional reinsurance to reduce its insurance risks and invest its wealth in a financial market consisting of one risk-free asset and one risky asset, whose price process follows a geometric Brownian motion. The surplus process of the insurer is approximated by a Brownian motion with drift. The two Brownian motions in the insurer’s surplus process and the risky asset’s price process are correlated, which describe the correlation or dependence between the insurance market and the financial market. We introduce the VaR control levels for the insurer to control its loss in investment–reinsurance strategies, which also represent the requirement of regulators on the insurer’s investment behavior. Under the mean–variance criterion, we formulate the optimal investment–reinsurance problem within a game theoretic framework. By using the technique of stochastic control theory and solving the corresponding extended Hamilton–Jacobi–Bellman (HJB) system of equations, we derive the closed-form expressions of the optimal investment–reinsurance strategies. In addition, we illustrate the optimal investment–reinsurance strategies by numerical examples and discuss the impact of the risk aversion, the correlation between the insurance market and the financial market, and the VaR control levels on the optimal strategies.     

An analysis of transaction costs in participating life insurance under mean–variance preferences

Transaction costs with respect to distribution and administration play a crucial role for the performance of participating life insurance products. The aim of this paper is to investigate the impact of such initial and annual transaction costs on policyholder mean–variance preferences depending on the contract features, comparing a point-to-point guarantee, a cliquet-style guarantee, and a money-back guarantee with annual surplus component. We extend previous work by deriving analytical solutions for the maximum allowed initial transaction costs as well as the risk aversion parameter that ensure a given customer preference level for different contract types. We further conduct simulation analyses to identify key factors in regard to transaction costs. One main finding is that in the present setting, insurers can indeed charge higher costs for more complex products with cliquet-style features, and that the difference in costs between the various product types increases considerably in a low interest-rate environment. However, these results are heavily impacted and even reversed depending on the risk–return asset characteristics, as insurers with a riskier asset management strategy may no longer be able to charge higher transaction costs for complex products with a strong annual cliquet-style surplus participation component without reducing their attractiveness to customers.     

To borrow or insure? Long term care costs and the impact of housing

We assess the impact of housing, the availability of reverse mortgages and long-term care (LTC) insurance on a retiree’s optimal portfolio choice and consumption decisions using a multi-period life cycle model that takes into consideration individual longevity risk, health shocks and house price risk. We determine how much an individual should borrow against their home equity and how much to insure health care costs with LTC insurance. We introduce an endogenous grid method, along with a regression based approach, to improve computational efficiency and avoid the curse of dimensionality. Our results confirm that borrowing against home equity provides higher consumption in earlier years and longevity insurance. LTC insurance transfers wealth from healthy states to disabled states, but reduces early consumption because of the payment of insurance premiums. Housing is an illiquid asset that is important in meeting bequest motives, and it reduces the demand for LTC insurance for the wealthy. We show that the highest welfare benefits come from combining a reverse mortgage with LTC insurance because of strong complementary effects between them. This result highlights the benefits of innovative products that bundle these two products together.     

A general asset-liability management model for the efficient simulation of portfolios of life insurance policies

New regulations and a stronger competition have increased the importance of stochastic asset-liability management (ALM) models for insurance companies in recent years. In this paper, we propose a discrete time ALM model for the simulation of simplified balance sheets of life insurance products. The model incorporates the most important life insurance product characteristics, the surrender of contracts, a reserve-dependent bonus declaration, a dynamic asset allocation and a two-factor stochastic capital market. All terms arising in the model can be calculated recursively which allows an easy implementation and efficient simulation. Furthermore, the model is designed to have a modular organization which permits straightforward modifications and extensions to handle specific requirements. In a sensitivity analysis for sample portfolios and parameters, we investigate the impact of the most important product and management parameters on the risk exposure of the insurance company and show that the model captures the main behaviour patterns of the balance sheet development of life insurance products.     

带交易费用的最优投资和比例再保险

研究了保险公司的最优投资和再保险问题.保险公司的盈余通过跳-扩散风险模型来模拟,可以把盈余的一部分投资到金融市场,金融市场由一个无风险资产和n个风险资产组成,并且保险公司还可以购买比例再保险;在买卖风险资产时,考虑了交易费用.通过随机控制的理论,获得了最优策略和值函数的显示解.     

The effect of the nature of the liabilities on the solvency and maturity payouts of a UK life office fund: a stochastic evaluation

Several studies have shown that a simulation model of participating life insurance business must reflect explicitly the major decisions which are left to the discretion of management. In the UK these decisions include asset allocation and bonus distribution. It is also common in the UK to use premium bases which do not explicitly account for the expectation that a terminal bonus will be paid, while using a uniform system of reversionary bonus for business of all terms. Here, we show that this results in short-term business being at much greater risk of insolvency than long-term business, under a variety of investment strategies. Our main purpose is to study the effect of small changes to the parameters of the investment model used on the outcomes described above. For this purpose we compare results using two versions of the Wilkie model (Wilkie, A.D., 1986. A stochastic investment model for actuarial use. Transactions of the Faculty of Actuaries 39, 341–403, Wilkie, A.D., 1995. More on a stochastic asset model for actuarial use. British Actuarial Journal 1, 1–168.) We show that small changes in the variances of the economic series modelled have a marked impact on solvency, while changes in maturity values are mostly the result of a small change in the rate of real dividend growth.     

Health shock risk,critical illness insurance,and housing services

This paper studies a consumption–investment problem involving health shock risk, perishable consumption, and consumption of housing services. Additionally to a risk-free asset and a stock index, the agent can invest in real estate. I analyze the impact of health shocks on the optimal consumption and investment decisions in model specifications with and without the possibility to buy critical illness insurance. I discuss the influence of critical illness insurance on the optimal strategy and analyze the drivers of the optimal critical illness insurance demand. The results indicate that health shock risk has potentially devastating consequences, especially for young agents. It turns out that critical illness insurance is an excellent instrument for hedging health shock risk and for consumption smoothing across different health states. Optimal critical illness insurance demand is decreasing in financial wealth and increasing in human wealth. Real estate prices have a minor influence on optimal critical illness insurance demand.     

线性约束下保险公司的最优投资策略

现实中,保险公司的投资行为会受到《保险法》及其自身风险管理条例的约束; 另外,保险公司必须提存一定数量的准备金以满足监管规定.鉴于此,本文将保险公司盈余首达最低准备金水平的时刻定义为``破产”时刻,以最小化``破产”概率为目标, 假设保险公司的盈余过程服从扩散模型,其可投资无风险资产与一种风险资产且投资受线性约束.我们通过求解相应的HJB方程得到了值函数与最优投资策略的解析式并给出了经济解释与数值算例.     

动态非短视资产负债管理

用均值-回复过程刻画股票价格变化,本文研究了股票收益可预测金融市场中的连续时间资产负债管理问题。运用动态规划方法,求得了最优资产负债管理策略的闭合解。结果表明,最优策略是风险溢价的线性函数,随着投资期限的缩短,股票上的投资金额不断降低。数值分析表明,投资期限、股票风险溢价和债务对于最优资产配置策略和股票风险溢价不确定性跨期对冲需求都存在显著影响。     

An optimal investment strategy for a stream of liabilities generated by a step process in a financial market driven by a Lévy process

In this paper we investigate an asset–liability management problem for a stream of liabilities written on liquid traded assets and non-traded sources of risk. We assume that the financial market consists of a risk-free asset and a risky asset which follows a geometric Lévy process. The non-tradeable factor (insurance risk or default risk) is driven by a step process with a stochastic intensity. Our framework allows us to consider financial risk, systematic and unsystematic insurance loss risk (including longevity risk), together with possible dependencies between them. An optimal investment strategy is derived by solving a quadratic optimization problem with a terminal objective and a running cost penalizing deviations of the insurer’s wealth from a specified profit-solvency target. Techniques of backward stochastic differential equations and the weak property of predictable representation are applied to obtain the optimal asset allocation.     

Robust optimal investment–reinsurance strategies for an insurer with multiple dependent risks

This paper considers a robust optimal investment and reinsurance problem with multiple dependent risks for an Ambiguity-Averse Insurer (AAI), who is uncertain about the model parameters. We assume that the surplus of the insurance company can be allocated to the financial market consisting of one risk-free asset and one risky asset whose price process satisfies square root factor process. Under the objective of maximizing the expected utility of the terminal surplus, by adopting the technique of stochastic control, closed-form expressions of the robust optimal strategy and the corresponding value function are derived. The verification theorem is also provided. Finally, by presenting some numerical examples, the impact of some parameters on the optimal strategy is illustrated and some economic explanations are also given. We find that the robust optimal reinsurance strategies under the generalized mean–variance premium are very different from that under the variance premium principle. In addition, ignoring model uncertainty risk will lead to significant utility loss for the AAI.     

索赔次数为复合Poisson-Geometric过程下的破产概率和最优投资和再保险策略

本文对索赔次数为复合Poisson-Geometric过程的风险模型,在保险公司的盈余可以投资于风险资产,以及索赔购买比例再保险的策略下,研究使得破产概率最小的最优投资和再保险策略.通过求解相应的Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman方程,得到使得破产概率最小的最优投资和比例再保险策略,以及最小破产概率的显示表达式.     

Asymptotics of discounted aggregate claims for renewal risk model with risky investment

Under the assumption that the claim size is subexponentially distributed and the insurance surplus is totally invested in risky asset, a simple asymptotic relation of tail probability of discounted aggregate claims for renewal risk model within finite horizon is obtained. The result extends the corresponding conclusions of related references.     

随机利率下双分红的变保费复合帕斯卡模型

利润最大化风险最小化是保险公司运营所追求的目标,破产概率为公司进行风险决策提供了依据。本文基于随机利率环境下,保费随公司盈余水平调整的双分红复合帕斯卡模型,研究了股份制保险公司的有限时间破产概率。我们证明了公司盈余过程的齐次马氏性,得到了有限时间破产概率的计算方法,最后给出了具体算例。     

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??It is assumed that both an insurance company and a reinsurance company adopt the variance premium principle to collect premiums. Specifically, an insurance company is allowed to investment not only in a domestic risk-free asset and a risky asset, but also in a foreign risky asset. Firstly, we use a geometry Brownian motion to model the exchange rate risk, and assume that the insurance company could control the insurance risk by transferring the insurance business into the reinsurance company. Secondly, the stochastic dynamic programming principle is used to study the optimal investment and reinsurance problems in two situations. The first is a diffusion approximation risk model and the second is a classical risk model. The optimal investment and reinsurance strategies are obtained under these two situations. We also show that the exchange rate risk has a great impact on the insurance company's investment strategies, but has no effect on the reinsurance strategies. Finally, a sensitivity analysis of some parameters is provided.