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Main Determinants of Profit-Sharing Policy in the French Life Insurance Industry

Author

Listed:
  • Fabrice Borel-Mathurin

    (Autorité de Contrôle Prudentiel et de Résolution)

  • Pierre-Emmanuel Darpeix

    (Autorité de Contrôle Prudentiel et de Résolution
    Paris School of Economics)

  • Quentin Guibert

    (Université de Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Institut de Science Financière et d’Assurances (ISFA), Laboratoire SAF EA2429)

  • Stéphane Loisel

    (Université de Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Institut de Science Financière et d’Assurances (ISFA), Laboratoire SAF EA2429)

Abstract

The current low interest rate environment and the coming into force of Solvency II raise questions about the stability of the life insurance industry in Europe and the sustainability of traditional insurance products. We use a data set built from French supervisory reports to investigate the drivers of the participation rates (equivalent to annual yields) served on euro-denominated life insurance contracts over the period from 1999 to 2013. Our analysis confirms practitioners’ intuition on the alignment with the 10-year French government bond; we later analyse the deviation of the participation rates from this reference. Our data indicate that financial margins are more strictly targeted than participation. We find evidence that surrenders are fairly uncorrelated with participation, suggesting that other levers are used to monitor them. While higher asset returns can imply better yield for policyholders, riskier portfolios do not necessarily translate into better participation.

Suggested Citation

  • Fabrice Borel-Mathurin & Pierre-Emmanuel Darpeix & Quentin Guibert & Stéphane Loisel, 2018. "Main Determinants of Profit-Sharing Policy in the French Life Insurance Industry," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan;The Geneva Association, vol. 43(3), pages 420-455, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:gpprii:v:43:y:2018:i:3:d:10.1057_s41288-018-0080-9
    DOI: 10.1057/s41288-018-0080-9
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    3. Stéphane Loisel, 2014. "Reevaluation of the capital charge in insurance after a large shock: empirical and theoretical views," Post-Print hal-02013669, HAL.
    4. Aur'elien Alfonsi & Adel Cherchali & Jose Arturo Infante Acevedo, 2019. "A full and synthetic model for Asset-Liability Management in life insurance, and analysis of the SCR with the standard formula," Papers 1908.00811, arXiv.org.
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    7. Bravo, Jorge Miguel & El Mekkaoui de Freitas, Najat, 2018. "Valuation of longevity-linked life annuities," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 212-229.
    8. Berdin, Elia & Pancaro, Cosimo & Kok Sørensen, Christoffer, 2016. "A stochastic forward-looking model to assess the profitability and solvency of European insurers," SAFE Working Paper Series 137, Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE, revised 2016.
    9. B. Camara & F.-D. Castellani & H. Fraisse & L. Frey & C. Héam & L. Labonne & V. Martin, 2015. "MERCURE : A Macroprudential Stress Testing Model developed at the ACPR," Débats économiques et financiers 19, Banque de France.
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    12. Srbinoski Bojan & Strozzi Fernanda & Poposki Klime & Born Patricia H., 2020. "Trends in Life Insurance Demand and Lapse Literature," Asia-Pacific Journal of Risk and Insurance, De Gruyter, vol. 14(2), pages 1-46, July.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    participation rate; profit-sharing policy; life insurance; panel data; regulatory database;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G22 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Insurance; Insurance Companies; Actuarial Studies
    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth
    • E49 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Other

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