Measuring Longevity Risk: An Application to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Pension Plan

An employer that sets up a defined benefit pension plan promises to periodically pay a certain sum to each participant starting at some future date and continuing until death. Although both the future beneficiary and the employer can be asked to finance the plan throughout the beneficiary's career, any shortcoming of funds in the future is often the employer's responsibility. It is therefore essential for the employer to be able to predict with a high degree of confidence the total amount that will be required to cover its future pension obligations. Applying mortality forecasting models to the case of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police pension plan, we illustrate the importance of mortality forecasting to value a pension fund's actuarial liabilities. As future survival rates are uncertain, pensioners may live longer than expected. We find that such longevity risk represents approximately 2.8 percent of the total liability ascribable to retired pensioners (as measured by the relative value at risk at the 95th percentile) and 2.5 percent of the total liabilities ascribable to current regular contributors. Longevity risk compounds the model risk associated with not knowing what is the true mortality model, and we estimate that model risk represents approximately 3.2 percent of total liabilities. The compounded longevity risk therefore represents almost 6 percent of the pension plan's total liabilities.     

Longevity Risk Management in Singapore's National Pension System

Although annuities are a theoretically appealing way to manage longevity risk, in the real world relatively few consumers purchase them at retirement. To counteract the possibility of retirees outliving their assets, Singapore's Central Provident Fund, a national defined contribution pension scheme, has recently mandated annuitization of workers’ retirement assets. More significantly, the government has entered the insurance market as a public‐sector provider for such annuities. This article evaluates the money's worth of life annuities and discusses the impact of the government mandate and its role as an annuity provider on the insurance market.     

Measuring Basis Risk in Longevity Hedges

Abstract

In examining basis risk in index longevity hedges, it is important not to ignore the dependence between the population underlying the hedging instrument and the population being hedged. We consider four extensions to the Lee-Carter model that incorporate such dependence: Both populations are jointly driven by the same single time-varying index, the two populations are cointegrated, the populations depend on a common age factor, and there is an augmented common factor model in which a population-specific time-varying index is added to the common factor model with the property that it will tend toward a certain constant level over time. Using data from the female populations of Canada and the United States, we show the augmented common factor model is preferred in terms of both goodness-of-fit and ex post forecasting performance. This model is then used to quantify the basis risk in a longevity hedge of 65-year old Canadian females structured using a portfolio of q-forward contracts predicated on U.S. female population mortality. The hedge effectiveness is estimated at 56% on the basis of longevity value-at-risk and 81.61% on the basis of longevity risk reduction.     

The Impact of DC Pension Systems on Population Dynamics

Abstract

This study investigates the risk inherent in defined contribution (DC) pension plans on an individual and aggregate basis, based on U.S. data. Our aim is to gain insight into the consequences of a DC pension scheme becoming the predominant pillar of retirement income for an entire society. Using the stochastic simulated output of a DC flexible age-of-retirement model, we first determine the optimal investment strategies. We then examine the demographic retirement dynamics of an entire population of DC pension plan participants.

We observe that even for the most risk-averse plan members there is a high level of uncertainty in an individual’s age at retirement. At the aggregate population level, we find that this uncertainty does not get dampened to any great extent by a diversification effect. Instead, the central role played by the market in determining retirement dates results in significant variation in the dependency ratio (the ratio of retirees to workers) over time. In addition, an attempt to ameliorate the outcome by introducing additional realistic features in the DC population modeling did little to dampen this volatility, which suggests that countries dominated by DC schemes of this type may, over time, be exposed to significant risk in the size of its labor force.     

Empirical Risk Analysis of Pension Insurance: The Case of Germany

The book reserve system is the most widespread method of financing occupational pension plans in Germany. The pension liabilities are mutually insured by the Pensions-Sicherungs-Verein VVaG (PSVaG) against bankruptcy. The PSVaG recently stated that the insurance system needed to be reformed. In the future, risk-adjusted premiums as foreseen for the newly established Pension Protection Fund in the United Kingdom could become feasible. We perform a credit portfolio analysis to determine the risk profile of the PSVaG. The magnitude of a tail risk event suggests that under the current financing system it can only be smoothed out over decades. Under an expected loss pricing plan insurance premiums would vary greatly. In a marginal risk contribution approach the variation of the premiums would be less pronounced.     

死亡率模型选择下职工基本养老保险的长寿风险估算

本文采用残差分布情况、生物合理性、预测稳健性、参数估计稳健性、模型简洁性和预测准确性六种指标,从六种经典死亡率模型中选择适合中国0～89岁男女的最佳随机动态死亡率模型,构建人口发展模型和城镇企业职工基本养老保险精算模型.基于死亡率不确定性利用VaR和CVaR估算基本养老保险制度财务缺口上限和超过上限的尾部风险,评估各省...     

The Distributional Impact of Pension System Reforms: An Application to the Italian Case

Between 1992 and 1995, the Italian pension system was deeply reformed, and it is now moving from an earnings‐related to a contribution‐based scheme. The pre‐1992 system was generous and redistributive; however, often redistribution operated from the poor to the rich, notably because the benefit formula was based on the last years of earnings, thus benefiting workers with steep earnings profiles. The new contribution‐based scheme may enhance equity by removing (some of) the inequities implicit in the previous system. Simulations calibrated on Italian male employees show that the contribution‐based scheme reduces inequality among all groups considered, with the exception of college graduates employed in the private sector. When taking into account the average level of the benefit as well as its distribution, the analysis shows mixed results depending on the worker's number of years of contribution and on their retirement age, as well as on the steepness of their earnings profile.     

基于长寿风险理论的退休年龄和投资收益率组合分析

本文在利用泊松双线性模型对我国未来人口死亡率曲线进行预测的基础上,采用长寿风险模型预测了我国养老金个人账户的财务平衡状况以及最佳退休年龄和投资收益率的匹配组合。结论认为,养老金个人账户压力较大的是女性群体,因此应首先考虑提高女性劳动者的退休年龄。另外,男性和女性在不同的投资收益率下有最佳退休路径可选择。     

Discerning the Impact of Derivatives on Asset Risk: The Case of Canadian Banks

The Canadian banks have shown remarkable resilience to the financial crisis that intensified in the late 2008. The interesting question is whether this stability is due to their prudent lending practices to limit the original risk exposures or due to effective risk management through hedging by using financial derivatives. In this paper, we implement the option‐theoretic model of Merton to calculate the implied asset risk and discern the impact of these derivatives on the aggregate risk for Canadian banks over the period 1997–2008. An algorithm of iterative procedure is developed to impute asset value and risk from bank stock prices. Our estimates show that the risk for Canadian banks is low and even decreasing till the unfolding of the recent crises in 2008. Further analyses reveal that such low risks are not due to reliance on hedging, nor is it related to trading in derivatives, after disentangling the intertwined effects of hedging and trading. These results suggest that involvements in derivatives, in and of themselves, should not be blamed for causing the bank crises; rather, it is conservatism in controlling original risk exposures that remains fundamental for safeguarding a healthy financial system.     

Sharing Longevity Risk: Why Governments Should Issue Longevity Bonds

Government-issued longevity bonds would allow longevity risk to be shared efficiently and fairly between generations. In exchange for paying a longevity risk premium, the current generation of retirees can look to future generations to hedge their systematic longevity risk. Longevity bonds will lead to a more secure pension savings market, together with a more efficient annuity market. By issuing longevity bonds, governments can aid the establishment of reliable longevity indices and key price points on the longevity risk term structure and help the emerging capital market in longevity-linked instruments to build on this term structure with liquid longevity derivatives.     

缴费年限对养老保险基金支付风险的影响研究

缴费年限直接影响着养老保险基金的缴费积累与参保者的待遇水平。能够领取养老金的缴费年限由最低缴费年限和退休年龄框定,参保者在缴费年限上具有较大的自主选择权。本文根据城镇职工基本养老保险现行制度设计,运用保险精算方法,构建了基金支付风险精算模型,并依据该模型实证评估了缴费年限对养老保险基金支付风险的影响。研究结果表明:单方面提高最低缴费年限并不能降低基金支付风险,根本原因在于“长缴多得”的计发机制;退休年龄的延长确能降低基金的支付风险,“早缴费”、“长缴费”将是减少养老基金支付风险的重要举措,但需要辅之以最低缴费年限调整才能充分发挥延迟退休增收减支作用;同一退休年龄下,女性比男性获益程度更高,相应地对实现缴费与待遇平衡产生更大的负效应;缴费年限增加能够提高替代率,增强制度的保障功能;缴费比例降低以及退休后平均余命、城镇单位就业人员平均工资增长率、养老金增长率、个人账户记账利率以及平均缴费工资指数提高会增大基金支付风险。建议通过调整退休年龄辅之以最低缴费年限并进行参量调整以降低基金支付风险。     

国外商业养老保险税收制度比较

本文试图通过比较部分发达国家和一些发展中国家的商业养老保险税收制度,同时分析归纳国外养老保险改革及其税制研究趋势,旨在对我国商业养老保险税制改革及促进发展商业保险有所启示,对上海率先实施个人税延型养老保险试点的相关政策措施有所借鉴。     

The Effect of Regulations on Pension Risk Shifting: Evidence from the US and Europe

This paper provides evidence that pension regulations can incentivize or curb risk shifting in the investment of defined benefit plan assets. We document that in the US, where the pension insurance premium charged by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation is largely flat, financially distressed firms with severely underfunded plans shift pension investment risk. We further find that risk shifting is mitigated in the UK after the implementation of risk‐adjusted pension insurance premiums, and in the Netherlands where full pension funding is mandatory. Overall the results in this paper lend support to the view that structural flaws in the US statutory pension insurance scheme incentivize high‐risk sponsors to gamble their pension assets when distress terminations of their plans become foreseeable.     

European Pension Systems: A Simulation Analysis

Pension systems in different countries vary widely in such aspects as the dependence of benefits on earlier labour income, the minimum permitted retirement age and limits on labour supply after retirement. This paper uses a simulation model of a rational, utility-maximising household facing the detailed pension provisions of eight European countries to study microeconomic distortions induced by the different rules and regulations. We examine in particular the impact on savings, labour supply, retirement age decisions and welfare. JEL classification: H55, J26, J65.     

长寿风险对基本医疗保险统筹基金的冲击效应研究——基于VaR与CVaR模型的综合测算

借鉴金融风险管理中VaR和CVaR模型对尾部风险的测量思路,通过构建有限数据Lee-Carter死亡率预测模型,测算了人口的长寿风险及其对基本医疗保险统筹基金的冲击效应,结果表明:2015-2060年基本医疗保险参保人群将面临巨大的长寿风险,极端情况下长寿风险将给统筹基金收支结余超预期下降造成不容忽视的尾部损失;推迟退休年龄、提高生育率、调整个人账户和报销比例、提高职工缴费工资和控制住院费用增长均可以在一定程度上缓解长寿风险的冲击.建议明确政府在基本医疗保险长寿风险管理中的主导作用,构建医疗、养老和长期护理保险的三险联动保障机制.     

意大利公共养老金制度发展和改革研究

经历了私有属性的养老金制度的前期发展以后,意大利建立了主导性的以职业分割的卑斯麦式的公共养老金体系。待遇和缴费层面上的权利义务不对等,经济人口发展的不利因素以及国内国际的政治金融多重压力促使意大利开始改革公共养老金体系,恢复公共财政的可持续发展。意大利的公共养老金改革不仅建立了待遇和缴费的对应关系,也扩大了养老金的福利融资渠道并鼓励了私有属性的公共体系外养老金制度的发展。另外,发展阶段针对非雇佣关系或自雇业者的公共养老金体系的非政府的管理方式在改革中得到了保留。发展与改革阶段的一系列举措深刻的影响和塑造了意大利公共养老金制度的现有功能和形态,对于正处在发展改革过程中各国的公共养老金制度建设也是重要的启示。     

上海自贸区对我国养老保险服务市场的影响

目前我国是世界上唯一一个老年人口接近2亿的国家．且正在以每年3％以上的速度在增长。庞大的老年人群体对医疗、护理等养老服务有着巨大的需求。这一需求单靠政府的力量是不可能满足的,亟待社会多元资本的参与。根据上海自贸区的总体方案．外商独资的医疗机构获得了准八的机会,因此,对我国医疗保险产品的创新和发展,以及老年医疗服务的提供有很好的借鉴作用,进而为外资参与养老服务领域提供了可能,带动我国养老服务市场的升级。