Past papers (ASSA) Flashcards
(158 cards)
Possible reasons for deterioration in experience
changes in:
- mix of business
- target market
- number of policies
- risk profile of the new policies
- risk / economic environment
- reinsurance arrangements
- cover offered
- terms and conditions of cover
- salvage received / recoveries made
- regulation
- tax
- judicial decisions
- client behaviour (claiming patterns / risk purchase / risk management)
increase in:
- crime
- less qualified / inexperienced staff (extra PI claims)
- claims handling expenses
- fraudulent claims
- catastrophic event affecting many insureds
Considerations for the process of premium revisions-
- existing internal data could be used
- data from other products on similar risks might be used
- other external data might be useful (crime statistics)
- Data would need to be adjusted
- reinsurers may be able to provide useful information
- consider competitor’s premium rates
- actual experience of new policies might differ from older policies - consider the differences for these
- different perils should be analysed and priced for separately to prevent cross-subsidisation
- risks should be separated into broadly homogeneous risk groups
- include all potentially relevant rating factors in the data
- allocate expensses appropriately
- rates should be loaded for required profitability
- load for commission / other expenses
- rates should be adjusted to reflect the cost of reinsurance
Premium revisions:
Why should past data be adjusted?
To ensure the experience is appropriate for the period in which the rates will apply.
Premium revisions:
What should past data be adjusted for? (8)
- Unusually heavy / light experience
- large / exceptional claims
- trends in claims experience
- changes in risk
- changes in cover
- inflation
- court awards / legislation
- different target market
Practical challenges when building an internal model
- Costs of :
- – developing the model
- – purchasing software
- – employing actuaries
- – getting systems aligned
- – fixing data
- – implementation
- time to completion may overrun
- information / data availability
- lack of experience in model development
- difficulties in modelling catastrophe and operational risk
- changing environment: due to the time taken to develop, the business environment could change
Explain the use test (internal model)
The insurer must be able to prove that it uses the model in its day-to-day running of the business as part of its risk management strategy.
It needs to consider all areas of risk faced by the insurance company.
The company needs to demonstrate that it has been using it successfully for at least a year prior to obtaining approval.
Give possible reasons for two insurance quotes on the same asset having widely varying premiums
- Differing Policy terms & conditions
- – excesses
- – types of cover
- Different assumptions around:
- – volatility
- – severity
- – frequency
- Different target markets
- Different pricing methodology
- Different data & experience
- Different shareholder & capital requirements
- Different expense loadings
- Different allowance for cross subsidies between rating factors
- Mistakes in pricing
- Pricing arbitrage
- Different reinsurance structures used by the company
- Differing investment return / interest rate used
- Underwriting discounts provided by some insurers
- Different interpretation of where the market currently is in terms of the insurance cycle.
How would you convince a board that your pricing approach is justified
- discuss pricing methodology and assumptions
Explain:
- data used and adjustments made to data
- the reason for rating factors chosen
- all areas of uncertainty in assumptions
- expense loadings
- the actual statistical analysis & goodness of fit
- return on equity and other loadings
- the results of any profit testing analyses
- whether or not prices are fixed for a set period of time or adjustable as market conditions change
Elaborate on any actuarial guidance used, and where you complied.
Define:
“Working Layer”
A layer of excess of loss reinsurance at a level where there is likely to be a regular flow of claims (Relatively higher frequency compared to other Non-proportional covers).
Define:
“Stability Clause”
A clause that may be included in a non-proportional reinsurance treaty, providing for the indexation of monetary limits (i.e. the excess point and/or upper limit) in line with a specified index of inflation / fixed rate agreed upfront.
Reasons for using a Working Layer
- Used to increase capacity
- Used where it is desired to significantly limit exposure to adverse deviations in claims experience or where the insurer has low risk appetite for volatility of earnings.
Reasons for using a stability clause
Used to ensure that the layers agreed maintain real value through time / maintain equity between the insurer and reinsurer.
Particularly useful in period of high inflation or where the term of cover is quite long.
Describe:
Surplus reinsurance cover
- Proportional cover
- The treaty will specify the maximum cession as a multiple of the cedant’s retention in each case, which will have a maximum value.
- An insurer may require several layers of surplus reinsurance to cover all its risks.
- The reinsurer will pay commission to the cedant that reflects the cedant’s commission to the insured, possibly plus over rider and/or profit commission.
Describe:
Risk Excess of loss cover
Non-proportional reinsurance
- Relates to losses arising from a SINGLE EVENT at one time
- It will refund the insurer the amount of a claim above a retention - up to a limit
- the retention and/or limit may vary according to a particular inflation index
- cover will usually be limited to a certain number of claims for the full amount
- after a full loss to the layer, it may be necessary to pay to reinstate the cover for further losses
- a company will normally need several layers of excess of loss cover
State the advantages of surplus
relative to risk excess of loss
for the REINSURER
- May produce more income than non-proportional cover. This will depend on the excess point and number of lines of business, but the reinsurer gets proportion of each risk that breaches the retention limit.
- Arguably easier to administer as information will be passed through on bordereaux.
State the advantages of surplus
relative to risk excess of loss
for the INSURER
- May give ATTRACTIVE profit / ceding COMMISSION, usually exceeds the rate of commission paid by the direct writer
- Provides UNLIMITED REINSTATEMENTS at no extra cost (apart from loss of profit commission)
- Provides significant catastrophe cover, which leads to lower capital requirements. Usually states an event limit.
State the advantages of risk risk excess of loss
relative to surplus
for the INSURER
- cedes only part of the risk - which reduces cost
- can choose to reinsure only from a certain level in line with the insurer’s risk appetite.
State the advantages of risk risk excess of loss
relative to surplus
for the REINSURER
- Can set pricing for the layer, determined as a rate on line
- Can limit downside risk by limiting reinstatements. Also by increasing retention for the cedant, reinsurer is not exposed to as many claims.
Define:
Bordereau
A detailed list of premiums, claims and other important statistics (e.g. largest risks and dates).
Provided by ceding insurers to reinsurers, so that payments due under a reinsurance treaty can be calculated.
Small claims are often provided as a summary, details are only given routinely for large claims, above an agreed threshold.
Describe the differences that you might see between the Reinsurance Company and insurance company premium and claim data triangles
- Data provided most probably only quarterly/half-yearly so FREQUENCY of observation and reporting DELAYS are the main difference.
- The reinsurer will not be able to see premium and claim movements at intervals shorter than the agreement allows for above.
- Claims which are reported to the insurer just into the start of a new period will thus have an additional reporting delay of either 3/6 months depending on the term.
- There will be a short delay between the close of a reporting period and the reinsurer getting the data to allow for processing time and the handover process.
- Small claims are often aggregated so that the reinsurer will not be able to investigate individual claim attributes.
- Premium definition may be different (e.g. gross or net of commission).
- Some claim amounts will change several times in the period the reinsurer will not see all the claim amounts.
- There could exist a 45 / 30 day delay in submission meaning that a reinsurer’s year-end may be missing the latest quarterly data.
IFRS 4
Insurance contract definition
In an insurance or reinsurance contract, one party (the insurer) accepts significant insurance risk from another party (the policyholder) by agreeing to compensate the policyholder if a specified uncertain future event (the insured event) adversely affects the policyholder.
Describe:
Risk attaching basis
Risks attaching contracts will cover all policies that incept during the contract period, irrespective of when the losses occur in the future.
Depending on how the original policies are worded, the losses could emerge several years after the policy period itself has expired.
Describe:
Losses occurring basis
The contract will respond to any losses that occur within the contract period.
Which is usually priced lower:
- Losses occurring basis
- Risks attaching basis
The price for a losses occurring basis is initially lower then for a Risks attaching basis.
But usually you have to buy missing cover later.