Chapter 27: Developing and investment strategy (1) Flashcards

1
Q

Principles of investment

A
A provider should select investments that are appropriate to the:
- nature
- term 
- currency
- uncertainty
of the liabilities
- and the provider's appetite for risk.

Subject to this, the investments should be selected to maximise the overall return (income plus capital) on the assets.

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2
Q

In practice, the actual liability outgo depends on (2)

A
  • monetary value of each of the constituents

- probability of it being received or paid out.

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3
Q

Liability outgo can be split by nature into 4 categories:

A
  • guaranteed in money terms
  • guaranteed in terms of a prices index or similar
  • discretionary (with-profit discretionary benefits)
  • investment-linked (unit-linked benefits)
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4
Q

Investment-linked benefit payments

A

Appropriate assets are those which replicate, or closely approximate the index.
Any free assets may be used to maximise returns with any profit benefiting the provider. However, regulation may disallow mismatching.

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5
Q

Currency (i.t.o asset-liability matching)

A

Liabilities denominated in a particular currency should be matched by assets in the same currency, so as to reduce anfy currency risk.

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6
Q

Regulation (i.t.o. asset-liability matching)

A

• Types of assets:

  • Restrictions on the types of assets that a provider can invest in
  • Restrictions on the amount of any particular type of asset that can be taken into account for the purpose of demonstrating solvency.
  • A requirement to hold a certain proportion of total assets in a particular class, for example a government stock.

• Mismatching:

  • A requirement to match assets and liabilities by currency.
  • A requirement to hold a mismatching reserve.
  • A limit on the extent to which mismatching is allowed at all.
  • Restrictions on the maximum exposure to a single counterparty
  • Might require custodianship of assets.
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7
Q

Immunisation

A

Used to achieve asset-liability matching.

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8
Q

Discretionary benefits

A

Payments that are payable at the discretion of the provider.

For example, future bonus payments under with-profit contracts or pension increases in excess of guaranteed contracts.

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9
Q

8 Examples of institutional liabilities for a General Insurer

A

Motor policies:

  • property damage
  • bodily injury
  • liability for property damage / bodily injury

Employer’s liability policies:

  • Property damage
  • Bodily injury / disease / death

Other products:

  • Household property (contents, buildings)
  • Commercial property
  • Product liability
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10
Q

8 Examples of institutional liabilities for a Life insurer

A

Non-profit:

  • Life cover (eg term / whole life assurance)
  • Annuities

Unit-linked:

  • Unit fund
  • Non-unit fund

With-profits:

  • Sum insured
  • declared RB
  • future RB
  • future TB
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11
Q

Appropriate Assets for liabilities guaranteed in money terms

A

fixed interest assets.

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12
Q

Approaches to matching liabilities guaranteed in money terms

A
  • Pure Cashflow Matching
  • Approximate matching:
    ……- Immunisation
    ……- Liability hedging
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13
Q

3 Conditions of Immunization

A
  • Equal present values
  • Equal durations
  • Asset portfolio convexity > liability convexity
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14
Q

Limitation of Immunization

A

Provides protection against parallel yield curve shifts, but not against twists or other non-parallel movements.

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15
Q

Appropriate Assets for liabilities guaranteed in terms of an index

A

Index-linked securities, where available

If not available:

  • equity type assets
  • assets expected to produce a real return
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16
Q

Appropriate assets for discretionary benefits liabilities

A

Aim is to maximise benefits and/or meet expectations.

Investing to produce highest expected return and/or smooth returns.

17
Q

Net liability outgo consists of

A

benefit payments
+ expense outgo
- premium / contribution income

18
Q

Workings of a mismatching reserve

A

The regulations are usually framed so that the more a company decides to invest in riskier assets with a higher expected return, the higher is any resulting reserve.
This increases the value of the liabilities and reduces the available free assets/surplus.