Can independent underwriters benefit insurers in high-risk lines? A cournot market-game analysis

Document Type

Journal article

Source Publication

Insurance and Risk Management = Assurances et gestion des risques

Publication Date

10-2008

Volume

76

Issue

3

First Page

5

Last Page

44

Publisher

Risk Management Chair * Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales

Keywords

Independent underwriters, high-risk lines, Cournot market games.

Abstract

One of the greatest dangers to the solvency of property-liability insurers is writing large amounts of new business in a high-risk line (i.e., a line of insurance in which a substantial portion of buyers consists of high-risk insureds). This practice is problematic because of both potentially inadequate pricing and potentially lax underwriting. A prominent example of the latter phenomenon was the collapse of many captive insurers in the early to mid-1980s, in which the insurers relied too heavily on independent underwriters motivated solely by increasing premium volume. In this article, we employ a Cournot market-game model to study the financial impact of informed independent underwriters (i.e., unaffiliated underwriters with private information regarding the risk characteristics of insureds) on insurers in high-risk property-liability lines. In a market with a risk-neutral insurer and CARA insureds, we find that the insurer will always do worse by using a risk-neutral underwriter than by operating on a direct-writing basis. However, for an insurer employing mean-variance optimization, the proper combination of underwriter-compensation and capital allocation may lead to better outcomes than direct writing

Print ISSN

17057299

Publisher Statement

Copyright © HEC Montréal, 2008 All rights reserved.

Access to external full text or publisher's version may require subscription.

Full-text Version

Publisher’s Version

Language

English

Recommended Citation

Cheng, J., & Powers, M. R. (2008). Can independent underwriters benefit insurers in high-risk lines? A cournot market-game analysis. Insurance and Risk Management = Assurances et gestion des risques, 76(3), 5-44.

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