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

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  • Eckert, Johanna
  • Gatzert, Nadine
  • Martin, Michael

Abstract

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Eckert, Johanna & Gatzert, Nadine & Martin, Michael, 2016. "Valuation and risk assessment of participating life insurance in the presence of credit risk," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 382-393.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:insuma:v:71:y:2016:i:c:p:382-393
    DOI: 10.1016/j.insmatheco.2016.10.006
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    3. Schlütter, Sebastian & Fianu, Emmanuel Senyo & Gründl, Helmut, 2022. "Responsible investments in life insurers' optimal portfolios under solvency constraints," ICIR Working Paper Series 45/22, Goethe University Frankfurt, International Center for Insurance Regulation (ICIR).
    4. Zhang, Xiaoyan & Zhu, Shanying & He, Jianping & Yang, Bo & Guan, Xinping, 2019. "Credit rating based real-time energy trading in microgrids," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 236(C), pages 985-996.
    5. Aigner, Philipp, 2023. "Identifying scenarios for the own risk and solvency assessment of insurance companies," ICIR Working Paper Series 48/23, Goethe University Frankfurt, International Center for Insurance Regulation (ICIR).

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