Ch 19: Models 2 Flashcards
Summary Card
- Pricing
- Profit criteria
- Capital & solvency
- Valuing assets and liabilities
- Dynamic solvency testing
- Sensitivity testing
What is product pricing? (2)
Outline how models are used for product pricing (4)
Pricing is the process of setting the premium/charging structure, for
- new busines or
-
existing business
- continually monitoring validity of premium rates on exist bus
- re-examine if expected future experience changed from that used in initial pricing)
General steps
- Choose model points, considering
- existing bus: profile of existing bus + expected changes
- new bus: profile of similar bus, adj for exp future changes
- For each MP, project cashflows, allowing for reserving + solvency capital requirements, on basis of set of assumptions
- Discount net cashflows at RDR that allows for:
- return required by company
- level of statistical risk attaching to cashflows (so in theory, separate RDR for each component of cashflows)
- theoretically, separate RDR used for diff CFs, since statistical risk associated with each will be different
- Premium/charges for model point set to produce profit required by company
Model points
What is a model point (MP)? (3)
How do model points help in the modelling exercise? (3)
MP is a
- data record fed as input into a model/modelling programme…
- …will represent either a policy or group of homogenous policies
- …will contain most important characteristics of the policy
How model points help?
- underlying business comprises wide range of pols
- MPs group policies expected to produce similar results, which can then be scaled up, saving time, requiring less power
- number of model points represent whole business
Model points:
Choosing model points
In force business (3)
New business (3)
Above all, MPs chosen such as to reflect adequately the distribution of business being modelled.
In force business
- group pols of same prod type which share acceptably similar characteristics, which will then contain average value for premiums, benefit guaranteed, etc
- group data to fit within computer constraints
- check validity: for block of pols=> compare grouped/ungrouped results
New business, consider
- Look at
- new business production
- trends in new business pols
- marketing changes
- planned new product launches
- imminent legislative/fiscal changes
- Influence on sales/persistency (for life and health care products)
- economic morale
- government provision of welfare
- tax
- political commitment (government offering alternatives)
- Business volumes
- Business mix
Define the term ‘profit criterion’ and name 3 profit criteria (3)
Single figure that tries to summarise relative effeciency of contracts with different profit signatures
- NPV (net present value)
- IRR (internal rate of return)
- DPP (discounted payback period)
Profit signature: seq of profits from inception to termination
Describe the net present value criterion (2)
List 4 issues regarind the NPV criterion (4)
- NPV of profit signature is calculated by discounting at risk discount rate
- Economic theory implies NPV is best profit criterion to use. Aim to max NPV
List 4 issues with NPV criterion
- However, it’s dependent on assumptions of
- RDR being appropriate for inherent risk
- operating in free and efficient capital market
- Means little by itself (e.g. can double NPV by doubling MPs’ premiums), so NPV normally expressed in relative terms such as
- in proportion to initial sales costs(comm) => implies comm in-line w/profitability
- in proportion to total discounted premium incomes => Capture small mkt share, sell large vol on high NPV contracts focus on incr mkt share and profitability.
- Subject to law of diminishing returns, else company could sell unlimited same policy with positive NPVs to increase profits
- Says nothing about competitiveness: high NPV bad if can’t sell
Define the internal rate of return profit criterion (2)
Describe the IRR (3)
State 3 reasons why the NPV may be more reliable than the IRR (3)
- Defined as rate of return at which discounted value of cashflows (NVP) is zero
- Company will usually prefer contracts with higher IRR
- Does not always agree w/NPV => incr NPV != incr IRR
Potentially NPV may be more reliable than IRR
- If more than one change of sign in stream of profits, IRR wil not usually be unique
- NPV can be related to useful indicators of policy’s worth to company eg sales effort , mkt share, IRR can’t
- NPV always exists. IRR may not exist (eg.. if policy makes profits from outset)
Define the discounted payback (DPP) profit criterion and state why it will not usually agree with the NPV (3)
When is the DPP an important criteria? (4)
- Policy duration at which the profits that have emerged so far have zero present value
- i.e. time it takes for company to recover initial investment with interest at risk discount rate
- DPP will not usually agree with NPV as it ignores cashflows after the DPP
When is the DPP criteria important:
- Limited capital available=> sell policies with short DPP
- Long term policies
- Large initial capital strain
- Greater variation in DPP
Pricing: marketability of pricing results
List 5 possible responses to premiums/charges being unmarketable.
- After premiums/charges that meet profit criterion have been determined, and marketability needs to be considered.
- Reconsider product design e.g.
- remove risky features
- add product differentiating features
- Consider distribution channel change if would cause/permit
- assumption change in model
- higher premium/charges without loss of marketability
- Reduce company’s profit requirement
- Decide not to market the product
- Re-examine assumed expenses
Pricing: capital requirements(3)
2.4.4
Net CFs from MPs after scaling up for New Bus will be included in model of business of whole company
- Profitable on whole
- possible for desired profitability to be met in aggregate, and not every single MP being profitable
- …exposed to changes in mix of business
- Agg profitability of product:
- Look at impact on EV after any changes
- Full model office since future new bus=> significantly affect future EV
- project EV to allow for management action: compare EV under different management decisions
- test outcome sensitivities to experience esp dif volumes/mix of business
- Observe modelled CF timings and amounts
- ..to assess impact of writing new product. if capital is a problem, may need to reconsider prod design
- new/existing bus useful
- allow for supervisory min solvency margin
- Determine prems/charges for MP’s and interpolate for all other contract variations
How do we go about asessing ROC (return on capital) during a pricing exercise? (3)
- Gross up net cashflows for new bus, and use to assess amount of capital required to write product
- regulatory basis
- economic basis
- Add one off development costs: to the extent that they have not already been amortised/included in expense CFs used
- Total capital requirement: given by above
- can be compared with profits expected to emerge from product so as to determine expected return on capital
Profitability: assessing existing business profitability (2)
Full policy book (2)
Representative MPs (7)
Scaling up (7)
- Measurement of exp future profits
- EV: value of fut profit stream from existing business + value of net SH assets
-
Policy by policy basis
- May use full policy data set,
- more accurate than MPs, but takes time/resources
-
Representative MPs
- starting point may be previous used MPs, modified for new bus, or
- redo MP generation based on in force bus; less prone to errors than adjusting previous MPs
- check MP suitability:
- run MPs through supervisory model and compare to published value
- obtain PV of projected CF using suitable RDR
- theoretically different RDR for different CFs
- lower RDR than on pricing as some risks reduced e.g. new business volume and mix
-
Totalling across all policies/scale MPs up
- PV of future profits: used together with NAV to get EV
- Proj CF’s, disc @ RDR, scale up CF’s, and agg results
- Check PV of profits: hopefully positive=> good financial management of product
- Breakdown/analysis of future profits to compare relative contr to company profile, by
- product
- class
- distribution channel
- subsidiaries
What is ‘solvency’? (3)
Solvency
- Solvency relates to insurer’s ability to meet future outgo, both from existing bus and from future new bus may sell
- Enough reserves for future liabilities on existing bus + extra for anything else (cost of smoothing bonuses, new bus strain)
- Regular solvency projections required, as part of regular supervisory submission
Outline how an insurer should assess its capital requirements (4)
- Insurer should assess amounts and types of capital needed given
- amount of liabilities
- types of risks inherent in those liabilities
- Given liabilities span long period of years, necessary to project assets & liabilities into future years, allowing for:
- new business plans
- management actions e.g. changes in bonus and investment policy
Give 2 main bases on which the values of assets and liabilities can be determined, for the purposes of measuring solvency
Company needs to compare assets and liabilities at point in time to assess solvency, can use following bases
- Supervisory values
- as determined for supervisory reporting
- Economic values
- based on expected future experience or using a market-consistent basis