This book presents a market-consistent valuation framework for implicit embedded options in life insurance contracts. This framework is used to perform an empirical analysis based on more than 110,000 actual and in-force life insurance policies and with a focus on the modeling of interest rates. Its results are the answer to the central question posed in the objectives: What value do the embedded options and guarantees considered have? This question is answered both absolutely and relative to the current policy reserves, from the perspective of the insurer, the policyholder and the shareholder respectively
In this paper we describe life insurance contracts as a portfolio of financial options. This type of policy constitutes the bulk of mathematical reserves of continental European insurance companies. A close examination of a typical contract reveals an exchange of options between policy holders and the Insurance company whereby the former is long a floor option (the minimum guaranteed return) on the fund and short a call on the fund excess return relative to the floor. From an insurance company's point of view, this amounts to holding a portfolio of financial options vis-a-vis the client (the most common types of options included in Insurance contracts are the standard European and cliquet with European exercise options). This framework can be successfully used to support strategic decisions at a firm-wide level: return on risk capital, product design and innovation, risk management, asset benchmark selection and hedging strategies.
Master's Thesis from the year 2004 in the subject Business economics - Banking, Stock Exchanges, Insurance, Accounting, grade: 2 (B), LMU Munich (Seminar for Insurance Studies), language: English, abstract: The capital forming life insurance appears currently to be in a very vulnerable state. It was usually an attractive investment opportunity with stable returns comparable to other investment opportunities. In 2000-2002 it was difficult for the life insurance companies to overcome the consequences of the stock market crises, the losses of the insurance companies were enormous. Today there is another challenge for the insurance companies to overcome – the end of the tax privilege starting in 2005. These events bring our attention to the problem of profit sharing. In this paper I show that the changes in the tax law related to the life insurance profits in Germany lead to an increased competition for new customers in 2004 by paying maximum possible bonus rates and to the drastic decrease of it in 2005 which will force the insurers to look for alternative methods to attract new customers like implicit options embedded in the insurance contracts. Such options are liabilities to the issuer, they also constitute a potential danger to the company’s solvency. Therefore, they should be properly valued. Historically that has not been done which turned out to be a disaster for some companies. In the first chapter of this work I introduce the mechanism of profit sharing, its legal framework, the changes in the tax law crucial for the insurance companies and my own model describing how the insurer actually chooses the bonus rate of the insurance contract. Furthermore, the predictions about bonus rates in 2005 and its signification for the options will be made. The second chapter is devoted to the definition, classification and the examples of the most common implicit options on the German life insurance market. The third chapter shows the most common models of the valuation of interest rate and asset options. The tree models will be described particularly in detail. The fourth chapter is dedicated to the models of valuation of the non-European options in life insurance contracts.
Quantitative models are omnipresent –but often controversially discussed– in todays risk management practice. New regulations, innovative financial products, and advances in valuation techniques provide a continuous flow of challenging problems for financial engineers and risk managers alike. Designing a sound stochastic model requires finding a careful balance between parsimonious model assumptions, mathematical viability, and interpretability of the output. Moreover, data requirements and the end-user training are to be considered as well. The KPMG Center of Excellence in Risk Management conference Risk Management Reloaded and this proceedings volume contribute to bridging the gap between academia –providing methodological advances– and practice –having a firm understanding of the economic conditions in which a given model is used. Discussed fields of application range from asset management, credit risk, and energy to risk management issues in insurance. Methodologically, dependence modeling, multiple-curve interest rate-models, and model risk are addressed. Finally, regulatory developments and possible limits of mathematical modeling are discussed.
This book explores theoretical and practical implications of reflecting the fair value of liabilities for insurance companies. In addition, the contributions discuss the disclosure of these values to the financial and regulatory communities and auditing firms which are actually calculating this illusive but important variable. It combines contributions by distinguished practitioners from the insurance, accounting and finance fields, with those of prominent academics. One of the central themes of the collection is that adequate disclosure of the true economic value of insurance company liabilities is both possible and desirable. Wherever possible, the insurance valuation process is wedded with modern financial theory. For example, the use of option pricing theory is applied to insurance companies, where the true value of the firm's liabilities is a critical variable. Methods such as cash flow, earned profit and indirect discount are explored.
The insurance industry in Australia has weathered the global financial crisis well and was resilient to the catastrophic events in 2010/11. The insurance industry is mature but relatively small compared to the banking sector. Assets held by insurers represented only about 8 percent of the financial system total assets as at end-2011. Since 2007, the insurance market has been consolidating steadily as the total number of players fell from 190 to 172 although branches of foreign-owned general insurers rose from 36 to 43. The industry was comprised of 24 life insurers, 108 general insurers, 19 reinsurers, 7 captive general insurers and 14 friendly societies as at end-June 2011.
How can actuaries best equip themselves for the products and risk structures of the future? Using the powerful framework of multiple state models, three leaders in actuarial science give a modern perspective on life contingencies, and develop and demonstrate a theory that can be adapted to changing products and technologies. The book begins traditionally, covering actuarial models and theory, and emphasizing practical applications using computational techniques. The authors then develop a more contemporary outlook, introducing multiple state models, emerging cash flows and embedded options. Using spreadsheet-style software, the book presents large-scale, realistic examples. Over 150 exercises and solutions teach skills in simulation and projection through computational practice. Balancing rigour with intuition, and emphasising applications, this text is ideal for university courses, but also for individuals preparing for professional actuarial exams and qualified actuaries wishing to freshen up their skills.
