scholarly journals The Malaysian Fund Managers Perspective on the Viability of Takaful Operators Investment

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 250
Author(s):  
Amirul Afif Muhamat ◽  
Mohamad Nizam Jaafar ◽  
Norzitah Abdul Karim ◽  
Azreen Roslan ◽  
Mohd Faizal Basri
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Finance ◽  
Delphi Technique ◽  
Critical Issue ◽  
Investment Strategy ◽  
Insurance Companies ◽  
Investment Strategies ◽  
Senior Executive ◽  
Fund Managers ◽  
Final Questionnaire

Takaful operators are expected by the policyholders to act beyond the role of traditional insurance companies that only offer Shariah-compliant protection services. They are expected to be commercially viable. One of the ways to be commercially viable is takaful operators must be able to invest the policyholders' funds in the profitable investment avenues. Nevertheless, the critical issue before investing the funds is to develop products that are suitable with the takaful operators' investment strategy. This study employed a questionnaire survey to gather the feedback of fund managers from 11 takaful operators in Malaysia — all were the senior staffs of takaful operators in Malaysia were surveyed. The questionnaire is developed in the form of a Likert scale ranging from 1 to 5 as the research instrument. By Delphi technique, the draft of the questionnaire was sent to a panel of experts for review, was adopted, and their feedback reflected in the final questionnaire. The experts were a shariah advisor, a corporate finance manager, and a senior executive at the central bank. Findings indicate that policyholders' expectations on their investments are met and the products so far compatible with takaful operators' investment strategies.

Mutual fund management in the period of financial crisis

2017 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 75-81
Author(s):  
О. А. Bank
Keyword(s):  
Financial Crisis ◽  
Mutual Fund ◽  
Economic Recession ◽  
Investment Strategy ◽  
Economic Conditions ◽  
Investment Strategies ◽  
Fixed Income ◽  
Fund Management ◽  
Fund Managers ◽  
Different Types

Mutual fund managers do not have full freedom in choosing investment strategies - they are limited both by the laws and by investment declarations of the funds. Investment strategy cannot be fully changed even in financial crisis but it only can be corrected. This fact could not be characterized as a disadvantage because different types of funds are efficient in different time even during the same economic recession. Mutual fund manager should rationally invest funds of their clients: it is better to keep the maximum possible part of the portfolio in cash and instruments with fixed income on the declining market and it is better to keep shares on the rising market. However the choice of bonds also as the choice of shares should pay respect for the features of these instruments during unfavorable economic conditions. Russian mutual fund management differs from fund management in other countries as in stable economic situation so in the circumstances of financial crisis.

Quantitative Asset Managers and Their Chains

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diane-Laure Arjaliès ◽  
Philip Grant ◽  
Iain Hardie ◽  
Donald MacKenzie ◽  
Ekaterina Svetlova
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Research ◽  
Investment Strategy ◽  
Qualitative Reasoning ◽  
The Other ◽  
Investment Strategies ◽  
Self Presentation ◽  
Fund Managers ◽  
Investment Firm ◽  
Asset Managers

Chapter 4 discusses a particular set of fund managers and analysts, those who follow investment strategies which are based on quantitative research. They might be expected to be more solitary in their practices and less enmeshed in relations to clients and to other intermediaries than their colleagues who rely on more qualitative reasoning. The chapter shows, however, that this is not so. Quantitative managers’ investment ideas often come from others in the investment chain. Brokers and sell-side analysts are one major source; another source of ideas is those occupying similar roles in other firms. The chapter also suggests that basing a quantitative investment strategy around an idea that is already in circulation eases the task of marketing and the communication with clients. However, successful self-presentation to external audiences can cause internal frictions with colleagues within the investment firm, the other topic which the chapter explores in detail.

Abstract: Alternative Investment Strategies for the Issuers of Equity-Linked Life Insurance Policies with an Asset Value Guarantee

1977 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 651-652 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Brennan ◽  
Eduardo S. Schwartz
Keyword(s):  
Option Pricing ◽  
Life Insurance ◽  
Mutual Fund ◽  
Investment Strategy ◽  
Insurance Companies ◽  
Recent Theory ◽  
Investment Strategies ◽  
Insurance Company ◽  
Insurance Policy ◽  
Asset Value

An equity-linked life insurance policy with an asset value guarantee (ELPAVG) is an insurance policy whose benefit payable on death or at maturity consists of the greater of some guaranteed amount and the value of a reference portfolio which is defined by the deemed investment of a predetermined component of the policy premium in a portfolio of common stocks or mutual fund–the reference fund. In an earlier paper we demonstrated that the benefit payable under an ELPAVG could be decomposed into the known guaranteed amount and an immediately exercisable call option to purchase the reference portfolio for an exercise price equal to the guaranteed amount. The principles of the option pricing model were then employed to derive the equilibrium premium for both a single premium ELPAVG contract and a periodic premium contract. It was further noted that the hedging arguments, which are the core of most of the recent theory of option pricing, could be employed to derive an investment strategy for the insurance company which would eliminate the risks associated with the sale of ELPAVGs: this is an important result, for ELPAVGs may pose a significant threat to the solvency of insurance companies since the risks of loss under different contracts are not independent, but are commonly related to the overall performance of the reference fund. Actuaries have responded to this threat by attempting to determine a level of reserves sufficient to reduce the probability of ruin to an acceptable level. On the other hand, adoption of the riskless investment strategy in theory eliminates the need to hold any reserves except against mortality risk.

Advisers and Consultants

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gordon L. Clark ◽  
Ashby H. B. Monk
Keyword(s):  
Pension Fund ◽  
Investment Strategy ◽  
Investment Strategies ◽  
Investment Management ◽  
Sovereign Wealth Funds ◽  
Roles And Responsibilities ◽  
Different Types

Chapter 8 looks at roles and responsibilities in relation to asset owners and holders and the process of investment management. A framework presents the consultant’s value in the framing of investment strategies and their implementation, emphasizing issues of process as well as substance. The focus is on the role of consultants who advise clients on investment strategy and implementation. An analytical account is provided of the various roles of investment consultants—how and why their roles vary in relation to the size of assets under management (AUM) and the ways in which they can foster or obstruct innovation. The chapter begins with a discussion of the theory of intermediation. This followed by a schematic framework of what investment consultants do in three different types of pension fund—small, medium, and large, a framework that can be applied to endowments, foundations, family offices, and sovereign wealth funds.

scholarly journals Dynamic surplus optimization with performance- and index-linked liabilities

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sascha Desmettre ◽  
Markus Wahl ◽  
Rudi Zagst
Keyword(s):  
Optimal Investment ◽  
Investment Strategy ◽  
Insurance Companies ◽  
Investment Strategies ◽  
Insurance Company ◽  
Expected Return ◽  
Close Link ◽  
Closed Form Solutions ◽  
Risky Investment ◽  
The Impact

AbstractThe increasing importance of liability-driven investment strategies and the shift towards retirement products with lower guarantees and more performance participation provide challenges for the development of portfolio optimization frameworks which cover these aspects. To this end, we establish a general and flexible terminal surplus optimization framework in continuous time, allowing for dynamic investment strategies and stochastic liabilities, which can be linked to the performance of an index or the asset portfolio of the insurance company. Besides optimality results in a fairly general surplus optimization setting, we obtain closed-form solutions for the optimal investment strategy for various specific liability models, which include the cases of index-linked and performance-linked liabilities and liabilities which are completely or only partially hedgeable. We compare the results in numerical examples and study the impact of the performance participation, unhedgeable risk components, different ways of modeling the liabilities and the relative risk aversion parameter. We find that performance- or index-linked liabilities, which provide a close link between the wealth of the insurance company and its liabilities, allow for a higher allocation in the risky investment. On the other hand, unhedgeable risks reduce the allocation in the risky investment. We conclude that, aiming at a high expected return for the policy holder, insurance companies should try to connect the performance of insurance products closely to the wealth and minimize unhedgeable risks.

Selecting Railway Investments in 1890s America

2017 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-93
Author(s):  
Joel E. Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Accounting Information ◽  
Accounting Standards ◽  
Financial Accounting ◽  
Investment Strategies ◽  
Financial Accounting Standards Board ◽  
Accounting Data ◽  
Rational Decisions

ABSTRACT The purpose of financial reporting is to provide information to investors and creditors to help them make rational decisions (Financial Accounting Standards Board [FASB] 2010). Tracing the development of investors' methods should help with understanding the role of financial accounting. This study examines investment practices involving railways in 1890s America. As such, it furthers our knowledge about the development of investment methods and their necessary information. Moreover, it shows that as investment methods grew in sophistication, there was an enhanced demand for greater comparability in accounting data to make meaningful analyses. Competing investment strategies, largely devoid of accounting information, are also discussed.

scholarly journals Implicit incentives for fund managers with partial information

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Flavio Angelini ◽  
Katia Colaneri ◽  
Stefano Herzel ◽  
Marco Nicolosi
Keyword(s):  
Asset Allocation ◽  
Partial Information ◽  
Market Price ◽  
Investment Strategy ◽  
Expected Returns ◽  
Martingale Method ◽  
Fund Manager ◽  
Market Price Of Risk ◽  
Fund Managers ◽  
Price Of Risk

AbstractWe study the optimal asset allocation problem for a fund manager whose compensation depends on the performance of her portfolio with respect to a benchmark. The objective of the manager is to maximise the expected utility of her final wealth. The manager observes the prices but not the values of the market price of risk that drives the expected returns. Estimates of the market price of risk get more precise as more observations are available. We formulate the problem as an optimization under partial information. The particular structure of the incentives makes the objective function not concave. Therefore, we solve the problem by combining the martingale method and a concavification procedure and we obtain the optimal wealth and the investment strategy. A numerical example shows the effect of learning on the optimal strategy.

scholarly journals Immunization Strategies for Funding Multiple Inflation-Linked Retirement Income Benefits

Risks ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 60
Author(s):  
Cláudia Simões ◽  
Luís Oliveira ◽  
Jorge M. Bravo
Keyword(s):  
Interest Rate ◽  
Yield Curve ◽  
Risk Measure ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Interest Rate Risk ◽  
Insurance Companies ◽  
Retirement Income ◽  
Investment Strategies ◽  
Immunization Strategies ◽  
The Impact

Protecting against unexpected yield curve, inflation, and longevity shifts are some of the most critical issues institutional and private investors must solve when managing post-retirement income benefits. This paper empirically investigates the performance of alternative immunization strategies for funding targeted multiple liabilities that are fixed in timing but random in size (inflation-linked), i.e., that change stochastically according to consumer price or wage level indexes. The immunization procedure is based on a targeted minimax strategy considering the M-Absolute as the interest rate risk measure. We investigate to what extent the inflation-hedging properties of ILBs in asset liability management strategies targeted to immunize multiple liabilities of random size are superior to that of nominal bonds. We use two alternative datasets comprising daily closing prices for U.S. Treasuries and U.S. inflation-linked bonds from 2000 to 2018. The immunization performance is tested over 3-year and 5-year investment horizons, uses real and not simulated bond data and takes into consideration the impact of transaction costs in the performance of immunization strategies and in the selection of optimal investment strategies. The results show that the multiple liability immunization strategy using inflation-linked bonds outperforms the equivalent strategy using nominal bonds and is robust even in a nearly zero interest rate scenario. These results have important implications in the design and structuring of ALM liability-driven investment strategies, particularly for retirement income providers such as pension schemes or life insurance companies.

Managing uncertainty in a general insurance company

1990 ◽  
Vol 117 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-277 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. D. Daykin ◽  
G. B. Hey
Keyword(s):  
Computer Model ◽  
Flow Model ◽  
Insurance Companies ◽  
Simulation Methods ◽  
Insurance Company ◽  
Practical Applications ◽  
General Insurance ◽  
Alternative Approaches ◽  
The Impact

AbstractA cash flow model is proposed as a way of analysing uncertainty in the future development of a general insurance company. The company is modelled alongside the market in aggregate so that the impact of changes in premium rates relative to the market can be assessed. An extensive computer model is developed along these lines, intended for use in practical applications by actuaries advising the management of genera1 insurance companies. Simulation methods are used to explore the consequences of uncertainty, particularly in regard to inflation and investments. Some comments are made on the role of actuaries in general insurance. Alternative approaches to describing the behaviour of an insurance firm in the market are considered.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document