scholarly journals Life Insurance Companies: Determinants of Cost Efficiency and Profitability

2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Joseph Kwadwo Tuffour ◽  
Kenneth Ofori-Boateng ◽  
Williams Ohemeng ◽  
Jane Kabukuor Akuaku
Keyword(s):  
Life Insurance ◽  
Cost Efficiency ◽  
Insurance Industry ◽  
Capital Allocation ◽  
Insurance Companies ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Earnings Information ◽  
Life Insurance Industry ◽  
Effective Cost ◽  
Cost Efficient

One of the most important aspects of measuring a firm’s performance is its efficiency, through which the firm is expected to envisage effective cost reductions, thereby enhancing profitability. However, most studies conducted to explore the determinants of insurance companies’ performance has concentrated on the accounts earnings information and its components which are known to explain a small proportion of a firm’s performance. Also, studies on insurance either lump all the insurance companies together or pay more attention to non-life insurance, making it difficult to evaluate the fast growing life insurance industry in Ghana. Therefore, this study examines the efficiency of life insurance companies in Ghana utilising data from twelve life insurance companies for a period of 2013-2017. The efficiency scores were calculated using Efficiency Measurement System software. The fixed effect panel regression results show that, the significant determinants of both cost and profit functions are: price of labour, commission, gross premium and net investment income. It was also revealed that, on the average, the life insurance companies were about 71.2% cost efficient and 41.7% profit efficient. Further analysis reveals that, both profit and cost efficiency changes have statistically significant positive effect on firms’ Return on Asset. Policy-makers should institute policies that encourage these companies to operate efficiently in order to make effective capital allocation decisions to avoid collapse.

Determinants of Derivative Usage in the Life and General Insurance Industry: The Australian Evidence

2003 ◽  
Vol 06 (04) ◽  
pp. 405-431 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc De Ceuster ◽  
Liam Flanagan ◽  
Allan Hodgson ◽  
Mohammad I. Tahir
Keyword(s):  
Life Insurance ◽  
Insurance Industry ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Insurance Companies ◽  
Long Tail ◽  
Life Insurers ◽  
Market Risks ◽  
Life Insurance Industry ◽  
General Insurance ◽  
Standard Operating

Core business and financial market risks are not easily reduced by standard operating procedures in insurance companies. Derivatives theoretically provide a cost effective vehicle to hedge these risks. This paper provides an empirical analysis of the determinants of derivative usage as well as the extent of derivative usage in the Australian insurance industry in both life and general insurance companies for the period 1997–1999. Empirical results for the Australian life insurance industry in general confirm the findings of UK and US based research. However, the Australian general insurance industry does not appear to follow the conclusions of previous literature. Our results indicate that for life insurers, the determinants of derivative usage were size, leverage and reinsurance. For the general insurance industry the determinants were size and the extent of long tail lines of business written. As regards the determinants of the extent of derivative usage, these were size and asset-liability duration mismatches for life insurers. For the general insurance industry the determinants of the extent of derivative usage were size, the extent of long tail lines of business written, and the reporting year.

scholarly journals Complaint Redressal Practices in Public and Private Insurance Companies

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (12S2) ◽  
pp. 369-374
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Life Insurance ◽  
Insurance Industry ◽  
Private Insurance ◽  
Private Life ◽  
Insurance Companies ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
The Public ◽  
Life Insurance Industry ◽  
Regulations And Guidelines

The life insurance industry of India has 23 licenses -holders running their business in this sector. The Life Insurance Corporation of India (LICI), which is the only player in the public sector, the remaining area is covered by the 22 private sector companies. IRDAI has taken initiatives to provide effective grievance handling machinery to address the grievances of policyholders. Consumer dispute Redressal agency is efficient for handling complaints and easily accessible. This paper examines the regulations and guidelines framed by IRDAI for effective grievance handling and the study would provide some insights into the areas, specifically status of grievances in public and private life insurance companies (LIC, SBI, HDFC, Reliance Life and Bajaj Allianz) and the functioning of consumer dispute Redressal agencies of life insurance sectors.

Performance Benchmarking of the Indian Life Insurance Industry

2015 ◽  
pp. 616-625
Author(s):  
Ram Pratap Sinha ◽  
Nitish Datta
Keyword(s):  
Technical Efficiency ◽  
Life Insurance ◽  
Insurance Industry ◽  
Operating Performance ◽  
Insurance Companies ◽  
Unified Framework ◽  
Performance Benchmarking ◽  
Life Insurers ◽  
Life Insurance Industry ◽  
The Mean

In the last decade, the life insurance companies operating in India have made significant progress in terms of business consolidation. In view of the same, it is of interest to make an enquiry about the operating performance of these companies. This chapter compares 15 life insurance companies operating in India from the period 2005-06 to 2008-09 using the Hybrid Efficiency Model (Tone, 2004). The Hybrid Model provides a unified framework for the estimation of technical efficiency integrating the radial and non-radial characterisation of inputs and outputs. Out of the 15 in-sample life insurance companies, the number of technically efficient life insurers declined from 9 in 2005-06 to 4 in 2006-07 and further to 3 in 2007-08 and 2008-09. The mean technical efficiency scores of the in-sample life insurers declined sharply between 2005-06 and 2006-07 and improved somewhat thereafter.

Assessing the Technical Efficiency of Traditional and Corporate Agents in Indian Life Insurance Industry: Slack-based Data Envelopment Analysis Approach

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 490-506 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ankitha Shetty ◽  
Savitha Basri
Keyword(s):  
Data Envelopment Analysis ◽  
Technical Efficiency ◽  
Life Insurance ◽  
Insurance Industry ◽  
Distribution Channels ◽  
Insurance Companies ◽  
Data Envelopment ◽  
Life Insurance Industry ◽  
Significant Difference

The distribution channels play an imperative role in the life insurance industry. In India, traditional and corporate agency are contributing immensely to the profitability of the insurance companies. The challenges faced by the distributional channels such as high attrition, soaring expense ratio and sales inefficiency have created the need to probe into the efficiency aspects of the channel players. In the absence of such studies in India, this article evaluates the technical efficiency of distribution channels in life insurance industry by analysing the data collected from 12 insurance companies for the period 2012 to 2016. The efficiency scores were obtained by applying data envelopment analysis that considered two inputs (number of agents and commission expenses) and two outputs (average business premium and total policies sold). The findings reveal no significant difference in the efficiency scores of bancassurance and traditional agents. Quiet life hypothesis that market share (ratio of premium contribution to total premium) of distributional channels and their efficiency scores are negatively correlated is not supported. Moreover, the slack analysis shows excess inputs per output generated for both the channels. If the companies that scored low in efficiency do not plug the leakages regarding commission as well a number of agents, adverse performance in the long-term and consequent financial crisis are inevitable.

scholarly journals Influencing Factors of Corporate Performance of Life Insurance Companies – Evidence from China

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 219
Author(s):  
Maoguo Wu ◽  
Yanyuan Wang
Keyword(s):  
Life Insurance ◽  
Corporate Performance ◽  
Insurance Industry ◽  
Channel Structure ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Insurance Companies ◽  
Chinese Government ◽  
Life Insurance Industry ◽  
State Pension ◽  
The Impact

At present, the life insurance industry in China is still in the initial stage of development, which is characterized by limited scale, low penetration rate and low intensity. However, the large population base, the proliferation of middle classes, and the continuously improving socio-economic environment in China imply underlying developmental opportunities for the life insurance industry. Gaps in state pension have appeared owing to the issue of aging population, which signals that insurance companies with commercial properties may become an integral part of resident endowment. Ever since 2014, Chinese government has implemented numerous policies that are beneficial to the life insurance industry, for instance, diversifying investment channels of premiums, allowing a certain proportion of premiums in risky investments, and removing the restriction that the rate of return on common stakeholders’ equity (ROE) of participating insurance is capped at 5%. This paper constructs a panel data of 36 Chinese life insurance companies from 2010 to 2014. A serial of preliminary tests are taken in order to avoid spurious regression. By dint of the fixed effect model and panel threshold model, the paper analyzes the relation between operation-related factors and the corporate performance of life insurance companies. According to empirical findings, bancassurance income rate, professional insurance agency income rate, participating insurance income rate, group insurance income rate, company scale and solvency adequacy ratio are negatively correlated with corporate performance. When life insurance companies are associated with banks in capitals, bancassurance income rate positively influences corporate performance. The paper also investigates the impact of specific marketing channel structure and product structure on corporate performance. Policy implications are proposed accordingly.

scholarly journals DOES OWNERSHIP STRUCTURE MATTER? A COST EFFICIENCY STUDY OF LIFE INSURANCE FIRMS IN INDONESIA

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 367-382
Author(s):  
Riski Wicaksono ◽  
Dr. Tri Mulyaningsih
Keyword(s):  
Life Insurance ◽  
Joint Venture ◽  
Cost Allocation ◽  
Insurance Industry ◽  
Cost Model ◽  
Profit Efficiency ◽  
Life Insurance Industry ◽  
Cost Efficient ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Mean Cost

This paper is about the cost and profit efficiency of Indonesia’s life insurance industry. Using data from 2010–2014, we compare cost and profit efficiency among local and joint venture insurers. Our empirical analysis, based on a time-invariant translog cost model, reveals mean cost allocation and profit efficiency scores of 0.36 and 0.52, respectively. Interestingly, we find that domestic insurers are more cost efficient compared to joint venture insurers; however, joint venture insurers maximize profit more.

scholarly journals MEASURES TO IMPROVE LIFE INSURANCE PROFITABILITY IN INDIA

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 98-105
Author(s):  
Ramesh Kumar Satuluri ◽  
Raavi Radhika
Keyword(s):  
Life Insurance ◽  
Insurance Industry ◽  
Jel Classification ◽  
Insurance Market ◽  
Insurance Companies ◽  
Bottom Line ◽  
Life Insurance Industry ◽  
Policy Measures ◽  
Global Statistics ◽  
Indian Insurance

With ~32 crore policies in-force and over ~11000 branches across locations, Life Insurance Industry in India is the 10th largest across the globe in terms of premium contribution. India's share in Global Life Insurance Market was 2.73% during 2019. The life insurance industry is also one of the largest employers with both direct and indirect employment. Life Insurance penetration in India is at 2.82% and density at 58 USD, which is way below the global statistics. This gives immense opportunity for global players to venture into the Indian insurance market. With a proposal for an FDI hike to 74%, we are expecting many big players to enter the Indian market. However, the attractiveness of the industry not depends solely on the market opportunity but also on the bottom line, which is profitability. Indian Insurance Industry is one of the highly regulated markets across the globe and perceived to be the lowest profit-making insurance market. Hence, the need for the study to improve the profitability of life insurance companies in India through structural and policy measures. JEL Classification Codes: G22, I13, O16, A10, E22, G10.  

scholarly journals The Importance of the Efficiency of Mutual Life Insurers: A Comparison to Stock Life Insurers

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 474-505
Author(s):  
William Wise
Keyword(s):  
Life Insurance ◽  
Research Methodology ◽  
Insurance Industry ◽  
Insurance Companies ◽  
Economic Problems ◽  
Life Insurers ◽  
Life Insurance Industry ◽  
Life Insurer ◽  
The One ◽  
Total Stock

AbstractResearch background: Mutual companies are a major component of the life insurance industry worldwide and moreover are growing in importance. Efficiency, potentially affected by whether a life insurer company is mutual or stock, can determine how well said companies perform.Purpose: The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the importance of examining the efficiency of mutual and takaful (similar to mutuals) life insurance companies.Research methodology: This research coordinates 1) ideas regarding the size and importance of the mutual and takaful life industries worldwide, 2) theoretical aspects concerning how the efficiency of mutual/takafuls is expected to compare to that of stock insurers and 3) the outcomes of germane life insurance efficiency studies.Results: The outcomes of life insurance efficiency studies tend to show that, in total, stock insurers are more efficient than mutuals apart from one conspicuous element. As mutuals are substantial within several of the world’s largest life markets and the global life industry their being inefficient can be exceedingly negative. The overall conclusion is that such inefficiency can lead to dire economic problems so it is imperative to investigate the efficiency of mutuals/takafuls and perhaps the one element of stocks.Novelty: This article is the first to investigate the results of mutual/takaful life insurer efficiency studies in concert with the abovementioned theory and draws a vital conclusion regarding mutual/takaful life insurer inefficiency.

scholarly journals Mindset shifts for the Fourth Industrial Revolution: Insights from the life insurance sector

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynne Molloy ◽  
Linda Ronnie
Keyword(s):  
Life Insurance ◽  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
Resistance To Change ◽  
Insurance Industry ◽  
Empirical Work ◽  
Organisational Change ◽  
Readiness For Change ◽  
Insurance Companies ◽  
Fourth Industrial Revolution ◽  
Life Insurance Industry

Orientation: The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) challenges organisations to embrace and adapt to a rising wave of technological innovation to remain relevant.Research purpose: Based on the interaction between technology change, the industry as a whole and the perceptions of individuals within organisations, this study explored how South African life insurance companies view the 4IR and how they are responding to the changes prompted by it.Motivation for study: This study sought to establish a baseline for practitioners in the life insurance industry to navigate the 4IR more effectively and for researchers to undertake further inquiry into specific enablers and inhibitors of technology transformation.Research approach/design and method: The study took an exploratory, qualitative approach. Interviews were conducted with 12 organisational leaders, purposively selected from a range of large, medium and start-up life insurers in South Africa. A thematic analysis method was used to analyse the data.Main findings: Four key themes related to organisational change and resistance to change within the industry were found: lack of urgency; lack of agility; partnerships and ecosystems; and abilities of people and leaders.Practical/managerial implications: Managers should recognise the urgency for proactive change, encourage collaborative practices by leveraging ecosystems and forming partnerships and ensure lifelong learning of employees.Contribution/value-add: There is a paucity of empirical work on managerial perceptions of the 4IR and the readiness for change within the life insurance industry. This study contributes to this debate and provided insights on organisational views at a management level.

scholarly journals Transforming Underwriting in the Life Insurance Industry

2019 ◽  
Vol 33 ◽  
pp. 9373-9380 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc Maier ◽  
Hayley Carlotto ◽  
Freddie Sanchez ◽  
Sherriff Balogun ◽  
Sears Merritt
Keyword(s):  
Life Insurance ◽  
Insurance Industry ◽  
Evaluation Framework ◽  
Insurance Companies ◽  
Insurance Company ◽  
Life Insurance Company ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Life Score ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Life Insurance Industry

Life insurance provides trillions of dollars of financial security for hundreds of millions of individuals and families worldwide. Life insurance companies must accurately assess individual-level mortality risk to simultaneously maintain financial strength and price their products competitively. The traditional underwriting process used to assess this risk is based on manually examining an applicant’s health, behavioral, and financial profile. The existence of large historical data sets provides an unprecedented opportunity for artificial intelligence and machine learning to transform underwriting in the life insurance industry. We present an overview of how a rich application data set and survival modeling were combined to develop a life score that has been deployed in an algorithmic underwriting system at MassMutual, an American mutual life insurance company serving millions of clients. Through a novel evaluation framework, we show that the life score outperforms traditional underwriting by 6% on the basis of claims. We describe how engagement with actuaries, medical doctors, underwriters, and reinsurers was paramount to building an algorithmic underwriting system with a predictive model at its core. Finally, we provide details of the deployed system and highlight its value, which includes saving millions of dollars in operational efficiency while driving the decisions behind tens of billions of dollars of benefits.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document