We consider a contingent claim model framework for participating life insurance contracts and assume a competitive market with minimum solvency requirements as provided by Solvency II. In a first step, the implications of the regulator's imposing a particular interest rate guarantee on the insurer's asset allocation are analyzed in a reference situation. We study the sensitivity of the interaction between the interest rate guarantee and the asset allocation when the risk-free interest rate changes. Particular attention is paid to the current market situation where the guaranteed interest rate is very close to the risk-free interest rate. In a second step, we assess at what level the interest rate guarantee should be set by the regulator in order to maximize policyholders' utility. We show that the results yielded by the proposed concept to derive an optimal value for the interest rate guarantee are very stable for various model parameters.
Life insurance is an important product for many individuals, both to protect dependents against the premature death of an income producer and to provide savings in later retirement years. These kinds of products, however, can be quite complex. Regulatory authorities and consumers currently ask for more cost transparency with respect to product components (e.g., risk premium for death benefits, savings premium, cost of investment guarantee) and administration costs. The aim of this article is to measure the effects of different forms of presenting the price of life insurance contract components and especially of embedded investment guarantees on consumer evaluation of those products. The intention is to understand the extent to which price presentation affects consumer demand. This is done by means of an experimental study and by focusing on unit-linked life insurance products. Our findings reveal that contrary to other consumer products, there are no precise effects of "price bundling" and "price optic" on consumer evaluation and purchase intention in the case of life insurance. Consumer experience and price perception, however, yield a significant moderating effect.
This chapter provides an overview of new life insurance financial products. After a general market overview, Sect. 36.2 presents different forms of traditional and innovative life insurance financial products and their main characteristics. Since unit-linked and equity- indexed type contracts represent the basis for most innovative products in recent years, Sect. 36.3 presents basic aspects of the modeling, valuation, and risk management of unit- linked life insurance contracts with two forms of investment guarantees (interest rate and lookback guarantees) and different underlying investment strategies. In Sect. 36.4, variable annuities are discussed and focus is laid on challenges for insurers in regard to pricing and risk management of the various embedded options. Section 36.5 finally puts the customer's perspective in the center of the analysis, along with a discussion of current developments regarding product information documents and performance and risk-return profiles, which is of special relevance for new and traditional products.
In this paper, we introduce a capital market-based financial guaranty system as an alternative to current insurance guaranty funds and deposit insurance systems. The guaranty system secures clients' claims for the event of default by the financial company using a special purpose vehicle which issues bonds to investors. The proposed system, analogous to a credit-linked note, consists of one guaranty vehicle for each financial company. In a first step, we present equations in order to derive the two main input parameters of the special purpose vehicle: the premium and the principal. Subsequently, we analyze the impact of different investment actions taken by the financial companies protected by the guaranty vehicle on various shortfall measures. We find that it will be necessary to restrict the investment volume of investors from the financial industry in order to avoid systematic risk within the proposed guaranty scheme. By deriving practical implications, we show that the capital market- based solution has some key benefits compared to current deposit insurance and insurance guaranty schemes.
