Centro de Documentacion de Fundación MAPFRE - Longevity risk, cost of capital and hedging for life insurers under Solvency II

MAP20140014415

Longevity risk, cost of capital and hedging for life insurers under Solvency II / Ramona Meyricke, Michael Sherris

Sumario: The cost of capital is an important factor determining the premiums charged by life insurers issuing life annuities. This capital cost can be reduced by hedging longevity risk with longevity swaps, a form of reinsurance. We assess the costs of longevity risk management using indemnity based longevity swaps compared to costs of holding capital under Solvency II. We show that, using a reasonable market price of longevity risk, the market cost of hedging longevity risk for earlier ages is lower than the cost of capital required under Solvency II. Longevity swaps covering higher ages, around 90 and above, have higher market hedging costs than the saving in the cost of regulatory capital. The Solvency II capital regulations for longevity risk generates an incentive for life insurers to hold longevity tail risk on their own balance sheets, rather than transferring this to the reinsurance or the capital markets. This aspect of the Solvency II capital requirements is not well understood and raises important policy issues for the management of longevity risk

En: Insurance : mathematics and economics. - Oxford : Elsevier, 1990- = ISSN 0167-6687. - 03/03/2014 Volumen 55 Número 1 - marzo 2014 , p. 147-155

1. Longevidad . 2. Solvencia II . 3. Swaps . 4. Predicciones . 5. Matemática del seguro . 6. Seguro de vida . 7. Coste del riesgo . I. Sherris, Michael . II. Título.