Biological and Psychobehavioral Correlates of Credit Scores and Automobile Insurance Losses: Toward an Explication of Why Credit Scoring Works

The most important new development in the past two decades in the personal lines of insurance may well be the use of an individual's credit history as a classification and rating variable to predict losses. However, in spite of its obvious success as an underwriting tool, and the clear actuarial substantiation of a strong association between credit score and insured losses over multiple methods and multiple studies, the use of credit scoring is under attack because there is not an understanding of why there is an association. Through a detailed literature review concerning the biological, psychological, and behavioral attributes of risky automobile drivers and insured losses, and a similar review of the biological, psychological, and behavioral attributes of financial risk takers, we delineate that basic chemical and psychobehavioral characteristics (e.g., a sensation‐seeking personality type) are common to individuals exhibiting both higher insured automobile loss costs and poorer credit scores, and thus provide a connection which can be used to understand why credit scoring works. Credit scoring can give information distinct from standard actuarial variables concerning an individual's biopsychological makeup, which then yields useful underwriting information about how they will react in creating risk of insured automobile losses.     

我国产险公司承保亏损原因分析及建议

近年来,我国产险市场保持快速增长,但自2006年起承保效益连续出现大面积亏损,严重影响产险公司偿付能力。本文分析了产险公司承保效益情况,并剖析了造成普遍亏损的原因,认为要扭转产险行业普遍亏损的现状,保险企业要转变经营理念,提升自身经营绩效及经营水平;保险监管部门要在尊重市场规律基础上,推出有效的监管措施,为促进有序竞争提供制度保障。     

Systemic Risk in the Insurance Sector: A Review and Directions for Future Research

This article reviews the extant research on systemic risk in the insurance sector and outlines new areas of research in this field. We summarize and classify 48 theoretical and empirical research papers from both academia and practitioner organizations. The survey reveals that traditional insurance activity in the life, nonlife, and reinsurance sectors neither contributes to systemic risk nor increases insurers’ vulnerability to impairments of the financial system. However, nontraditional activities (e.g., credit default swap underwriting) might increase vulnerability, and life insurers might be more vulnerable than nonlife insurers due to higher leverage. Whether nontraditional activities also contribute to systemic risk is not entirely clear; however, the activities with the potential to contribute to systemic risk include underwriting financial derivatives and providing financial guarantees. This article is not only likely of interest to academics but also highly relevant for the industry, regulators, and policymakers.     

Deposit insurance and bank risk-taking: Evidence from internal loan ratings

We analyze the effect of deposit insurance on the risk-taking behavior of banks in the context of a quasi-natural experiment using detailed credit registry data. Using the case of an emerging economy, Bolivia, which introduced a deposit insurance system during the sample period, we compare the risk-taking behavior of banks before and after the introduction of this system. We find that in the post-deposit insurance period, banks are more likely to initiate riskier loans (i.e., loans with worse internal ratings at origination). These loans carry higher interest rates and are associated with worse ex-post performance (i.e., they have higher default and delinquency rates). Banks do not seem to compensate for the extra risk by increasing collateral requirements or decreasing loan maturities. We also find evidence that the increase in risk-taking is due to the decrease in market discipline from large depositors. Finally, differences between large (too-big-to-fail) and small banks diminished in the post-deposit insurance period.     

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.     

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”;...     

The predictive ability of loan loss provisions in banks – Effects of accounting standards,enforcement and incentives

In this study we compare the predictive ability of loan loss provisions with respect to actual losses under IFRS and local GAAP. The ‘incurred loss model’ of IAS 39 is a model that requires a relatively low level of judgment by preparers compared to alternative models that exist under local GAAP. We find that loan loss provisions in IFRS bank years predict future credit losses to a lesser extent than in local GAAP bank years, consistent with the incurred loss model reducing the timeliness of provisions. We also examine the interaction of standards with enforcement of financial reporting and with preparer incentives. In testing the role of enforcement from, e.g., banking supervisory authorities, we find that the benefits of local GAAP are largely limited to high-enforcement settings. Local GAAP also performs relatively better than IFRS in large and in profitable banks. This has implications for the IASB and the FASB as they prescribe the adoption of the more judgment-based expected loss model in IFRS 9 and the corresponding US GAAP standard (ASC topic 326), as well as for supervisory authorities that will enforce these standards.     

非寿险承保风险引发系统性风险的复杂网络分析

本文基于我国财险业2009～2018年数据,用复杂网络理论模型构建了财险业承保业务网络,并模拟了承保风险传染过程,分析了承保风险对财险业系统性风险的影响轨迹及程度.研究发现,我国财险业承保业务网络的联系越来越密切,承保风险的增加会引发传染风险,进而导致爆发系统性风险.但当前我国财险业整体稳定,只有发生1600亿元及以上...     

The Satellite Insurance Market and Underwriting Cycles

This research analyses whether underwriting cycles are present in an important but often overlooked line of insurance, satellite insurance. Unlike previous underwriting cycle studies, this study uses rates-on-line and capacity devoted to satellite insurance as well as loss ratios to determine the applicability of cycles. The sample period encompasses virtually the entire history of the satellite insurance industry, 1968–2010. The results indicate that cycles are present in the minimum and average rates-on-line and in capacity, but not the loss ratio. Regression analysis is carried out on the rate-on-line and capacity variables, and the regression results support the rational expectations/institutional intervention hypothesis and the capacity constraint (capital shock) hypothesis.     

Converting Clinical Literature to an Insured Population: A Comparison of Models Using Nhanes

Abstract

The use of clinical literature to set risk classification standards for life insurance underwriting stems from the need to set the most accurate standards using the best available information. A necessary hurdle in this process is converting any excess mortality observed in a clinical study to the appropriate rating for use in underwriting. A widely accepted model in the insurance industry, the Excess Death Rate model, treats the excess as additive to the conditional probability of death for an insurance company’s unimpaired class.

In this paper we test the validity of that model versus other common predictive models of excess mortality in an insured population. Applying these models to National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data, we derive estimates for excess mortality from three commonly seen underwriting impairments in what could be considered a clinical population. These estimates are added to an estimate of an insurance company’s unimpaired mortality class and then used to predict deaths in an “insurable” subset of that clinical population.

The Excess Death Rate model performed the best of all models, having the smallest cumulative difference of actual to predicted deaths. The use of publicly available data, such as that in NHANES, could help bridge the gap between clinical literature and its application in insurance underwriting if insurable cohorts can be reliably identified from these generally healthy, ambulatory groups.     

CECL: Timely Loan Loss Provisioning and Bank Regulation

We investigate how provisioning models interact with bank regulation to affect banks' risk-taking behavior. We study an accuracy versus timeliness trade-off between an incurred loss model (IL) and an expected loss model (EL) such as current expected credit loss model or International Financial Reporting Standards 9. Relative to IL, even though EL improves efficiency by prompting earlier corrective action in bad times, it induces banks to originate either safer or riskier loans. Trading off ex post benefits versus ex ante real effects, we show that more timely information under EL enhances efficiency either when banks are insufficiently capitalized or when regulatory intervention is likely to be effective. Conversely, when banks are moderately capitalized and regulatory intervention is sufficiently costly, switching to EL impairs efficiency. From a policy perspective, our analysis highlights the roles that regulatory capital and the effectiveness of regulatory intervention play in determining the economic consequences of provisioning models. EL spurs credit supply and improves financial stability in economies where intervening in banks' operations is relatively frictionless and/or regulators can tailor regulatory capital to incorporate information about credit losses.     

Risk-Taking in the Texas S&L Industry: Charter and Ownership Effects

This paper attempts to identify some of the factors that help explain the losses experienced by S&Ls during the 1980s. Texas institutions are the focus of this study because they account for over half of the total failure costs incurred for the entire industry during the 1980s. Differences in risk-taking behavior by S&Ls according to both charter type and ownership type are examined. The empirical results suggest that deregulation was not the fundamental cause of the industry losses. Instead, the results indicate that the basic behavioral determinants are ownership structure and owner-contributed equity capital.     

存款保险制度能否抑制银行个体风险承担?

基于2008-2019年我国30家上市银行的财务数据,研究了存款保险制度实施对银行风险承担行为的影响.对选取的经济变量进行单位根检验发现,变量均为平稳变量.利用固定效应模型进行实证回归分析,结果表明:总体上看,存款保险制度的推出增加了银行的风险承担行为;在将银行进行分类后,存款保险制度的实施对大型商业银行的风险承担影响...     

THE INSURANCE PERFORMANCE MEASURE: BRINGING VALUE TO THE INSURANCE INDUSTRY

The performance of the property and casualty (P&C) insurance industry has suffered in recent years, even prior to the losses incurred in the tragic events of September 11th. Part of the industry's difficulties stems from its focus on premium generation, as measured by the combined or underwriting ratio, at the expense of overall operational performance. In this regard, the underwriting ratio is an incomplete measure of operating performance since it ignores two critical P&C operational functions: investment return and reinsurance results.
In this article, the authors present their Insurance Performance Measure (IPM), a comprehensive performance measure for the P&C industry. The IPM captures the three critical operational functions mentioned above in an overall performance measure. The measure is also versatile in that it can be easily decomposed into critical value drivers in each area of operation. Thus, the IPM framework enables P&C managers to observe the interaction and trade-offs between the operational functions of premium generation, investment return, and reinsurance results separately or as a group, and as they relate to the opportunity cost of surplus.     

From new deal institutions to capital markets: Commercial consumer risk scores and the making of subprime mortgage finance

The investment fueled US mortgage market has traditionally been sustained by New Deal institutions called government sponsored enterprises (GSEs). Known as Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, the GSEs once dominated mortgage backed securities underwriting. The recent subprime mortgage crisis has drawn attention to the fact that during the real estate boom, these agencies were temporarily overtaken by risk tolerant channels of lending, securitization, and investment, driven by investment banks and private capital players. This research traces the movement of a specific brand of commercial consumer credit analytics into mortgage underwriting. It demonstrates that what might look like the spontaneous rise (and fall) of a ‘free’ market divested of direct government intervention has been thoroughly embedded in the concerted movement of calculative risk management technologies. The transformations began with a sequence of GSE decisions taken in the mid-1990’s to implement a consumer risk score called a FICO^® into automated underwriting systems. Having been endorsed by the GSEs, this scoring tool was gradually hardwired throughout the industry to become a distributed and collective ‘market device’. As the paper will show, once modified by specific GSE interpretations the calculative properties generated by these credit bureau scores reconfigured mortgage finance into two parts: the conventional, risk-adverse, GSE conforming ‘prime’ and an infrastructurally distinct, risk-avaricious, investment grade ‘subprime’.     

The Role of Soft Information in a Dynamic Contract Setting: Evidence from the Home Equity Credit Market

Credit underwriting is a dynamic process involving multiple interactions between borrower and lender. During this process, lenders have the opportunity to obtain hard and soft information from the borrower. We analyze more than 108,000 home equity loans and lines‐of‐credit applications to study the role of soft and hard information during underwriting. Our data set allows us to distinguish lender actions that are based strictly on hard information from decisions that involve the collection of soft information. Our analysis confirms the importance of soft information and suggests that its use can be effective in reducing overall portfolio credit losses ex post.     

Organizational Structure,Board Composition,and Risk Taking in the U.S. Property Casualty Insurance Industry

This study examines the impact of organizational structure and board composition on risk taking in the U.S. property casualty insurance industry, addressing different risk‐taking behaviors from different perspectives. The risk‐taking measures include total risk, underwriting risk, investment risk, and leverage risk. The evidence shows that mutual insurers have lower total risk, underwriting risk, and investment risk than stock insurers. In terms of board composition variables, we find that some board composition variables not only have impact on risk‐taking behaviors but also affect different risk measures differently. Thus, using different risk measures is better than using one risk measure to assess risk‐taking behavior. Finally, we conclude that an insurer can control its total risk through management of underwriting, investment, and leverage risks that determine an insurer's risk profile.     

Does operating risk affect portfolio risk? Evidence from insurers' securities holding

This study empirically examines, in the setting of insurance companies, the hypothesis that investors facing more operating risk may behave as if they were more risk averse in investment decisions. Specifically, we study how operating risk from underwriting insurance policies affects insurers' risk taking behavior in their portfolio investments. We find that insurers with higher volatilities in underwriting incomes and cash flows are more conservative in their financial investment risk taking – they have lower credit risk exposure in their bond investments, as well as lower portfolio weights on risky bonds and equities. Further, insurers' portfolio risk exposure is sensitive to the risk of permanent underwriting income shocks but insensitive to the risk of transitory shocks. Transitory operating risk, however, is significantly related to portfolio risk when insurers face tight financing constraints. Our findings suggest a substitutive effect of operating risk on investment decisions by financial institutions.     

An Empirical Study of Insurance Performance Measure

This author applies Insurance Performance Measure (IPM) to a set of Indian insurance companies over the period 2005–2016. This is the first article published that applies the IPM model on real industry data and studies its implications. The IPM was introduced in a Winter 2002 JACF article by Joseph Calandro, Jr., then at General Star management, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway and by Scott Lane, then an accounting professor at the University of New Haven. Those authors explained why financial reporting for insurance companies was so challenging and presented the IPM metric as a better way to assess industry and company performance. Evaluating P&C companies is difficult because the unique format of insurance company financials does not lend itself to traditional financial accounting analysis and because the industry's preeminent performance measure, the Underwriting Ratio, captures underwriting and claims activity but says nothing about investment and risk distribution (reinsurance). By contrast, the IPM represents the interrelation of underwriting, investment and reinsurance along with a hurdle rate and is quite consistent with Warren Buffett's expressed desire for a balanced overview of industry performance. IPM uses financial data without modification thereby simplifying and fastening computation. Operationally, it could help in negotiations for reinsurance renewals and identify “Maximum Profitable capacity”—the threshold limit for overall profitability.     

我国车险业务经营绩效评价研究——以某财险公司湖南分公司为例

财产保险公司绝大部分业务来自于车险业务,因而车险业务的绩效关系到财险公司的经营业绩,甚至整个保险业的稳定和健康发展。从承保、理赔、续保及财务四个方面选取17个具体指标构建车险业务绩效评价指标体系进行有效性检验,计算某财险公司湖南分公司车险业务绩效水平指数,评价其车险业务经营状况。结果显示：该公司财务指标对车险业务影响的权重最大,综合车险指数呈上升趋势,表现出较好的经营状况。