On the optimal dividend problem for a spectrally negative L\'{e}vy process

In this paper we consider the optimal dividend problem for an insurance company whose risk process evolves as a spectrally negative L\'{e}vy process in the absence of dividend payments. The classical dividend problem for an insurance company consists in finding a dividend payment policy that maximizes the total expected discounted dividends. Related is the problem where we impose the restriction that ruin be prevented: the beneficiaries of the dividends must then keep the insurance company solvent by bail-out loans. Drawing on the fluctuation theory of spectrally negative L\'{e}vy processes we give an explicit analytical description of the optimal strategy in the set of barrier strategies and the corresponding value function, for either of the problems. Subsequently we investigate when the dividend policy that is optimal among all admissible ones takes the form of a barrier strategy.Comment: Published at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/105051606000000709 in the Annals of Applied Probability (http://www.imstat.org/aap/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org

Exit problem of a two-dimensional risk process from the quadrant: Exact and asymptotic results

Consider two insurance companies (or two branches of the same company) that divide between them both claims and premia in some specified proportions. We model the occurrence of claims according to a renewal process. One ruin problem considered is that of the corresponding two-dimensional risk process first leaving the positive quadrant; another is that of entering the negative quadrant. When the claims arrive according to a Poisson process, we obtain a closed form expression for the ultimate ruin probability. In the general case, we analyze the asymptotics of the ruin probability when the initial reserves of both companies tend to infinity under a Cram\'{e}r light-tail assumption on the claim size distribution.Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/08-AAP529 the Annals of Applied Probability (http://www.imstat.org/aap/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org

On the drawdown of completely asymmetric Levy processes

The {\em drawdown} process $Y$ of a completely asymmetric L\'{e}vy process $X$ is equal to $X$ reflected at its running supremum $\bar{X}$: $Y = \bar{X} - X$. In this paper we explicitly express in terms of the scale function and the L\'{e}vy measure of $X$ the law of the sextuple of the first-passage time of $Y$ over the level $a>0$, the time $\bar{G}_{\tau_a}$ of the last supremum of $X$ prior to $\tau_a$, the infimum \unl X_{\tau_a} and supremum \ovl X_{\tau_a} of $X$ at $\tau_a$ and the undershoot $a - Y_{\tau_a-}$ and overshoot $Y_{\tau_a}-a$ of $Y$ at $\tau_a$. As application we obtain explicit expressions for the laws of a number of functionals of drawdowns and rallies in a completely asymmetric exponential L\'{e}vy model.Comment: applications added, 26 pages, 3 figures, to appear in SP

On the drawdown of completely asymmetric Levy processes

The {\em drawdown} process $Y$ of a completely asymmetric L\'{e}vy process $X$ is equal to $X$ reflected at its running supremum $\bar{X}$: $Y = \bar{X} - X$. In this paper we explicitly express in terms of the scale function and the L\'{e}vy measure of $X$ the law of the sextuple of the first-passage time of $Y$ over the level $a>0$, the time $\bar{G}_{\tau_a}$ of the last supremum of $X$ prior to $\tau_a$, the infimum \unl X_{\tau_a} and supremum \ovl X_{\tau_a} of $X$ at $\tau_a$ and the undershoot $a - Y_{\tau_a-}$ and overshoot $Y_{\tau_a}-a$ of $Y$ at $\tau_a$. As application we obtain explicit expressions for the laws of a number of functionals of drawdowns and rallies in a completely asymmetric exponential L\'{e}vy model.

Russian and American options under exponential phase-type Lévy models

Consider the American put and Russian option (Ann. Appl. Probab. 3(1993)603; Theory Probab. Appl. 39 (1994)103; Ann. Appl. Probab. 3(1993)641) with the stock price modeled as an exponential Lévy process. We find an explicit expression for the price in the dense class of Lévy processes with phase-type jumps in both directions. The solution rests on the reduction to the first passage time problem for (reflected) Lévy processes and on an explicit solution of the latter in the phase-type case via martingale stopping and Wiener-Hopf factorization. The same type of approach is also applied to the more general class of regime switching Lévy processes with phase-type jumps