Guaranteed Annuity Options are options providing the right to convert a policyholder's accumulated funds to a life annuity at a fixed rate when the policy matures. These options were a common feature in UK retirement savings contracts issued in the 1970's and 1980's when interest rates were...

Guaranteed Annuity Options are options providing the right to convert a policyholder's accumulated funds to a life annuity at a fixed rate when the policy matures. These options were a common feature in UK retirement savings contracts issued in the 1970's and 1980's when interest rates were...

We extrapolate interest rate yield curves for the purpose of discounting very long-dated pension liabilities and insurance contracts. The extrapolation uses a no-arbitrage term structure model estimated on liquid euro swap instruments with maturities between 5 and 20 years. The extrapolation...

We address two empirical issues related to the long end of the yield curve based on euro swap rates. First, for maturities longer than 20 years we find evidence for an `excess' downward slope that cannot be explained by convexity. Second, volatility at the very long end of the yield curve is...