IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/arx/papers/1605.00339.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

A unified pricing of variable annuity guarantees under the optimal stochastic control framework

Author

Listed:
  • Pavel V. Shevchenko
  • Xiaolin Luo

Abstract

In this paper, we review pricing of variable annuity living and death guarantees offered to retail investors in many countries. Investors purchase these products to take advantage of market growth and protect savings. We present pricing of these products via an optimal stochastic control framework, and review the existing numerical methods. For numerical valuation of these contracts, we develop a direct integration method based on Gauss-Hermite quadrature with a one-dimensional cubic spline for calculation of the expected contract value, and a bi-cubic spline interpolation for applying the jump conditions across the contract cashflow event times. This method is very efficient when compared to the partial differential equation methods if the transition density (or its moments) of the risky asset underlying the contract is known in closed form between the event times. We also present accurate numerical results for pricing of a Guaranteed Minimum Accumulation Benefit (GMAB) guarantee available on the market that can serve as a benchmark for practitioners and researchers developing pricing of variable annuity guarantees.

Suggested Citation

  • Pavel V. Shevchenko & Xiaolin Luo, 2016. "A unified pricing of variable annuity guarantees under the optimal stochastic control framework," Papers 1605.00339, arXiv.org.
    • Handle: RePEc:arx:papers:1605.00339
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://arxiv.org/pdf/1605.00339
    File Function: Latest version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Horneff, Vanya & Maurer, Raimond & Mitchell, Olivia S. & Rogalla, Ralph, 2015. "Optimal life cycle portfolio choice with variable annuities offering liquidity and investment downside protection," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 91-107.
    2. Bacinello, Anna Rita & Millossovich, Pietro & Olivieri, Annamaria & Pitacco, Ermanno, 2011. "Variable annuities: A unifying valuation approach," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(3), pages 285-297.
    3. Christian Hilpert & Jing Li & Alexander Szimayer, 2014. "The Effect of Secondary Markets on Equity-Linked Life Insurance With Surrender Guarantees," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 81(4), pages 943-968, December.
    4. Andrew Ng & Johnny Li, 2013. "Pricing and Hedging Variable Annuity Guarantees with Multiasset Stochastic Investment Models," North American Actuarial Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(1), pages 41-62.
    5. A. C. Belanger & P. A. Forsyth & G. Labahn, 2009. "Valuing the Guaranteed Minimum Death Benefit Clause with Partial Withdrawals," Applied Mathematical Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(6), pages 451-496.
    6. Milevsky, Moshe A. & Salisbury, Thomas S., 2006. "Financial valuation of guaranteed minimum withdrawal benefits," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 21-38, February.
    7. Patrice Gaillardetz & Joe Youssef Lakhmiri, 2011. "A New Premium Principle for Equity‐Indexed Annuities," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 78(1), pages 245-265, March.
    8. Carter, Lawrence R. & Lee, Ronald D., 1992. "Modeling and forecasting US sex differentials in mortality," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 8(3), pages 393-411, November.
    9. Bruce Ian Carlin & Gustavo Manso, 2011. "Obfuscation, Learning, and the Evolution of Investor Sophistication," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 24(3), pages 754-785.
    10. Longstaff, Francis A & Schwartz, Eduardo S, 2001. "Valuing American Options by Simulation: A Simple Least-Squares Approach," University of California at Los Angeles, Anderson Graduate School of Management qt43n1k4jb, Anderson Graduate School of Management, UCLA.
    11. Longstaff, Francis A & Schwartz, Eduardo S, 2001. "Valuing American Options by Simulation: A Simple Least-Squares Approach," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 14(1), pages 113-147.
    12. Pavel V. Shevchenko & Xiaolin Luo, 2016. "Valuation of Variable Annuities with Guaranteed Minimum Withdrawal Benefit under Stochastic Interest Rate," Papers 1602.03238, arXiv.org, revised Jan 2017.
    13. Claymore Marshall & Mary Hardy & David Saunders, 2010. "Valuation of a Guaranteed Minimum Income Benefit," North American Actuarial Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(1), pages 38-58.
    14. repec:dau:papers:123456789/12195 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Xiaolin Luo & Pavel V. Shevchenko, 2014. "Fast and Simple Method for Pricing Exotic Options using Gauss-Hermite Quadrature on a Cubic Spline Interpolation," Papers 1408.6938, arXiv.org, revised Dec 2014.
    16. Steinorth, Petra & Mitchell, Olivia S., 2015. "Valuing variable annuities with guaranteed minimum lifetime withdrawal benefits," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 246-258.
    17. Gao, Jin & Ulm, Eric R., 2012. "Optimal consumption and allocation in variable annuities with Guaranteed Minimum Death Benefits," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(3), pages 586-598.
    18. Bauer, Daniel & Kling, Alexander & Russ, Jochen, 2008. "A Universal Pricing Framework for Guaranteed Minimum Benefits in Variable Annuities1," ASTIN Bulletin, Cambridge University Press, vol. 38(2), pages 621-651, November.
    19. Chen, Z. & Vetzal, K. & Forsyth, P.A., 2008. "The effect of modelling parameters on the value of GMWB guarantees," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 165-173, August.
    20. Forsyth, Peter & Vetzal, Kenneth, 2014. "An optimal stochastic control framework for determining the cost of hedging of variable annuities," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 29-53.
    21. Min Dai & Yue Kuen Kwok & Jianping Zong, 2008. "Guaranteed Minimum Withdrawal Benefit In Variable Annuities," Mathematical Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(4), pages 595-611, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Riley Jones & Adriana Ocejo, 2019. "Assessing Guaranteed Minimum Income Benefits and Rationality of Exercising Reset Options in Variable Annuities," International Journal of Statistics and Probability, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 8(5), pages 13-24, September.
    2. Jin Sun & Pavel V. Shevchenko & Man Chung Fung, 2017. "A note on the impact of management fees on the pricing of variable annuity guarantees," Papers 1705.03787, arXiv.org, revised May 2017.
    3. Yaowen Lu & Duy-Minh Dang, 2023. "A semi-Lagrangian $\epsilon$-monotone Fourier method for continuous withdrawal GMWBs under jump-diffusion with stochastic interest rate," Papers 2310.00606, arXiv.org.
    4. Dong, Bing & Xu, Wei & Sevic, Aleksandar & Sevic, Zeljko, 2020. "Efficient willow tree method for variable annuities valuation and risk management☆," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    5. Gan Guojun & Valdez Emiliano A., 2017. "Valuation of large variable annuity portfolios: Monte Carlo simulation and synthetic datasets," Dependence Modeling, De Gruyter, vol. 5(1), pages 354-374, December.
    6. Hanwen Zhang & Duy-Minh Dang, 2023. "A monotone numerical integration method for mean-variance portfolio optimization under jump-diffusion models," Papers 2309.05977, arXiv.org.
    7. Marcos Escobar & Mikhail Krayzler & Franz Ramsauer & David Saunders & Rudi Zagst, 2016. "Incorporation of Stochastic Policyholder Behavior in Analytical Pricing of GMABs and GMDBs," Risks, MDPI, vol. 4(4), pages 1-36, November.
    8. Shevchenko, Pavel V. & Luo, Xiaolin, 2017. "Valuation of variable annuities with Guaranteed Minimum Withdrawal Benefit under stochastic interest rate," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 104-117.
    9. Huansang Xu & Ruyi Liu & Marek Rutkowski, 2023. "Equity Protection Swaps: A New Type of Investment Insurance for Holders of Superannuation Accounts," Papers 2305.09472, arXiv.org, revised Apr 2024.
    10. Riley Jones & Adriana Ocejo, 2019. "Assessing Guaranteed Minimum Income Benefits and Rationality of Exercising Reset Options in Variable," Papers 1911.06123, arXiv.org.
    11. Fontana, Claudio & Rotondi, Francesco, 2023. "Valuation of general GMWB annuities in a low interest rate environment," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 142-167.
    12. Kokou Essiomle & Franck Adékambi, 2023. "Valuation of Equity-Linked Death Benefits on Two Lives with Dependence," Risks, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-26, January.
    13. Jin Sun & Pavel V. Shevchenko & Man Chung Fung, 2018. "The Impact of Management Fees on the Pricing of Variable Annuity Guarantees," Risks, MDPI, vol. 6(3), pages 1-20, September.
    14. Claudio Fontana & Francesco Rotondi, 2022. "Valuation of general GMWB annuities in a low interest rate environment," Papers 2208.10183, arXiv.org, revised Aug 2023.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Pavel V. Shevchenko & Xiaolin Luo, 2016. "A Unified Pricing of Variable Annuity Guarantees under the Optimal Stochastic Control Framework," Risks, MDPI, vol. 4(3), pages 1-31, July.
    2. Moenig, Thorsten, 2021. "Variable annuities: Market incompleteness and policyholder behavior," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 63-78.
    3. Ludovic Goudenege & Andrea Molent & Antonino Zanette, 2019. "Pricing and hedging GMWB in the Heston and in the Black–Scholes with stochastic interest rate models," Computational Management Science, Springer, vol. 16(1), pages 217-248, February.
    4. Thorsten Moenig, 2021. "Efficient valuation of variable annuity portfolios with dynamic programming," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 88(4), pages 1023-1055, December.
    5. Luo, Xiaolin & Shevchenko, Pavel V., 2015. "Valuation of variable annuities with guaranteed minimum withdrawal and death benefits via stochastic control optimization," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 5-15.
    6. Claudio Fontana & Francesco Rotondi, 2022. "Valuation of general GMWB annuities in a low interest rate environment," Papers 2208.10183, arXiv.org, revised Aug 2023.
    7. Goudenège, Ludovic & Molent, Andrea & Zanette, Antonino, 2016. "Pricing and hedging GLWB in the Heston and in the Black–Scholes with stochastic interest rate models," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 38-57.
    8. Shevchenko, Pavel V. & Luo, Xiaolin, 2017. "Valuation of variable annuities with Guaranteed Minimum Withdrawal Benefit under stochastic interest rate," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 104-117.
    9. Gan, Guojun, 2013. "Application of data clustering and machine learning in variable annuity valuation," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(3), pages 795-801.
    10. Yao Tung Huang & Yue Kuen Kwok, 2016. "Regression-based Monte Carlo methods for stochastic control models: variable annuities with lifelong guarantees," Quantitative Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(6), pages 905-928, June.
    11. Fontana, Claudio & Rotondi, Francesco, 2023. "Valuation of general GMWB annuities in a low interest rate environment," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 142-167.
    12. Ludovic Goudenege & Andrea Molent & Antonino Zanette, 2015. "Pricing and Hedging GLWB in the Heston and in the Black-Scholes with Stochastic Interest Rate Models," Papers 1509.02686, arXiv.org.
    13. Gan, Guojun & Lin, X. Sheldon, 2015. "Valuation of large variable annuity portfolios under nested simulation: A functional data approach," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 138-150.
    14. Jin Sun & Pavel V. Shevchenko & Man Chung Fung, 2018. "The Impact of Management Fees on the Pricing of Variable Annuity Guarantees," Risks, MDPI, vol. 6(3), pages 1-20, September.
    15. Pavel V. Shevchenko & Xiaolin Luo, 2016. "Valuation of Variable Annuities with Guaranteed Minimum Withdrawal Benefit under Stochastic Interest Rate," Papers 1602.03238, arXiv.org, revised Jan 2017.
    16. Xiaolin Luo & Pavel Shevchenko, 2014. "Fast Numerical Method for Pricing of Variable Annuities with Guaranteed Minimum Withdrawal Benefit under Optimal Withdrawal Strategy," Papers 1410.8609, arXiv.org.
    17. Dong, Bing & Xu, Wei & Sevic, Aleksandar & Sevic, Zeljko, 2020. "Efficient willow tree method for variable annuities valuation and risk management☆," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    18. Ludovic Gouden`ege & Andrea Molent & Antonino Zanette, 2016. "Pricing and Hedging GMWB in the Heston and in the Black-Scholes with Stochastic Interest Rate Models," Papers 1602.09078, arXiv.org, revised Mar 2016.
    19. Forsyth, Peter & Vetzal, Kenneth, 2014. "An optimal stochastic control framework for determining the cost of hedging of variable annuities," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 29-53.
    20. Huang, H. & Milevsky, M.A. & Salisbury, T.S., 2014. "Optimal initiation of a GLWB in a variable annuity: No Arbitrage approach," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 102-111.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:arx:papers:1605.00339. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: arXiv administrators (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://arxiv.org/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.