This paper empirically studies the impact of consumer reaction to default risk on an insurer's optimal solvency level. Using experimentally obtained data, we derive a price-default risk-demand-curve that serves as an input variable for the insurer's risk strategy. We show that an insurer should...

The European insurance industry is among the largest institutional investors in Europe. Therefore, major reallocations in their investment portfolios due to the new risk-based economic capital requirements introduced by Solvency II would cause significant disruptions in European capital markets...

This paper investigates the question of how risk management should be embedded in a firm's hierarchy. We take an innovative approach to this question by combining the well-known capital asset pricing framework with game-theoretic thinking. We discover the conditions under which risk information...

In light of the upcoming Solvency II Pillar 3 disclosure regulation for the insurance industry, this paper explores the risk disclosure practices in annual reports of European primary insurers in the Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Insurance Index between 2005 - 2009. Based on a self-constructed risk...

This paper compares the shareholder-value-maximizing capital structure and pricing policy of insurance groups against that of stand-alone insurers. Groups can utilise intra-group risk diversification by means of capital and risk transfer instruments. We show that using these instruments enables...

A life care annuity is a bundled insurance product comprised of a life annuity and long-term care insurance. Some recent studies find the two risks-longevity risk and long-term care risk-to be opposing and thus life care annuities advantageous in regard to pooling the two risks. Based on...

This paper compares the shareholder-value-maximizing capital structure and pricing policy of insurance groups against that of stand-alone insurers. Groups can utilise intra-group risk diversification by means of capital and risk transfer instruments. We show that using these instruments enables...

This paper analyzes how capital-related frictional costs (e.g., corporate or personal taxes) influence insurers' optimal pricing and safety level decisions. Frictional costs are modeled with an innovative generic approach that is compatible with many realistic forms of taxation. I show that in...

This paper investigates the question of how risk management should be embedded in a firm's hierarchy. We take an innovative approach to this question by combining the well-known capital asset pricing framework with game-theoretic thinking. We discover the conditions under which risk information...

A life care annuity is a bundled insurance product comprised of a life annuity and long-term care insurance. Some recent studies find the two risks-longevity risk and long-term care risk-to be opposing and thus life care annuities advantageous in regard to pooling the two risks. Based on...