Production Efficiency in the Austrian Insurance Industry: A Bayesian Examination

This paper examines the developments in the production efficiency of the Austrian insurance market for the period 1994‐1999 using firm‐specific data on life/health and non‐life insurers obtained from the Austrian insurance regulatory authority. The article uses a Bayesian stochastic frontier to obtain aggregate and firm‐specific estimates of production efficiency across insurer types and time. The study provides strong evidence that the process of deregulation had positive effects on the production efficiency of Austrian insurers. The life/health and non‐life firms showed similar patterns of development in that they were less efficient during the years 1994‐1996 and significantly more efficient in 1997‐1999. If the Austrian experience is representative, similar benefits from deregulation may be expected for the Central and Eastern European countries that prepare for the accession to the European Union.     

寿险公司股权结构对经营绩效的影响——基于经理人代理成本视角

基于2012—2020年我国寿险公司的面板数据，实证检验股权结构对绩效的影响并探究其作用机制。结果表明：股权集中与绩效显著负相关，股权制衡与绩效显著正相关。机制检验发现，股权集中通过增加经理人代理成本削减绩效，股权制衡通过优化此类代理成本改善绩效。异质性分析表明，股权集中对成立时间短、发展速度慢的寿险公司绩效的负面影响更为显著。鉴于此，监管部门应适当降低寿险公司股东持股比例上限，引导非控股股东积极参与公司治理。     

公司治理对保险公司绩效影响的实证检验——以24家中资财产保险公司为例

近年来,金融机构的治理问题日益引起学者们的重视,成为公司治理领域研究的热点。综观已有的国内外文献,国外研究侧重于不同所有制保险公司的治理差异,且样本多来自英美发达国家;而国内保险公司治理研究刚刚起步,在研究变量、研究样本的选择上还存在一些不足。鉴于此,本文以24家中资财产保险公司为样本,实证检验了股权结构、董事会特征、高管激励机制、信息披露透明度等治理机制对保险公司绩效的影响。     

Does Insurance Market Activity Promote Economic Growth? A Cross‐Country Study for Industrialized and Developing Countries

Insurance market activity may contribute to economic growth, both as financial intermediary and provider of risk transfer and indemnification, by allowing different risks to be managed more efficiently and by mobilizing domestic savings. During the last decade, there has been faster growth in insurance market activity, particularly in emerging markets, given the process of financial liberalization and integration, which raises questions about the overall impact on economic growth. This article tests whether there is a causal relationship between insurance market activity (life and nonlife insurance) and economic growth. Using the generalized method of moments (GMM) for dynamic models of panel data for 55 countries between 1976 and 2004, I find robust evidence for this relationship. Both life and nonlife insurance have a positive and significant causal effect on economic growth. For life insurance, high‐income countries drive the results, and for nonlife insurance, both high‐income and developing countries drive the results.     

Foreign Share, Insurance Density, and Penetration: An Analysis of the International Life Insurance Market

Recent trends toward liberalization and deregulation have sparked significant interest in the topic of international insurers' participation in foreign markets. This research develops a profile of foreign national market characteristics that attract international life insurer participation and additionally, empirically assesses the value that international participation has to the host market. Characteristics that are found to be statistically significant with respect to international participation include high levels of trade liberalization and/or low insurer market share concentration, high levels of national wealth, and high levels of government expenditure on social security retirement benefits. With respect to the benefits such participation provides, we see that the presence of international life insurers share positive relationships with both life insurance consumption and the magnitude of the role life insurance plays within the broader national economy of those host markets.     

股权结构对财险公司风险承担行为影响的实证研究

本文从理论层面上剖析了公司股权结构对风险承担的影响及具体作用机理,然后基于2002~2018年我国77家财险公司的非平衡面板数据构建联立方程模型,利用三阶段最小二乘法(3SLS)进行参数估计。研究发现,股权结构对我国财险公司的风险承担行为存在显著影响。具体而言,股权集中度对承保风险存在显著正向影响,表现出"侵占效应";股权制衡度对承保风险存在显著负向影响,对投资风险存在显著正向影响;外资参股对承保风险和投资风险分别存在显著正向和负向影响,外资股东的进入有利于降低财产保险公司的投资风险,但在一定程度上会提高其承保风险。基于此,本文提出强化股权的穿透式监管、推进形成"相对集中、多股制衡"的股权结构以及适当引入外资丰富财险公司股权结构等建议。     

The Relationship Between Home Market Performance and Internationalization Decisions: Evidence From German Insurance Groups

This study investigates the relationship between home market performance and the choice of foreign market entry mode using survey data and financial statement data for German insurance groups with property–liability business from 1999 to 2011. We develop a dynamic resource‐based perspective and argue that strategic transformation is a major motive driving the decisions of insurance groups to internationalize their businesses. Additionally, the more rapid the strategic transformation, the more intense is the choice of market entry mode. Furthermore, our findings corroborate the notion that internationalization has a positive effect on home market performance when insurance groups are able to decrease home market dependence by extending the degree of internationalization.     

On the exposure of insurance companies to sovereign risk—Portfolio investments and market forces

A sovereign debt crisis can have significant knock-on effects in the financial markets and put financial stability at risk. This paper focuses on the transmission of sovereign risk to insurance companies as some of the largest institutional investors in the sovereign bond market. We use a firm level panel dataset that covers large insurance companies, banks and non-financial firms from nine countries over the time period from 1 January 2008–1 May 2013. We find significant and robust transmission effects from sovereign risk to domestic insurers. The impact on insurers is not significantly different from that on banks but larger than for non-financial firms. We find that systemically important insurers are more closely linked to the domestic sovereign. Based on European data, we show that risks in sovereign bond portfolios are an important driver of insurer risk, which is not reflected in current insurance regulation (incl. Solvency II in Europe).     

我国产险市场的三阶段DEA效率演进——基于2004年～2009年的非平衡面板数据分析

在产险业全面对外开放以及全球金融危机的双重压力下,我国产险市场正面临着如何提升效率、维持竞争力的严峻考验。本文根据2004年～2009年20家中国内外资产险公司的非平衡面板数据,利用三阶段DEA模型分析我国产险市场的技术效率、纯技术效率和规模效率的演进趋势。实证结果显示,中资产险公司的规模效率高于外资合资公司,但在纯技术效率上要低于外资公司。外资公司整体效率虽然较低,但是在管理决策上效率相对较高,规模无效率是制约其发展的主要因素。整体而言,中国产险市场技术效率、纯技术效率和规模效率仍处于比较低的水平。从影响产险公司效率的环境因素来看,市场份额对产险公司的各项效率都有显著的负向影响,而分公司数对产险公司效率有正向的影响。通过一阶段DEA效率值和三阶段DEA效率值的比较,发现中国保险行业的宏观环境、微观环境因素对产险公司的经营来说还没有起到足够的正面推动作用,环境的波动性在一定程度上限制了产险公司效率的提升。     

Financial Intermediary Versus Production Approach to Efficiency of Marketing Distribution Systems and Organizational Structure of Insurance Companies

An examination of the efficiency of the marketing distribution channel and organizational structure for insurance companies is presented from a framework that views the insurer as a financial intermediary rather than as a “production entity” which produces “value added” through loss payments. Within this financial intermediary approach, solvency can be a primary concern for regulators of insurance companies, claims‐paying ability can be a primary concern for policyholders, and return on investment can be a primary concern for investors. These three variables (solvency, financial return, and claims‐paying ability) are considered as outputs of the insurance firm. The financial intermediary approach acknowledges that interests potentially conflict, and the strategic decision makers for the firm must balance one concern versus another when managing the insurance company. Accordingly, we investigate the efficiency of insurance companies using data envelopment analysis (DEA) having as insurer output an appropriately selected (for the firm under investigation) combination of solvency, claims‐paying ability, and return on investment as outputs. These efficiency evaluations are further examined to study stock versus mutual form of organizational structure and agency versus direct marketing arrangements, which are examined separately and in combination. Comparisons with the “value‐added” or “production” approach to insurer efficiency are presented. A new DEA approach and interpretation is also presented.     

Determinants of Operational Efficiency and Total Factor Productivity Change of Major Cambodian Financial Institutions: A Data Envelopment Analysis During 2006–13

We examine the determinants of efficiency and the total factor productivity (TFP) change of major financial institutions in Cambodia using data envelopment analysis (DEA). We apply two-stage bootstrapping estimation method to a panel data of twenty-seven financial institutions in the period of 2006–13. The empirical results reveal that the size and ownership structure of financial institutions are significantly correlated with the efficiency and TFP growth of banks. The efficiency of domestic institutions is found to be better than that of their foreign counterpart, and there is no significant difference in TFP growth between domestic and foreign institutions.     

中国合资寿险公司股权更迭的原因及影响

股权更迭是近两年我国合资寿险公司出现的新问题.目前合资寿险公司的股权更迭表现出四方面的明显特征.合资寿险公司的股权更迭是两方面原因相互交织的结果:一是经营业绩低于股东的最初预期,二是中外股东之间存在着内部冲突.股权更迭不只是简单地改变了合资寿险公司的股权结构,它给合资寿险公司的经营理念带来了冲击,而且还影响着寿险行业的生态环境.     

Interest Rate Risk and Equity Values of Life Insurance Companies: A GARCH–M Model

The importance of managerial decisions related to interest‐sensitive cash flows has received considerable attention in the insurance literature. Consistent with the interest‐sensitive nature of insurer assets and liabilities, empirical research has shown that insurer insolvency is significantly related to interest rate volatility. We investigate the interest rate sensitivity of monthly stock returns of life insurers based on a generalized autoregressive conditionally heteroskedastic in the mean (GARCH–M) model. We examine three different portfolios (equally weighted, risk‐based, and size‐based) with binary variables to explicitly account for varying interest rate strategies adopted by the Federal Reserve System. Results based on data for the period 1975 through 2000 indicate that life insurer equity values are sensitive to long‐term interest rates and that interest sensitivity varies across subperiods and across risk‐based and size‐based portfolios. The results complement insolvency research that links insurer financial performance to changes in interest rates.     

Stock Market Reactions and Information Transfer Due to Financial Instability in the Life Insurance Industry

ABSTRACT: This study examines the stock market reactions and information transfer effects due to financial instability for four life insurance companies that eventually failed or were taken over by regulators. The four companies were First Executive Corporation, First Capital Holdings Corporation, Monarch Capital Corporation, and Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company. In general, significant negative capital market responses were found after a company released an announcement regarding financial instability. Information transfer effects of a negative announcement by one insurer were not found to have a significant impact on the other insurers. This study complements past studies of contagion effects within the insurance industry.     

Openness, profit opportunities and foreign banking

Using new data from the World Bank and OCC surveys, we show correlations across a wide range of countries between foreign banking and domestic economic, financial and bank regulatory conditions. Foreign banking tended to be more prevalent in countries that were more open to foreign ownership of their banks, more open to banks’ engaging in a wider range of financial activities and more open to international trade. Restrictions on foreign ownership of domestic banks that were in place in the late 1970s reduced the current extent of foreign banking. Foreign banking was negatively correlated with current restrictions on banks’ securities, insurance and real estate activities. Countries that had more international trade tended to have more foreign banking. Foreign banking was more pervasive in countries where banking was more profitable and where the domestically-owned banking sector was smaller relative to GDP.     

Determinants of International Insurers' Participation in Foreign Non-Life Markets

Mirroring the trend in the broader marketplace, the global insurance industry is steadily moving toward increased liberalization and deregulation. This study seeks to develop the first empirical model that examines the importance of foreign market characteristics as they relate to the participation of international insurers in the non‐life business of those countries. The analysis reveals that market structure is an important factor in determining whether international insurers participate in a given foreign market. In addition, for markets that are not competitive, removing trade barriers would significantly improve the desirability of those countries as host markets. The results also suggest that countries with higher gross domestic product tend to attract more involvement from international insurers. While this research focuses on the markets of industrialized countries, the findings will provide significant implications for those emerging markets that have not yet collected relevant data on a number of the variables included in this study.     

The Determinants of Financial Health of Asian Insurance Companies

Previous studies of financial health of insurance companies are mainly focused on insurers operating in the United States and developed economies. This article focuses on the solvency of general (property‐liability) and life insurance companies in Asia using firm data and macro data separately. It uses different classification methods to classify the financial status of both general and life insurance companies. With the exception of Japan, failures of insurers in Singapore, Malaysia, and Taiwan are nonexistent. We find that, first, the factors that significantly affect general insurers' financial health in Asian economies are firm size, investment performance, liquidity ratio, surplus growth, combined ratio, and operating margin. Second, the factors that significantly affect life insurers' financial health are firm size, change in asset mix, investment performance, and change in product mix, but the last three factors are more applicable to Japan. Third, the financial health of insurance companies in Singapore seems to be significantly weakened by the Asian Financial Crisis. As the insurance industry in different Asian economies is at different stages of development, they require different regulatory guidelines.     

To Hedge or Not to Hedge: Managing Demographic Risk in Life Insurance Companies

Demographic risk, i.e., the risk that life tables change in a nondeterministic way, is a serious threat to the financial stability of an insurance company having underwritten life insurance and annuity business. The inverse influence of changes in mortality laws on the market value of life insurance and annuity liabilities creates natural hedging opportunities. Within a realistically calibrated shareholder value (SHV) maximization framework, we analyze the implications of demographic risk on the optimal risk management mix (equity capital, asset allocation, and product policy) for a limited liability insurance company operating in a market with insolvency‐averse insurance buyers. Our results show that the utilization of natural hedging is optimal only if equity is scarce. Otherwise, hedging can even destroy SHV. A sensitivity analysis shows that a misspecification of demographic risk has severe consequences for both the insurer and the insured. This result highlights the importance of further research in the field of demographic risk.     

中资外资人身险公司竞争力评价比较——基于“中国保险公司竞争力评价研究报告（2011）”

随着加入世界贸易组织(WTO)和保险市场的开放,中国的保险业出现了飞速发展。机遇与挑战并存,在大量资金、先进技术流入的同时,中国保险公司的竞争力到底如何?在竞争力方面,中资、外资保险公司各自的表现如何?以"2011年保险公司竞争力研究报告"的数据为依据,通过将"中资外资"这样一个定性的概念用数学上定量的形式表现在数学模型中,进而分析定性因素"中资、外资"对人身险公司竞争力的影响。     

Empirical Evidence on the Value of Group‐Level Financial Information in Insurer Solvency Surveillance

The existing empirical research on insurer insolvency relies almost exclusively upon individual insurance company financial data, even though the insurance industry is dominated by group‐affiliated firms. This is the first study to evaluate the benefit of using group‐level data to predict insurer insolvencies for group‐affiliated insurers. The study uses financial ratios from the NAIC FAST scoring system, measured at both the company level and group level, as potential predictor variables. The results indicate that group‐level financial information substantially improves the predictive power of an insolvency prediction model relative to a model that uses only the analogous company‐level variables. In fact, the group‐level variables are found to often be substantially more powerful than company‐level variables in predicting individual insurer insolvencies. These results suggest that future insolvency analysis should, whenever feasible, include group‐level information to obtain higher predictive accuracy.