Study-Unit Description

Study-Unit Description


CODE INS4040

 
TITLE Alternative Risk Transfer

 
UM LEVEL 04 - Years 4, 5 in Modular UG or PG Cert Course

 
MQF LEVEL Not Applicable

 
ECTS CREDITS 4

 
DEPARTMENT Insurance

 
DESCRIPTION Traditional re/insurance uses a re/insurance contract to transfer various property and/or casualty risks from the policyholder to a re/insurance company.

Over recent decades a number of techniques, generally referred to under the heading of Alternative Risk Transfer (ART), have been developed to finance and/or transfer risks held by companies or re/insurance companies using a variety of techniques other than traditional insurance contracts.

This study-unit provides an introduction to the main ART techniques that are currently in use.

Study-unit Aims:

This study-unit aims to provide an appreciation of:
- why the various ART techniques have been developed;
- what their key features are, their contractual structures, how they differ from traditional insurance and who the counterparties are;
- the situations in which they can be used;
- the advantages and disadvantages to the counterparties involved;
- and the current trends in ART development.

Almost all of the ART structures considered will be introduced and/or illustrated with real-life deals.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Knowledge & Understanding:
By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:

- understand why and how techniques other than traditional insurance and reinsurance have been developed to provide risk financing and transfer for corporations and re/insurance companies;
- describe the principal types of Alternative Risk Transfer (ART) structures, their strengths and weaknesses, and areas of application.

2. Skills:
By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to apply this ART produce knowledge and understanding to real-life situations.

Main Text/s and any supplementary readings:

- "The picture of ART" by Swiss Re, sigma no. 1, 2003 – available on www.swissre.com under Research and Publications, sigma insurance research, sigma archive.
- Alternative risk transfer via finite risk reinsurance: an effective contribution to the stability of the insurance industry by Swiss Re, sigma no. 5, 1997 – no longer available on www.swissre.com, lecturer will supply
- Insurance of the future – CatEPutSM by Bryon Ehrhart and Alan Punter in The Treasurer, July/August 1997
- Just-in-Case Capital by Russ Banham in CFO Magazine, June 2001 – available at
www.cfo.com/article.cfm/2996186/c_2984346/?f=archives
- Capital market innovation in the insurance industry by Swiss Re, sigma no. 3, 2001 – available on www.swissre.com under Research and Publications, sigma insurance research, sigma archive
- Securitization – new opportunities for insurers and investors by Swiss Re, sigma no. 7, 2006 – available on www.swissre.com under Research and Publications, sigma insurance research, sigma archive
- Insurance-Linked Securities: Capital Revolution – ILS Market Expands to New Heights 2013 by Aon Benfield Securities– available on
http://thoughtleadership.aonbenfield.com/Documents/20130830_ab_ils_annual_report_2013.pdf
- A Balanced Discussion on Insurance-Linked Securities by PartnerRe, Research & Publications – available on
www.partnerre.com/App_Assets/Public/d3aa0b47-b345-4a39-9002-116ba1f46fb7/ils.pdf
- Of Sidecars and Such by Morton N Lane of Lane Financial, 31 January 2009 - available on www.LaneFinancialLLC.com under Publications (registration required)
- The role of indices in transferring insurance risks to the capital markets by Swiss Re, sigma no. 4, 2009 – available on
www.swissre.com under Research and Publications, sigma insurance research, sigma archive
- Innovative financing: Life insurance securitisation by PricewaterhouseCoopers, November 2005 - available at
www.pwc.com/en_GX/gx/actuarial-insurance-services/pdf/innovative-financing-life-insurance-securitisation.pdf
- The Insurative Model by Prakash Shimpi in Risk Management, August 2001 - available at
www.rmmag.com/Magazine/PDF/Insurative_Model.pdf

Further reading

- New solutions for the financing of risk by Alan Punter in Journal of Insurance Research & Practice (2000), Volume 15, part 2, pages 1 to 12
- Alternative risk transfer, CII Fact File International, Last updated May 2008
- Next generation captives: optimising opportunities by Marsh EMEA, Captive Solutions Practice (2008) – available (registration required) on www.marsh.co.uk/research/2008/captive_reports.php
- The Uses and Abuses of Finite Risk Reinsurance by Christopher L Culp and J B Heaton in Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Volume 17, Number 3, pages 18 to 31 (Summer 2005) - available on Competitive Enterprise Institute website
www.cei.org/gencon/019,05198.cfm
- Finite Reinsurance and Risk Transfer: Will Concern in the United States Shape the Global Debate? by Guy Carpenter, September 2005 – available on www.guycarp.com/portal/extranet/pdf/GCPub/Finite_RiskTransfer.pdf
- Contingent Capital Arrangements Michael W Elliott in Risk Management Section Quarterly, Vol. 18, No. 2, pages 1 to 2, September 2001, CPCU - available at http://riskmanagement.cpcusociety.org/file_depot/0-10000000/0-10000/8116/folder/20215/RMQsept.2001.pdf
- Contingent Capital: Integrating Corporate Financing and Risk Management Decisions by Christopher L Culp in Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Vol. 15, No. 1, Spring 2002 – available at http://rmcsinc.com/articles/JACF151.pdf

Supplementary reference text books

- The ART of Risk Management: Alternative Risk Transfer, Capital Structure, and the Convergence of Insurance and Capital Markets by Christopher L Culp, Wiley Finance (2002) – chapters 17 to 21, later part of chapter 22.
- Structured Finance & Insurance: The ART of Managing Capital and Risk by Christopher L Culp, Wiley Finance (2006) – chapters 2, 7, 15, 22 to 25, and 34.
- Alternative Risk Transfer: Integrated Risk Management Through Insurance, Reinsurance and the Capital Markets by Erik Banks, Wiley Finance (2004) – chapters 3, and 5 to 11.
- Alternative Risk Strategies edited by Morton N Lane, Risk Books (2002) – chapters 1, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 19, 20 and 29.

 
ADDITIONAL NOTES Pre-requisite Study-unit: INS2010 (or INS4021)

 
STUDY-UNIT TYPE Lecture

 
METHOD OF ASSESSMENT
Assessment Component/s Sept. Asst Session Weighting
Examination (2 Hours) Yes 100%

 
LECTURER/S Denise Cachia
Adam Karl Farrugia
Deborah Schembri
Mark Lawrence Mario Zammit

 

 
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