Abstract

Journal of Actuarial Practice

Volume 8, Numbers 1 and 2, 2000


Safe-Side Requirements in Life Insurance: A Corporate Perspective

Annamaria Olivieri and Ermanno Pitacco

Abstract

Safe-side requirements concern the assumptions used to calculate premiums in relation to a set of more realistic assumptions. Roughly, safe-side requirements express the capability of premiums to generate positive margins. In a strictly actuarial framework, safe-side requirements are given in terms of some notion of expected profit, calling for assumptions  that let such profit be nonnegative. An expected profit of zero, however, is not a realistic aim for the insurer.

We investigate the notion of conservative assumptions by adopting a unconventional approach. Our focus is the management of the financial resources coming both from premiums and from shareholders' capital. This  leads to a general structure that includes as particular cases the results obtainable in a strictly actuarial environment.

Key words and phrases: technical basis, expected profit, portfolio fund, shareholders' capital, opportunity cost of capital, discounted cash flow.

Annamaria Olivieri

Dipartimento di Matematica Applicata ``Bruno de Finetti''

University of Trieste

Trieste

ITALY

 

Ermanno Pitacco

Dipartimento di Matematica Applicata ``Bruno de Finetti''

University of Trieste

Trieste

ITALY


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