Insurance Regulation and Life Catastrophe Risk: Treatment of Life Catastrophe Risk Under the SCR Standard Formula of Solvency II and the Necessity of Partial Internal Models

The regulatory regime in Europe is undergoing a fundamental change that will serve as a benchmark for the regulators in other countries. This paper analyses the influence of regulation imposed by Solvency II on life catastrophe risk management activities. The interplay of extreme mortality risks and risk management activities is demonstrated, and the special characteristics of different causes of life catastrophe risk are identified. The advice of the Committee of European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Supervisors, now the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority, regarding the life catastrophe risk sub-module of the solvency capital requirement standard formula is to apply a unified single mortality catastrophe shock scenario. We show that this approach does not properly reflect life catastrophe risk and that it potentially prevents the recognition of more sophisticated risk management instruments for the solvency capital requirement calculation. As a result of this analysis, proposals are made for how these shortcomings can be resolved by using a simple generic partial internal model. This model facilitates the recognition of non-proportional risk transfer techniques and thus provides incentives for their use. We show that these proposals are in line with and relevant to the current trend towards the potential development of a more liquid market for extreme mortality risks.