Facing Up to Longevity with Old Actuarial Methods: A Comparison of Pooled Funds and Income Tontines

We compare the concepts underlying modern actuarial solutions to pension insurance and present two recently developed pension products—pooled annuity overlay funds (based on actuarial fairness) and equitable income tontines (based on equitability). These two products adopt specific approaches to the management of longevity risk by mutualising it among participants rather than transferring it completely to the insurer. As the market would appear to be ready for such innovations, our study seeks to establish a general framework for their introduction. We stress that the notion of actuarial fairness, which characterises pooled annuity overlay funds, enables participants to join and exit the fund at any time. Such freedom of action is a quite remarkable feature and one that cannot be matched by lifelong contracts

Dynamic Strategies for Defined Benefit Pension Plans Risk Management

The aim of this paper is to outline the concept of efficient audit strategies for the risk management of defined benefit pension plans. These strategies are based on the possibility of varying the risk level of the investment (i.e. the random returns volatility) at an audit time which is efficient in terms of minimizing the default probability and of maximizing the expected surplus

Guarantee structures in life annuities: A comparative analysis

1noLife annuities constitute a large category of insurance and pension products, ranging from conventional annuities (immediate or deferred) to longevity-linked life annuities, sharing the aim of providing living benefits. The analysis of the guarantee structure aims at singling out the risks taken by the annuity provider, in particular the longevity risk, and the possibility of sharing these risks between annuitant and annuity provider.reservedmixedPitacco, ErmannoPitacco, Ermann