Darragh Kelly
Ton up Member
Hi,
I have a few question's in relation to chapter 17 of the notes.
Section 2.5 Dynamism of the model (page 9)
For example, how life assurance bonus rates could vary with fixed-interest yields…
Just trying to connect the bonus rates to the yields. Is it because it’s at the insurance companies discretion to issue these depending on company performance or how the bonds used to back/match the life assurance bonus rates perform?
Section 3.3 Rate for discounting cashflows (page 12)
So my understanding of this is as follows. If the company selling annuities and it backs them with fixed interest bonds paying coupons, a suitable rate for pricing/valuing the future cashflows of the annuities (so a fair price in today’s terms can be derived) would be the yield of the bond? Is this what it means when it says the return required by the company
For the second bullet point, the level of statistical risk attaching… so how I get my head around this is we might not assign any probability of a future cashflow/outgo, however we can allow of the risk/probability in the discount rate. If we are reserving/valuing/pricing having a lower discount rate means a higher present value so that’s conservative as we’d allow a higher provision value. Or if we were pricing a product we’d be selling at a higher price (and margins would be built in).
Finally, isn’t using a lower risk discount rate more conservative then a higher one? If you added a discount margin to the risk-free rate isn’t this less conservative?
Section 8.4 Parameter Error (page 20)
If the product is too sensitive to be increasing withdrawal rates then a reduction in surrender values should be considered. If the product is too sensitive to mortality, then the reinsurance programme could be revised. I’m not sure why the above steps would be taken, sorry just struggling with it. Alternatively, additional margins could be included in the pricing basis to reflect the increased risk. This means including additional margins in the assumptions or price itself?
Many thanks in advance,
Darragh
I have a few question's in relation to chapter 17 of the notes.
Section 2.5 Dynamism of the model (page 9)
For example, how life assurance bonus rates could vary with fixed-interest yields…
Just trying to connect the bonus rates to the yields. Is it because it’s at the insurance companies discretion to issue these depending on company performance or how the bonds used to back/match the life assurance bonus rates perform?
Section 3.3 Rate for discounting cashflows (page 12)
So my understanding of this is as follows. If the company selling annuities and it backs them with fixed interest bonds paying coupons, a suitable rate for pricing/valuing the future cashflows of the annuities (so a fair price in today’s terms can be derived) would be the yield of the bond? Is this what it means when it says the return required by the company
For the second bullet point, the level of statistical risk attaching… so how I get my head around this is we might not assign any probability of a future cashflow/outgo, however we can allow of the risk/probability in the discount rate. If we are reserving/valuing/pricing having a lower discount rate means a higher present value so that’s conservative as we’d allow a higher provision value. Or if we were pricing a product we’d be selling at a higher price (and margins would be built in).
Finally, isn’t using a lower risk discount rate more conservative then a higher one? If you added a discount margin to the risk-free rate isn’t this less conservative?
Section 8.4 Parameter Error (page 20)
If the product is too sensitive to be increasing withdrawal rates then a reduction in surrender values should be considered. If the product is too sensitive to mortality, then the reinsurance programme could be revised. I’m not sure why the above steps would be taken, sorry just struggling with it. Alternatively, additional margins could be included in the pricing basis to reflect the increased risk. This means including additional margins in the assumptions or price itself?
Many thanks in advance,
Darragh