Rückkaufswert von Lebensversicherungen und Europarecht

This article deals with the calculation of surrender values of life assurances according to §169 Abs. 3 VVG and its conformity with European Law. The main focus is on the influence of this regulation on designing and offering assurance products by insurers of other Member States of the European Union under the right of establishment and the freedom to provide services. The problems with guaranteed surrender values and distribution of acquisition costs have, therefore, to be examined. Finally, the European principle that consumer information prevails over regulation of product design has to be discussed against the background of the European internal market.     

Chancen und Herausforderungen der Rückversicherung in der gesetzlichen Krankenversicherung

In 2009 a so-called morbidity orientated risk structure equalization scheme was installed for the German statutory health insurance in order to minimize structural differences between different providers with respect to revenue and expenditures. Even with this mechanism some risks to the individual health insurance providers remain. Reinsurance could be a way to mitigate these risks, but so far only very few contracts have been signed. Moreover the existing reinsurance contracts only focus on the periphery of the statutory health insurance system such as travel health insurance. In this article we therefore analyse existing risks for individual health insurance providers and evaluate their (re-)insurability. Hereafter the potential for reinsurance solutions in the German statutory health insurance itself as well as in newer forms of healthcare provision (e.g. integrated health care and managed care) is discussed. We find that reinsurance may be a reasonable solution for many of the risks in the statutory health insurance scheme. But as research in this area is very young further analysis of the nature of risks is necessary.     

Zillmerung und Rückkaufswert – ein kritischer Blick auf die rechtliche Bewertung

This article discusses the legal and economic correlation between the Zillmer-method and the surrender values in life insurance. The aim of this paper is to present the actuarial foundation as well as the economic needs in order to analyze critically in this context the discussion about the actual legal discussion with regard to consumer protection. As a first step the Zillmer-method, its functioning and the resulting economic benefits and consequences are presented. Subsequently, the surrender value and its historical development are studied to analyze the relationship between the Zillmer-method and surrender values. It also addresses the jurisprudence of the two High Courts, BGH and BVerfG, which manifests itself in recent years increasingly critical with regard to the Zillmer-method and surrender values. The paper results in the conclusion that it should be distinguished legally between the Zillmer-method and the surrender values more consequently than before since deregulation took place in 1994. In this respect the judgments cited require a critical evaluation. In a final step it is questioned whether the minimum guaranteed surrender values according to German law might be against European law.     

Irreführende und vergleichende Versicherungswerbung

Nowadays, insurance companies compete with each other in many sectors. In part, there also is competition with companies belonging to other industries, such as in terms of retirement products to banks and financial services providers. In the area of health insurance, the private health insurance companies compete—to varying degrees—not only among themselves, but also partly across sectors, especially in terms of supplementary insurance. Whenever there is competition, the question arises as to the applicability of the Act against Unfair Competition (UWG) and its actual conduct requirements under Sections 3 to 7 UWG. The following article examines two of the most important practical case groups, namely the misleading and comparative advertising in insurance, in each case under special consideration of the relevant recent jurisprudence.     

Controlling der fakultativen Rückversicherung — in einem international tätigen professionellen Rückversicherungsunternehmen

During the last years the need for a high sophisticated ControllingConcept in respect of the international facultative reinsurance business has grown substantially. Facultative business is becoming more and more a strategic business unit or at least a profit centre on it’s own, which has to provide it’s contribution to the companies Return on equities. This (new) way of running international facultative reinsurance business requires a strong and powerful support from the controlling side. Controllers today are acting more as in-house Consultants servicing their clients, the management. The strategic portfolio view becomes more important and is beginning to dominate the (classic) operative controlling attitude, which can easily be taken of by modern and sophisticated IT-solutions.     

Pluralismus und versicherung — eine Einführung

Insurance markets and economic financial theory are characterised by a growing diversification and pluralism. A structure is needed to describe the diversification of theory and practice of insurance business. This paper develops such a structure. In addition it shows how new theoretical concepts have lead to new products and new organisational structures on insurance markets. The development in the past decade has shown a close interaction between economic theory and insurance practice. This paper tries to show this interaction by refering to the pluralism of insurance markets.     

Die Aufsicht über Rückversicherungsunternehmen nach Solvency II

The impacts of the new regulatory system “Solvency II” on the reinsurance sector are not foreseeable in all details yet. This is true especially with regard to the business aspects of insurance and reinsurance. The legal consequences can be summarized as follows: (1) Solvency II for reinsurers and for primary insurers likewise stands for a paradigm shift in regulation. (2) With Solvency II primary insurance regulation and reinsurance regulation will be more aligned as has been the case according to the Solvency I system so far. (3) The specifics of reinsurance business will be taken into account in the Solvency II-directive as well. Many special provisions which are known from the reinsurance directive will remain in place.     

Zur Modellierung von Rückversicherungsverträgen in der dynamischen Finanzanalyse

In this paper we study the influence of Gaussian dependencies on the payoff of reinsurance contracts and the resulting effects on a non-life insurer's risk and return profile. To achieve this, we integrate different Gaussian dependencies and reinsurance contracts in a dynamic financial analysis (DFA) framework and conduct numerical tests within a simulation study. Depending on the reinsurance contract and the dependency employed, we find substantial differences in risk assessment for the ruin probability and for the expected policyholder deficit. The results have important implications for regulators and rating agencies that use these risk measures as a foundation for capital standards and ratings. Our results extend the findings of a recent working paper by Eling and Toplek (2008) with a detailed analysis of Gaussian dependencies under different reinsurance contracts.     

Solvenzanforderungen in der Versicherungsaufsicht nach Solvency II und künftigem VAG

Solvency II leads to a new system of solvency requirements for insurance undertakings based on a risk-oriented approach. Risks have to be covered by own funds of the insurance undertakings. This academic legal paper analyzes and systemizes the new insurance related solvency system according to the Solvency II-directive, the proposed Level 2-Regulation and the proposed new German Insurance Supervision Act (VAG). It focuses then on the three problematic areas under the new solvency regime, i.e. complexity, volatility and procyclical effects. Finally it turns to the new roles, which the boards of directors and supervisory boards of insurance undertakings, the supervisory authorities, the courts and the academics will play in the Solvency II-process.     

Implementierungslücken bei der Umsetzung wertorientierter Steuerungssysteme in Schaden- und Unfallversicherungsunternehmen

In this study implementation gaps of value-based management systems for non life insurers in the German speaking countries are identified. One of the key results is the fact that the success of the implementation is lagging behind the increasing importance of value-based management systems. The results should help practitioners with the successful implementation of the new concepts and thus bridging the gap between theory and practice.     

Die Risikoübernahme von Versicherungsunternehmen: Eine empirische Analyse für Deutschland und Großbritannien

In this paper we analyze the risk resulting from an insurer’s investment policy. For this a hypothetical asset return rate is defined, based on which the German and British insurance market is analyzed. The study design allows an investigation of the investment risk in different countries or for different lines of business. The aim of the analysis is to detect general market trends in the investment policy and an analysis of effects of important changes over time on the investment risk of insurers. The questions analyzed in this paper are also of particular relevance beyond the background of current reform proposal for insurance regulation in Europe in the field of risk management and capital adequacy (Solvency II).     

Garantieversprechen für Gebrauchsgüter als erlaubnispflichtige Versicherungsgeschäfte aus deutscher und europäischer Sicht

The article deals with the conditions under which the provider of guarantees for consumer goods operates an insurance business and therefore needs a permit. This question is of fundamental academic importance as it concerns the limits of insurance. Secondly, it is of practical relevance, as is reflected in court decisions in Germany as well as in other European countries. A comparative analysis supports the following rules: An extension of the statutory warranty offered by the seller or manufacturer is normally to be regarded as ancillary to the purchase agreement, which does not lead to regulatory licensing requirements. By contrast, if a third party offers a guarantee this is to be considered as an insurance business and therefore requires a permit.