Chapter 12 Modelling Flashcards
List the uses of models. [5]
- Pricing ✓
- Product Design ✓
- Setting reserves (statutory reserves and for internal mgt accounts) ✓✓
- Costing and reserving for options and guarantees. ✓✓
- Assessing of profitability of new and existing business. ✓✓
- Analysis of surplus exercises. ✓
- EV calculations. ✓
- Determining capital requirements. ✓
- Assessing RoC. ✓
- Assessing reinsurance needs and how best to satisfy them. ✓✓
- Setting appropriate investment strategy, eg ALM. ✓✓
- Ongoing financial projections (revenue account, BS, solvency) ✓✓✓
- Expense budgeting ✓
- Valuing the business for merger/acquisition.✓✓
Notes Q12.1
List the four main types of models. [1]
- Single policy profit test model
- NB model
- EB model
- Full model office
Define a single policy profit test model and suggest what it may be used for. [1.5]
- It is a model that projects the expected cashflows and profit flows ✓✓ from a single policy from the date of issue. ✓✓
- Pricing and Product Design ✓✓
Define the term new business model and suggest what it may be used for. [2.75]
It is a model that projects the expected cashflows and profit flows ✓✓ arising from future sales of new business. ✓✓
Uses:
* assessing future capital requirements for the NB ✓✓✓
* and the overall RoC acchieved from future sales, ✓✓
* calculation of “goodwill” ✓
* (and hence appraisal value). ✓
Define the term existing business model and suggest what it may be used for. [2.5]
It is a model that projects the expected cashflows and profit flows ✓✓ arising from existing business at a particular time. ✓✓
Uses:
* assessing the intrinsic value of the existing business (EV) ✓✓
* testing the solvency of the existing business ✓✓
* analysing surplus ✓✓
Define the term full model office and suggest what it may be used for. [2.25]
It is essentially the sum of the NB model and the EB model. ✓✓
Uses:
* assessing the impact of future management decisions on the future development of the company, ✓✓
* NB projections ✓✓
* EVs ✓
* Solvency ✓
* Takeovers ✓
(NEST)
What is the prime objectives of a health insurance model? [
- Enable an actuary working for a health insurer to give appropriate advice to run insurer in a financially sound manner. ✓✓
- Models will be used in day-to-day work of company. ✓✓
- Provide checks & controls on business. ✓✓
- Considerable actuarial judgment will be required on choosing model type and selection of inputs/assumptions. ✓✓
What is a model point? [1]
- It is a data record that is fed into the computer as input for the modelling program. ✓✓
- It will represent either a policy or a group of policies, containing data on the most important characteristics of the policy (or group of policies). ✓✓
What factors would influence the number of model points chosen? [2.5]
- The computing power available. ✓
- The variability of the contracts sold. ✓
- The complexity of the contracts in force. ✓
- The age of the company. ✓
- Whether the model is deterministic or stochastic. ✓
- The purpose and importance of the investigation. ✓✓
- The time available. ✓
- The sensitivity of the results to using more or fewer model points. ✓✓
Basic features of a health insurance model
- model should allow for projection of cashflows: premiums, benefit structure, discretionary benefits, options to convert, etc.
- model should allow for cashflows arising from supervisory requirement to hold reserves & maintain adequate solvency margin.
- model should reflect cashflows from different states & transitions between states.
- model needs to allow for interactions between assets & liabilities.
- The ability to use stochastic stochastic models & simulations needs to be allowed where appropriate.
Features of Deterministic modelling process
- Each parameter has a fixed value
- The model produces a point estimate.
- It is possible to sensitivity test the results by running model and varying the parameter values.
Features of Stochastic modelling process
- Some of the parameters are allowed to vary & have their own statistical distribution.
- Stochastic model must be ran many times from random samples of the distribution functions.
- Model produces results in the form of a probability distribution.
Why is Stochastic modelling more important for health insurance than for pure life insurance?
- incidence ratio for health & care products is far less easier to predict than for pure life.
- the difficulty lies in the potential benefit amount, which may vary by policy-specified inflation(LTCI): medical inflation, (PMI),changes in accepted medical protocols (PMI)
Choosing between Stochastic & deterministic model
Stochastic model can be invaluable when:
- assessing stochastic impact of guarantees
- variable has a reasonably stably probability distribution.
- indicating the effect of year-on-year volatility on risk
- identifying potentially high-risk future scenarios
Stochastic models have their cons
- time and computing constraints
- sensitivity of results to the deterministically chosen parameter value eg mean & standard deviation a normal distribution.
Calibration of Stochastic models
different methods of setting parameters are as follows
-Risk-neutral/market-consistent calibration
-used for valuation purposes where options &
guarantees exist
-Focus here is to replicate market prices of actual
financial instruments as closely possible using an
adjusted probability measure.
-Real-world calibration
-typically used for calculating the capital to hold to
ensure solvency under extreme adverse future
scenarios.
-focus here is to use assumptions that reflect realistic
long-term expectations.
What are the different sensitivities to consider?
- Sensitivity of model to:
- the choice of model point
- sensitivity to parameters
- when pricing
- when reserving
- when assessing return on capital/profitability