Mortality/Longevity Risk-Minimization with or without Securitization

This paper addresses the risk-minimization problem, with and without mortality securitization, à la Föllmer–Sondermann for a large class of equity-linked mortality contracts when no model for the death time is specified. This framework includes situations in which the correlation between the market model and the time of death is arbitrary general, and hence leads to the case of a market model where there are two levels of information—the public information, which is generated by the financial assets, and a larger flow of information that contains additional knowledge about the death time of an insured. By enlarging the filtration, the death uncertainty and its entailed risk are fully considered without any mathematical restriction. Our key tool lies in our optional martingale representation, which states that any martingale in the large filtration stopped at the death time can be decomposed into precise orthogonal local martingales. This allows us to derive the dynamics of the value processes of the mortality/longevity securities used for the securitization, and to decompose any mortality/longevity liability into the sum of orthogonal risks by means of a risk basis. The first main contribution of this paper resides in quantifying, as explicitly as possible, the effect of mortality on the risk-minimizing strategy by determining the optimal strategy in the enlarged filtration in terms of strategies in the smaller filtration. Our second main contribution consists of finding risk-minimizing strategies with insurance securitization by investing in stocks and one (or more) mortality/longevity derivatives such as longevity bonds. This generalizes the existing literature on risk-minimization using mortality securitization in many directions.

Pricing Longevity Bonds Under the Uncertainty Theory Framework

This paper aims to develop a new pricing approach for longevity bonds under the uncertainty theory framework. First, we describe the life expectancy by a canonical uncertain process and illustrate the dynamic of short interest rate via an uncertain Vasicek interest rate model. Then, based on these descriptions, we construct an uncertain survival index model and present its procedure for parameter estimation. By applying the chain rule, we derive a pricing formula of the uncertain zero-coupon bond. Considering that the financial market is incomplete, we put forward an uncertain distortion operator. Furthermore, based on the uncertain survival index, the uncertain zero-coupon bond pricing formula and the uncertain distortion operator, we develop a pricing formula of the uncertain longevity bond and its calculation algorithm. Finally, a numerical example is shown to illustrate the influence of parameters on the price of the uncertain longevity bond.

Pricing of Longevity Derivatives and Cost of Capital

Annuities providers become more and more exposed to longevity risk due to the increase in life expectancy. To hedge this risk, new longevity derivatives have been proposed (longevity bonds, q-forwards, S-swaps…). Although academic researchers, policy makers and practitioners have talked about it for years, longevity-linked securities are not widely traded in financial markets, due in particular to the pricing difficulty. In this paper, we compare different existing pricing methods and propose a Cost of Capital approach. Our method is designed to be more consistent with Solvency II requirement (longevity risk assessment is based on a one year time horizon). The price of longevity risk is determined for a S-forward and a S-swap but can be used to price other longevity-linked securities. We also compare this Cost of capital method with some classical pricing approaches. The Hull and White and CIR extended models are used to represent the evolution of mortality over time. We use data for Belgian population to derive prices for the proposed longevity linked securities based on the different methods.

A Bayesian Pricing of Longevity Derivatives with Interest Rate Risks

Mortality-linked securities such as longevity bonds or longevity swaps usually depend on not only mortality risk but also interest rate risk. However, in the existing pricing methodologies, it is often the case that only the mortality risk is modeled to change in a stochastic manner and the interest rate is kept fixed at a pre-specified level. In order to develop large and liquid longevity markets, it is essential to incorporate the interest rate risk into pricing mortality-linked securities. In this paper we tackle the issue by considering the pricing of longevity derivatives under stochastic interest rates following the CIR model. As for the mortality modeling, we use a two-factor extension of the Lee-Carter model by noting the recent studies which point out the inconsistencies of the original Lee-Carter model with observed mortality rates due to its single factor structure. To address the issue of parameter uncertainty, we propose using a Bayesian methodology both to estimate the models and to price longevity derivatives in line with (Kogure, A., and Y. Kurachi. 2010. “A Bayesian Approach to Pricing Longevity Risk Based on Risk Neutral Predictive Distributions.”

Risk measures versus ruin theory for the calculation of solvency capital for long-term life insurances

The purpose of this paper is twofold. First we consider a ruin theory approach along with risk measures in order to determine the solvency capital of long-term guarantees such as life insurances or pension products. Secondly, for such products,we challenge the definition of the Solvency Capital Requirement (SCR) under the Solvency II (SII) regulatory framework based on a yearly viewpoint. Several methods for the calculation of the solvency capital are presented. We start our study with risk measures as considered in the SII framework and then proceed with the ruin theory approach. Instead of considering the continuous time setting of the ruin theory,we consider the discrete time—the yearly basis—of the accounting viewpoint.We finally give an illustration with a fixed guaranteed rate product along with the equity, interest rate and longevity risks. The latter risk brings us to consider zero-coupon longevity bonds in which we invest the capital. We show that long-term guarantees might be overloaded under the SII regulation.