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The Impact of Management Fees on the Pricing of Variable Annuity Guarantees

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  • Jin Sun

    (Faculty of Sciences, University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo 2007, Australia
    Data61, CSIRO—Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Canberra 2601, Australia)

  • Pavel V. Shevchenko

    (Department of Actuarial Studies and Business Analytics, Macquarie University, North Ryde 2109, Australia)

  • Man Chung Fung

    (Data61, CSIRO—Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Canberra 2601, Australia)

Abstract

Variable annuities, as a class of retirement income products, allow equity market exposure for a policyholder’s retirement fund with optional guarantees to limit the downside risk of the market. Management fees andguarantee insurance fees are charged respectively for the market exposure and for the protection from the downside risk. We investigate the pricing of variable annuity guarantees under optimal withdrawal strategies when management fees are present. We consider from both policyholder’s and insurer’s perspectives optimal withdrawal strategies and calculate the respective fair insurance fees. We reveal a discrepancy where the fees from the insurer’s perspective can be significantly higher due to the management fees serving as a form of market friction. Our results provide a possible explanation of lower guarantee insurance fees observed in the market than those predicted from the insurer’s perspective. Numerical experiments are conducted to illustrate the results.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jrisks:v:6:y:2018:i:3:p:103-:d:170856
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Dionne, Georges & Fenou, Akouété & Mnasri, Mohamed, 2024. "Insurers’ M&A in the United States during the 1990-2022 period: Is the Fed monetary policy a causal factor," Working Papers 24-2, HEC Montreal, Canada Research Chair in Risk Management, revised 16 Jul 2024.
    3. Moenig, Thorsten, 2021. "Variable annuities: Market incompleteness and policyholder behavior," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 63-78.
    4. Anne MacKay & Adriana Ocejo, 2022. "Portfolio Optimization With a Guaranteed Minimum Maturity Benefit and Risk-Adjusted Fees," Methodology and Computing in Applied Probability, Springer, vol. 24(2), pages 1021-1049, June.
    5. Mrad, Fatma & Hamdi, Haykel & Naoui, Kamel & Abid, Ilyes, 2023. "The GMWB guarantee embedded in Life Insurance Contracts: Fair Value Pricing Problem," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).

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