Agriculture as an asset class: reshaping the South African farming sector

International audienc

Dynamic Financial Analysis - Understanding Risk and Value Creation in Insurance

The changing business environment in non-life insurance and reinsurance has raised the need for new quantitative methods to analyze the impact of various types of strategic decisions on a company’s bottom line. Dynamic Financial Analysis («DFA») has become popular among practitioners as a means of addressing these new requirements. It is a systematic approach based on large-scale computer simulations for the integrated financial modeling of non-life insurance and reinsurance companies aimed at assessing the risks and the benefits associated with strategic decisions. DFA allows decision makers to understand and quantify the impact and interplay of the various risks that their company is exposed to, and – ultimately – to make better informed strategic decisions. In this brochure, we provide an overview and assessment of the state of the industry related to DFA. We investigate the DFA value proposition, we explain its elements and we explore its potential and limitations.reinsurance, dynamic financial analysis, insurance

Business Value of IT Investment: The Case of a Low Cost Airline’s Website

Using the case of a low cost airline company’s website we analyze some special research questions of information technology valuation. The distinctive characteristics of this research are the ex post valuation perspective; the parallel and comparative use of accounting and business valuation approaches; and the integrated application of discounted cash flow and real option valuation. As the examined international company is a strategic user of e-technology and wants to manage and account intangible IT-assets explicitly, these specific valuation perspectives are gaining practical significance

Managing uncertainty:financial, actuarial and statistical modelling.

present value; Value; Actuarial;

ІМІТАЦІЙНО-АВТОМАТНЕ МОДЕЛЮВАННЯ ПРОЦЕСІВ У СТРАХОВІЙ ДІЯЛЬНОСТІ

On the basis of automated-simulation method of modelling it is possible to represent prognostication of size formed insurance and systems of accruals and money streams of insurer during realization of processes of insurance, reinsurance and investment activity of insurer.By means of this method it is possible to investigate dependence of forming of insurance and reserve funds of insurer on the volume of receivabless of insurance bonuses and payments of amounts covered and insurance compensations with the aim of analysis and control after the financial state of insurance company and determination of profitability of insurance operations.Automated modeling tool allows at any time to predict the size of the existing insurance fund, which serves as the main source for fulfilling the financial obligations of the insurer to the policyholder, while taking into account the probabilistic characteristics of the insurance processes.Namely, in our opinion, the automated-simulation method of modeling allowed to solve the problem of forecasting the cash flows of the insurer and, accordingly, ensuring its financial stability in the long run. This method provides an opportunity to predict the size of the formed insurance and reserve funds, to solve the problem of establishing the optimal amount of the insurer's own allowance, to choose a strategy of investment activity.Статья посвящена исследованию применения основных экономико-математических методов в моделировании процессов страховой деятельности. Определены тенденции развития и выяснены особенности финансовой деятельности страховщиков на страховом рынке Украины. Оценены имеющиеся методики анализа финансовой стойкости страховых организаций и предложены направления их совершенствования и интеграции в систему аналитического обеспечения управления финансовой стойкостью страховщика. Определены основные факторы, которые влияют на рентабельность деятельности страховых компаний, и проведен расчет соответствующего интегрального показателя.Стаття присвячена дослідженню ефективності застосування економіко-математичних методів моделювання процесів страхової діяльності. Оцінено наявні методики аналізу фінансової стійкості страхових організацій і запропоновано напрями їхнього вдосконалення шляхом використання імітаційно-автоматного моделювання та інтеграції у систему аналітичного забезпечення управління фінансовою стійкістю страховика. Визначено основні фактори, що впливають на рентабельність діяльності страхових компаній, та проведено розрахунок відповідного інтегрального показника

Explaining strategic performance in the portuguese financial services industry

This paper aims to identify some economic and financial variables that evaluate the goodness of the strategic choices undertaken in a small economy, when most of the companies are not listed and equity prices are not available. We used the strategic decisions taken by the Portuguese financial services industry (banks and insurance companies). Based on a questionnaire that was sent to all of the Portuguese financial firms, we were able to apply factor analysis to the results to determine two major factors (business environment and strategic choices) to explain corporate performance. When strategic choices were decomposed into several explanatory subvariables we found technology adoption, strategic alliances, geographic based strategies and attention focused on competitive aspects as the main contributors. This conclusion is observable when traditional regression analysis methodology is used as well as when neural networks were built. Our methodology applied to Portuguese data provided findings that support previous research in more developed economies where studies were carried out with market prices data extracted from efficient capital markets.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Regulatory solvency prediction in property-liability insurance: risk-based capital, audit ratios, and cash flow simulation

This paper analyzes the accuracy of the principal models used by U.S. insurance regulators to predict insolvencies in the property-liability insurance industry and compares these models with a relatively new solvency testing approach--cash flow simulation. Specifically, we compare the risk-based capital (RBC) system introduced by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) in 1994, the FAST (Financial Analysis and Surveillance Tracking) audit ratio system used by the NAIC, and a cash flow simulation model developed by the authors. Both the RBC and FAST systems are static, ratio-based approaches to solvency testing, whereas the cash flow simulation model implements dynamic financial analysis. Logistic regression analysis is used to test the models for a large sample of solvent and insolvent property-liability insurers, using data from the years 1990-1992 to predict insolvencies over three-year prediction horizons. We find that the FAST system dominates RBC as a static method for predicting insurer insolvencies. Further, we find the cash flow simulation variables add significant explanatory power to the regressions and lead to more accurate solvency prediction than the ratio-based models taken alone.Insurance industry

The Informational System for Resources Administration in Fish Farms

The informational system for aquaculture activities provide a financial planning and analysis tool. The software can also be of assistance to land-based farmers who want to more thoroughly utilize their water resources by developing small-scale fish farm systems to provide supplementary income. Informational model has been enhanced to produce a comprehensive software package for aquaculture feasibility modeling, financial planning, sales and harvesting planning and management information tools.aquaculture resources, bussines plan, informational system, financial instrument for aquaculture activities, farm model, casf flow, performance and profitability measures, FCR (feed conversion rate).

Optimal enterprise risk management and decision making with shared and dependent risks

Includes bibliographical references (pages 27-29).Published as: Journal of Risk and Insurance, vol. 84, no. 4, December 2017, pp. 1127–1169. https://doi.org/10.1111/jori.12140.Dynamic enterprise risk management (ERM) entails holistic decision-making for critical corporate functions such as capital budgeting and risk management. The interplay across business divisions, however, is complicated due to their natural interactions through the shared and dependent risk exposures within an intricate corporate structure. This paper develops an integrated optimization framework via a copula-based decision tree interface to facilitate ERM decision making to meet the specified enterprise goal in a multi-period setting. We illustrate our model and provide managerial insights with a case study for a financial services company engaged in both banking and insurance businesses