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A Unified Pricing of Variable Annuity Guarantees under the Optimal Stochastic Control Framework

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  • Pavel V. Shevchenko

    (The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, PO BOX 52, North Ryde, NSW 1670, Australia)

  • Xiaolin Luo

    (The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, PO BOX 52, North Ryde, NSW 1670, Australia)

Abstract

In this paper, we review pricing of the 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. We also discuss pricing under the complete/incomplete financial market models, stochastic mortality and optimal/sub-optimal policyholder behavior, and in the presence of taxes. For numerical valuation of these contracts in the case of simple risky asset process, we develop a direct integration method based on the Gauss-Hermite quadratures 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 easier to implement and faster 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 present accurate numerical results for pricing of a Guaranteed Minimum Accumulation Benefit (GMAB) guarantee available on the market that can serve as a numerical benchmark for practitioners and researchers developing pricing of variable annuity guarantees to assess the accuracy of their numerical implementation.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jrisks:v:4:y:2016:i:3:p:22-:d:73342
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    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. 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.
    12. 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.
    13. Claudio Fontana & Francesco Rotondi, 2022. "Valuation of general GMWB annuities in a low interest rate environment," Papers 2208.10183, arXiv.org, revised Aug 2023.

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