Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/167915 
Year of Publication: 
2017
Citation: 
[Journal:] Risks [ISSN:] 2227-9091 [Volume:] 5 [Issue:] 1 [Publisher:] MDPI [Place:] Basel [Year:] 2017 [Pages:] 1-15
Publisher: 
MDPI, Basel
Abstract: 
The replicating portfolio approach is a well-established approach carried out by many life insurance companies within their Solvency II framework for the computation of risk capital. In this note we elaborate on one specific formulation of a replicating portfolio problem. In contrast to the two most popular replication approaches, it does not yield an analytic solution (if, at all, a solution exists and is unique). Further although convex, the objective function seems to be non-smooth and hence a numerical solution might thus be much more demanding than for the two most popular formulations. Especially for the second reason, this formulation did not (yet) receive much attention in practical applications, in contrast to the other two formulations. In the following, we will demonstrate that the (potential) non-smoothness can be avoided due to an equivalent reformulation as a linear second order cone program (SOCP). This allows for a numerical solution by efficient second order methods like interior point methods or similar. We also show that - under weak assumptions - existence and uniqueness of the optimal solution can be guaranteed. We additionally prove that - under a further similarly weak condition - the fair value of the replicating portfolio equals the fair value of liabilities. Based on these insights, we argue that this unloved stepmother child within the replication problem family indeed represents an equally good formulation for practical purposes.
Subjects: 
life insurance
replicating portfolio
market consistent valuation
cash flow matching
fair value
stochastic Fermat-Torricelli problem
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by Logo
Document Type: 
Article
Appears in Collections:

Files in This Item:
File
Size
889.03 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.