Interest rate derivatives and risk exposure: Evidence from the life insurance industry |
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Affiliation: | 1. Department of Finance, Ling Tung University, Taiwan;2. Department of Business Administration, Fu Jen Catholic University, Taiwan;3. Department of Risk Management and Insurance, National Chengchi University, 64, Sec. 2, Zhi-Nan Road, Wen-Shan District, Taipei 11605, Taiwan;1. Department of Banking and Finance, Cheng Shiu University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, ROC;2. Department of Finance, National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, ROC;3. Sales department, Paralink Networks, Inc., New Taipei City, Taiwan, ROC;1. LUISS G.Carli, Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza, Viale Romania 32, Roma, Italy;2. Università di Genova, Dipartimento di Economia, Via Vivaldi 2, 16126 Genova, Italy;1. Patrick E. Molony Professor, Department of Economics, Auburn University, 138 Miller Hall, Auburn, AL 36849, United States;2. Department of Economics, University of California Santa Cruz, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, United States;1. Département des sciences administratives, Université du Québec (Outaouais), Campus St. Jérôme, 5 rue St Joseph, St Jérôme, Québec J7Z 0B7, Canada;2. Université du Québec (Montréal), École des sciences de la gestion, 315 Ste.-Catherine est, R-2915, Montréal, Québec H2X 3X2, Canada;3. Chaire d’information financière et organisationnelle (Université du Québec à Montréal), and Université du Québec en Outaouais, Canada |
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Abstract: | Our primary aim in this study is to determine the relation that exists between the use of interest rate derivatives by public-traded life insurance firms and their exposure to interest rate risk. Based upon the annual reports and 10-K filings of US life insurers, covering the years 2000–2016, we find that those insurers with greater inherent exposure to interest rate risk also have a propensity for extensive engagement in the use of interest rate derivatives. We further reveal that life insurers with a propensity for the extensive use of such instruments during the 2000–2009 sub-period tend to have greater observable exposure to interest rate risk. However, during the 2010–2016 sub-period life insurers that use more interest rate derivatives tend to have smaller interest rate exposure. Since restructuring the balance sheet of a life insurer is costly, our results suggest that managers probably use derivatives as a means of modifying their risk tolerance to achieve the same results of direct duration matching. |
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Keywords: | Interest rate derivatives Interest rate risk exposure Life insurers |
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