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Modelling longevity bonds: Analysing the Swiss Re Kortis bond

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  • Hunt, Andrew
  • Blake, David

Abstract

A key contribution to the development of the traded market for longevity risk was the issuance of the Kortis bond, the world’s first longevity trend bond, by Swiss Re in 2010. We analyse the design of the Kortis bond, develop suitable mortality models to analyse its payoff and discuss the key risk factors for the bond. We also investigate how the design of the Kortis bond can be adapted and extended to further develop the market for longevity risk.

Suggested Citation

  • Hunt, Andrew & Blake, David, 2015. "Modelling longevity bonds: Analysing the Swiss Re Kortis bond," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 12-29.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:insuma:v:63:y:2015:i:c:p:12-29
    DOI: 10.1016/j.insmatheco.2015.03.017
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    4. David Blake & Marco Morales & Enrico Biffis & Yijia Lin & Andreas Milidonis, 2017. "Special Edition: Longevity 10 – The Tenth International Longevity Risk and Capital Markets Solutions Conference," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 84(S1), pages 515-532, April.
    5. Blake, David & El Karoui, Nicole & Loisel, Stéphane & MacMinn, Richard, 2018. "Longevity risk and capital markets: The 2015–16 update," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 157-173.
    6. Schinzinger, Edo & Denuit, Michel M. & Christiansen, Marcus C., 2016. "A multivariate evolutionary credibility model for mortality improvement rates," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 70-81.
    7. Liu, Yanxin & Li, Johnny Siu-Hang, 2016. "It’s all in the hidden states: A longevity hedging strategy with an explicit measure of population basis risk," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 301-319.
    8. Leung, Melvern & Fung, Man Chung & O’Hare, Colin, 2018. "A comparative study of pricing approaches for longevity instruments," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 95-116.
    9. Raj Kumari Bahl & Sotirios Sabanis, 2016. "Model-Independent Price Bounds for Catastrophic Mortality Bonds," Papers 1607.07108, arXiv.org, revised Dec 2020.
    10. Arnold, Séverine & Glushko, Viktoriya, 2021. "Cause-specific mortality rates: Common trends and differences," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 294-308.
    11. Bahl, Raj Kumari & Sabanis, Sotirios, 2021. "Model-independent price bounds for Catastrophic Mortality Bonds," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 276-291.
    12. Hao, Xuemiao & Liang, Chunli & Wei, Linghua, 2017. "Evaluation of credit value adjustment in K-forward," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 95-103.
    13. David Blake, 2018. "Longevity: a new asset class," Journal of Asset Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 19(5), pages 278-300, September.
    14. Fabrizio Culotta, 2021. "Life Expectancy Heterogeneity and Pension Fairness: An Italian North-South Divide," Risks, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-22, March.
    15. Li, Hong & Lu, Yang, 2017. "Coherent Forecasting Of Mortality Rates: A Sparse Vector-Autoregression Approach," ASTIN Bulletin, Cambridge University Press, vol. 47(2), pages 563-600, May.
    16. Hunt, Andrew & Blake, David, 2018. "Identifiability, cointegration and the gravity model," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 360-368.
    17. Bravo, Jorge M. & Nunes, João Pedro Vidal, 2021. "Pricing longevity derivatives via Fourier transforms," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 81-97.
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    19. Jarner, Søren F. & Jallbjørn, Snorre, 2020. "Pitfalls and merits of cointegration-based mortality models," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 80-93.
    20. Hanbali, Hamza & Dhaene, Jan & Linders, Daniël, 2022. "Dependence bounds for the difference of stop-loss payoffs on the difference of two random variables," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 22-37.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Mortality modelling; Age/period/cohort models; General procedure; Cointegration; Cohort effects; Kortis bond;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C15 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Statistical Simulation Methods: General
    • C32 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Time-Series Models; Dynamic Quantile Regressions; Dynamic Treatment Effect Models; Diffusion Processes; State Space Models
    • G13 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Contingent Pricing; Futures Pricing

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