IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/matcom/v242y2026icp343-365.html

Equilibrium reinsurance and investment strategies for insurers with random risk aversion under Heston’s SV model

Author

Listed:
  • Kang, Jian-hao
  • Gou, Zhun
  • Huang, Nan-jing

Abstract

This study employs expected certainty equivalents to explore the reinsurance and investment issue pertaining to an insurer that aims to maximize the expected utility while being subject to random risk aversion. The insurer’s surplus process is modeled approximately by a drifted Brownian motion, and the financial market is comprised of a risk-free asset and a risky asset with its price depicted by Heston’s stochastic volatility (SV) model. Within a game theory framework, a strict verification theorem is formulated to delineate the equilibrium reinsurance and investment strategies as well as the corresponding value function. Furthermore, through solving the pseudo Hamilton–Jacobi–Bellman (HJB) system, semi-analytical formulations for the equilibrium reinsurance and investment strategies and the associated value function are obtained under the exponential utility. Additionally, several numerical experiments are carried out to demonstrate the characteristics of the equilibrium reinsurance and investment strategies.

Suggested Citation

  • Kang, Jian-hao & Gou, Zhun & Huang, Nan-jing, 2026. "Equilibrium reinsurance and investment strategies for insurers with random risk aversion under Heston’s SV model," Mathematics and Computers in Simulation (MATCOM), Elsevier, vol. 242(C), pages 343-365.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:matcom:v:242:y:2026:i:c:p:343-365
    DOI: 10.1016/j.matcom.2025.12.004
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378475425005257
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.matcom.2025.12.004?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yıldırım Külekci, Bükre & Korn, Ralf & Selcuk-Kestel, A. Sevtap, 2024. "Ruin probability for heavy-tailed and dependent losses under reinsurance strategies," Mathematics and Computers in Simulation (MATCOM), Elsevier, vol. 226(C), pages 118-138.
    2. Ying Hu & Hanqing Jin & Xun Yu Zhou, 2012. "Time-Inconsistent Stochastic Linear--Quadratic Control," Post-Print hal-00691816, HAL.
    3. Tomas Björk & Agatha Murgoci, 2014. "A theory of Markovian time-inconsistent stochastic control in discrete time," Finance and Stochastics, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 545-592, July.
    4. Raj Chetty, 2006. "A New Method of Estimating Risk Aversion," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(5), pages 1821-1834, December.
    5. Richard, Scott F., 1975. "Optimal consumption, portfolio and life insurance rules for an uncertain lived individual in a continuous time model," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 2(2), pages 187-203, June.
    6. Bi, Junna & Cai, Jun, 2019. "Optimal investment–reinsurance strategies with state dependent risk aversion and VaR constraints in correlated markets," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 1-14.
    7. Bollerslev, Tim & Gibson, Michael & Zhou, Hao, 2011. "Dynamic estimation of volatility risk premia and investor risk aversion from option-implied and realized volatilities," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 160(1), pages 235-245, January.
    8. Yuen, Kam Chuen & Liang, Zhibin & Zhou, Ming, 2015. "Optimal proportional reinsurance with common shock dependence," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 1-13.
    9. Heston, Steven L, 1993. "A Closed-Form Solution for Options with Stochastic Volatility with Applications to Bond and Currency Options," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 6(2), pages 327-343.
    10. Li, Zhongfei & Zeng, Yan & Lai, Yongzeng, 2012. "Optimal time-consistent investment and reinsurance strategies for insurers under Heston’s SV model," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 191-203.
    11. Johan Burgaard & Mogens Steffensen, 2020. "Eliciting Risk Preferences and Elasticity of Substitution," Decision Analysis, INFORMS, vol. 17(4), pages 314-329, December.
    12. Holger Kraft & Frank Seifried & Mogens Steffensen, 2013. "Consumption-portfolio optimization with recursive utility in incomplete markets," Finance and Stochastics, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 161-196, January.
    13. Sascha Desmettre & Mogens Steffensen, 2023. "Equilibrium investment with random risk aversion," Mathematical Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(3), pages 946-975, July.
    14. Liang, Zhibin & Bayraktar, Erhan, 2014. "Optimal reinsurance and investment with unobservable claim size and intensity," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 156-166.
    15. Xudong Zeng & Michael Taksar, 2013. "A stochastic volatility model and optimal portfolio selection," Quantitative Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(10), pages 1547-1558, October.
    16. Yang, Hailiang & Zhang, Lihong, 2005. "Optimal investment for insurer with jump-diffusion risk process," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 615-634, December.
    17. Cui, Zhenyu & Lars Kirkby, J. & Nguyen, Duy, 2017. "A general framework for discretely sampled realized variance derivatives in stochastic volatility models with jumps," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 262(1), pages 381-400.
    18. V. Bergen & M. Escobar & A. Rubtsov & R. Zagst, 2018. "Robust multivariate portfolio choice with stochastic covariance in the presence of ambiguity," Quantitative Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(8), pages 1265-1294, August.
    19. Merton, Robert C., 1971. "Optimum consumption and portfolio rules in a continuous-time model," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 373-413, December.
    20. Tomas Björk & Mariana Khapko & Agatha Murgoci, 2021. "Time-Inconsistent Control Theory with Finance Applications," Springer Finance, Springer, number 978-3-030-81843-2, March.
    21. Merton, Robert C, 1969. "Lifetime Portfolio Selection under Uncertainty: The Continuous-Time Case," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 51(3), pages 247-257, August.
    22. Kim, Tong Suk & Omberg, Edward, 1996. "Dynamic Nonmyopic Portfolio Behavior," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 9(1), pages 141-161.
    23. Gabriel G. Drimus, 2012. "Options on realized variance by transform methods: a non-affine stochastic volatility model," Quantitative Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(11), pages 1679-1694, November.
    24. Deng, Chao & Zeng, Xudong & Zhu, Huiming, 2018. "Non-zero-sum stochastic differential reinsurance and investment games with default risk," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 264(3), pages 1144-1158.
    25. Yi, Bo & Li, Zhongfei & Viens, Frederi G. & Zeng, Yan, 2013. "Robust optimal control for an insurer with reinsurance and investment under Heston’s stochastic volatility model," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(3), pages 601-614.
    26. Tomas Björk & Mariana Khapko & Agatha Murgoci, 2017. "On time-inconsistent stochastic control in continuous time," Finance and Stochastics, Springer, vol. 21(2), pages 331-360, April.
    27. Jun Liu, 2007. "Portfolio Selection in Stochastic Environments," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 20(1), pages 1-39, January.
    28. Hull, John C & White, Alan D, 1987. "The Pricing of Options on Assets with Stochastic Volatilities," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 42(2), pages 281-300, June.
    29. Hong Liu & Mark Loewenstein, 2002. "Optimal Portfolio Selection with Transaction Costs and Finite Horizons," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 15(3), pages 805-835.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Zhu, Huiming & Deng, Chao & Yue, Shengjie & Deng, Yingchun, 2015. "Optimal reinsurance and investment problem for an insurer with counterparty risk," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 242-254.
    2. Yan, Tingjin & Wong, Hoi Ying, 2020. "Open-loop equilibrium reinsurance-investment strategy under mean–variance criterion with stochastic volatility," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 105-119.
    3. Ya Huang & Xiangqun Yang & Jieming Zhou, 2017. "Robust optimal investment and reinsurance problem for a general insurance company under Heston model," Mathematical Methods of Operations Research, Springer;Gesellschaft für Operations Research (GOR);Nederlands Genootschap voor Besliskunde (NGB), vol. 85(2), pages 305-326, April.
    4. Yumo Zhang, 2021. "Dynamic Optimal Mean-Variance Portfolio Selection with a 3/2 Stochastic Volatility," Risks, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-21, March.
    5. Shen, Yang & Zeng, Yan, 2015. "Optimal investment–reinsurance strategy for mean–variance insurers with square-root factor process," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 118-137.
    6. Guiyuan Ma & Song-Ping Zhu, 2022. "Revisiting the Merton Problem: from HARA to CARA Utility," Computational Economics, Springer;Society for Computational Economics, vol. 59(2), pages 651-686, February.
    7. Suresh M. Sundaresan, 2000. "Continuous‐Time Methods in Finance: A Review and an Assessment," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(4), pages 1569-1622, August.
    8. Zheng, Xiaoxiao & Zhou, Jieming & Sun, Zhongyang, 2016. "Robust optimal portfolio and proportional reinsurance for an insurer under a CEV model," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 77-87.
    9. Junna Bi & Jun Cai & Yan Zeng, 2021. "Equilibrium reinsurance-investment strategies with partial information and common shock dependence," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 307(1), pages 1-24, December.
    10. Chenxu Li & Olivier Scaillet & Yiwen Shen, 2020. "Wealth Effect on Portfolio Allocation in Incomplete Markets," Papers 2004.10096, arXiv.org, revised Aug 2021.
    11. Yang Shen, 2020. "Effect of Variance Swap in Hedging Volatility Risk," Risks, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-34, July.
    12. Marcos Escobar-Anel & Ben Spies & Rudi Zagst, 2024. "Optimal consumption and investment in general affine GARCH models," OR Spectrum: Quantitative Approaches in Management, Springer;Gesellschaft für Operations Research e.V., vol. 46(3), pages 987-1026, September.
    13. Chenxu Li & O. Scaillet & Yiwen Shen, 2020. "Decomposition of Optimal Dynamic Portfolio Choice with Wealth-Dependent Utilities in Incomplete Markets," Swiss Finance Institute Research Paper Series 20-22, Swiss Finance Institute.
    14. Wang, Hang & Hu, Zhijun, 2020. "Optimal consumption and portfolio decision with stochastic covariance in incomplete markets," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    15. Wang, Ling & Jia, Bowen, 2025. "Equilibrium investment strategies for a defined contribution pension plan with random risk aversion," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    16. Cheng, Yuyang & Escobar-Anel, Marcos, 2023. "A class of portfolio optimization solvable problems," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    17. Zhu, Huainian & Cao, Ming & Zhang, Chengke, 2019. "Time-consistent investment and reinsurance strategies for mean-variance insurers with relative performance concerns under the Heston model," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 280-291.
    18. Yumo Zhang, 2023. "Robust Optimal Investment Strategies for Mean-Variance Asset-Liability Management Under 4/2 Stochastic Volatility Models," Methodology and Computing in Applied Probability, Springer, vol. 25(1), pages 1-32, March.
    19. Weilun Cheng & Zongxia Liang & Sheng Wang & Jianming Xia, 2025. "Equilibrium Investment with Random Risk Aversion: (Non-)uniqueness, Optimality, and Comparative Statics," Papers 2512.00830, arXiv.org, revised Jan 2026.
    20. Min Dai & Hanqing Jin & Steven Kou & Yuhong Xu, 2021. "A Dynamic Mean-Variance Analysis for Log Returns," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(2), pages 1093-1108, February.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    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:eee:matcom:v:242:y:2026:i:c:p:343-365. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/mathematics-and-computers-in-simulation/ .

    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.