Effect of an Excess of Loss Reinsurance on Upper Bounds of Ruin Probabilities ()
1. Introduction
We consider the insurer’s surplus in period
denoted as
is defined by:
(1.1)
where:
・
is the insurer’s initial surplus;
・
denotes the premium income in period n (i.e., from time
to time n),
is a sequence of independent and identically distributed (i.i.d.) non-negative random variables;
・
denotes the claim amount in period n,
is a sequence of i.i.d. non-negative random variables and is independent of Y.
The process
defined by (1.1) is called a surplus process (see [1] ). Yang [1] gave the upper bounds of ruin probabilities of the insurer by using the martingale method. Cai and Dickson [2] extended the surplus process in (1.1) by including the interest rate. Then, the surplus process
can be written as following
(1.2)
where
and
denotes the interest rate of the insurer in period n. The sequence
is assumed to be a Markov chain and independent of X and Y. With surplus process (1.2), the upper bound of the insurer’s ruin probability was established by the martingale and inductive methods in [2] .
In the classical risk model, claims are assumed to be paid by one insurer. However, insurers can transfer risks from one primary insurer (the ceding company or cedent) to another one (the reinsurance company) through reinsurance contracts. For that reason, some authors extended the classical surplus process in a consideration of an excess of loss reinsurance. For example: the various articles [3] [4] [5] investigated the effect of the reinsurance contract on the upper bound of the cedent’s ruin probability. The upper bounds of ruin probabilities of the cedent and the reinsurer were estimated in [6] [7] where Dam and Chung considered the risk model under quota share reinsurance. The explicit expression was given for finite-time joint survival probability of the cedent and the reinsurer in [8] . An optimal reinsurance retention was studied under ruin-related optimization criteria in [9] .
This paper investigates the effect of an excess of loss reinsurance on the ultimate ruin probabilities of the cedent and the reinsurer in the discrete-time model. The risk models are investigated in two cases without interest rate and with homogeneous Markov chain interest rate. The premium income is assumed as a sequence of independent and identically distributed random variables. In particular, the author shows that for given value
then there exists a quota share level and a retention level so that both the ruin probabilities of the cedent and the reinsurer are less than value
.
The content of this paper is organized as follows: A brief description of the models and some notions are presented in Section 2. Section 3 is devoted to the construction of the ruin-related problems in the risk model without an interest rate. The upper bounds of ruin probabilities in the risk model with interest rate are given in Section 4. Finally, numerical illustrations are given.
2. The Risk Models
In this paper, we investigate the effect of an excess of loss reinsurance on the surplus processes (1.1) and (1.2). First, the cedent and the reinsurer arrange an excess of loss reinsurance that we denote
as the quota share level and
is retention level. The premiums are calculated according to the expected value principle. i.e. for each insurance company, the premium income expectation is greater than the claim expectation.
Proposition 1 shows that there exists
such that the premiums satisfy the expected value principle. We will denote the probability space as a triple
,
and
if
.
Proposition 1. Assuming that
(2.1)
for any given M there exists
such that:
(2.2)
and
(2.3)
Proof. For any M, we denote
and
.
We have
(2.4)
(2.5)
Using (2.4) and (2.5), we imply that
From
, thus
We have
Since, we imply the existence
such that
(2.6)
where
and
. □
We now consider the surplus process
defined by (1.1) with the excess of loss reinsurance. Then, the cedent’s surplus and the reinsurer’s surplus in period
are denoted by
and
, respectively. Surpluses
and
can be expressed as
(2.7)
and
(2.8)
where u and v are initial surpluses of the cedent and the reinsurer. The processes (2.7) and (2.8) are called surplus processes.
The finite-time and ultimate ruin probability of the cedent with initial surplus u are respectively defined by
(2.9)
Similarly, the finite-time and ultimate ruin probability of the reinsurer with initial surplus v are denoted by
and
. The probabilities are defined by
(2.10)
Obviously:
and
.
Let
and
be the interest rate sequences of the cedent and the reinsurer, respectively. The interest rates satisfy assumptions (2.1) and (2.2).
・ Assumption 2.1. The cedent’s interest rate sequence
is a homogeneous Markov chain,
takes the values in a finite set of positive
and
(2.11)
where
for any
and
for all
.
・ Assumption 2.2. The reinsurer’s interest rate sequence
is a homogeneous Markov chain,
takes the values in a finite set of positive
and
(2.12)
where
for any
and
for all
.
Then, the cedent’s surplus and the reinsurer’s surplus in period
are denoted by
and
.
(2.13)
and
(2.14)
where
and
are the cedent’ initial surplus and the reinsurer’s initial surplus, respectively.
It is easy to see that (2.13) and (2.14) are equivalent to
(2.15)
and
(2.16)
The finite-time and ultimate the cedent’s ruin probabilities with surplus process (2.15), initial surplus u and a given
are respectively defined by
(2.17)
and
(2.18)
Similarly, the finite-time and ultimate the reinsurer’s ruin probabilities with surplus process (2.16), initial surplus v and a given
are
(2.19)
and
(2.20)
Clearly:
and
.
3. The Ruin Probabilities in the Risk Model without Interest Rate
The adjustment coefficients, which depend on quota share level and retention level, are established in the following lemmas.
Lemma 2. If
,
,
and
for any
then there exists the unique
such that
(3.1)
Proof. We set
and
. We have
Therefore, there exists the expectation value of
for all
.
For any
, if we set
for
then
(3.2)
Differentiating the above function, we get
(3.3)
Let
,
be an arbitrary real-valued sequence as
. Using the Mean Value Theorem for
, we obtain
Moreover, for any
, there exists a natural number
such that
for all
, where
.
Thus, we have
and
Applying Lebesgue’s Dominated Convergence Theorem, we imply that
(3.4)
From (3.3) and (3.4) function
is differentiable
So,
(3.5)
It means that the
is decreasing at
.
Since
there exists
so that
. We have
(3.6)
The right side of (3.6) tends to infinity as
. It implies that
(3.7)
Combining (3.2), (3.5) and (3.7), function
must intersect the x-axis. In other words, there exists a positive x-intercept of
. Let’s denote it
. Apparently,
is a root of the following equation
(3.8)
Similarly, function
is twice differentiable. Hence,
That means
is strictly convex for
. Thus,
is the unique positive of Equation (3.8)
□
The proof of Lemma 3 is similar to Lemma 2 and we omit the proof here.
Lemma 3. If
and
for any
then there exists the unique
such that
(3.9)
The following theorem provides the exponential upper bounds of
and
.
Theorem 4. Assuming that the surplus processes given in (2.7) and (2.8) satisfy assumptions in Lemma 2 and Lemma 3. Then,
(3.10)
and
(3.11)
for any
.
Proof. In order to prove (3.10), we set the stochastic process
:
,
for
and
the filtration
where
,
;
The stochastic process
is a martingale with respect to the filtration
.
Indeed
(3.12)
We now consider for
(3.13)
Moreover
(3.14)
Combining (3.13) and (3.14), thus
(3.15)
Since the stochastic process
is a martingale with respect to the filtration
. Let
. Then
is a finite stopping time. Thus, using the optional stopping theorem for martingale
, (see [10] ) we get
This deduces that
(3.16)
From (3.16) and
, we obtain
(3.17)
Therefore, inequality (3.10) is followed by letting
in (3.17).
The proof of inequality (3.11) is similar to the one for inequality (3.10).
□
In reinsurance businesses, evaluation the two ruin probabilities of the cedent and the reinsurer are crucial. Because the insurers based on the ruin probabilities to determine
so that
and
are decreased. However, the issue is a difficult topic. The following theorem shows us how to determine
so that
and
are less than a given value
.
Theorem 5. Assuming that the surplus processes given in (2.7) and (2.8) satisfy the following assumptions:
1) Random variable
takes values in a finite set of non-negative numbers
where
and
,
,
;
2)
For any given
satisfies
(3.18)
there exists
such that
(3.19)
and
(3.20)
Proof. By
, we imply that there exists
such that
(3.21)
Obviously
.
Expression (3.21) is equivalent to
For any given
satisfies (3.18). We have
Since,
.
Moreover, Expression (3.21) can be written
Hence
(3.22)
Using (3.22) and
, thus
□
Li [9] investigated the optimal M to maximize the joint survival probability for the cedent and the reinsurer in one period insurance. If both companies don’t occur ruin at certain period
,
and
will be initial surpluses of the insurance companies before period n, respectively. Therefore, we apply Theorem 5 to estimate the probabilities of the insurance companies to period
from period n.
4. The Ruin Probabilities in the Risk Model with Interest Rate
In the section, we consider surplus processes (2.15) and (2.16). The proofs of Lemma 6 and Lemma 7 are similar to the one for Lemma 2.
Lemma 6. If
,
,
and
for any
then there exists the unique
such that
(4.1)
for any
.
Proof. For any
and
, we set
(4.2)
for
.
Similarly, we show the expectation value existence in (4.1). In particular
(4.3)
(4.4)
(4.5)
Moreover
(4.6)
Combining assertions to (4.3) from (4.6), we deduce that function
must intersect the x-axis. Let’s denote it
. Apparently,
is the unique intersection.
□
For any
. We set
(4.7)
The function
is strictly convex for
,
. Since,
this is equivalent to
(4.8)
for all
.
We have
(4.9)
Hence
(4.10)
Lemma 7. If
and
for any
then there exists the unique
such that
(4.11)
for any
.
Proof. The proof of Lemma 7 is similar to the one for Lemma 2. □
If
(4.12)
then
(4.13)
where
Using martingale method, we present the exponential upper bounds of
and
.
Theorem 8. Assuming that the surplus processes given in (2.15) and (2.16) satisfy assumptions in Lemma 6 and Lemma 7. For any
then
(4.14)
and
(4.15)
for all
and
.
Proof. We first consider the stochastic process
and the filtration
where
and
We have
(4.16)
For
, we get
(4.17)
We set
. According to Jensen’s Inequality, it
implies that
(4.18)
Combining (4.17) and (4.18), we obtain
Hence, the stochastic process
is a supermartingale with respect to the filtration
.
Let
. Then
is a finite stopping time. Thus, by the optional stopping theorem for supermartingale
, (see [10] ), we get
This implies that
(4.19)
By
and (4.19), we have
(4.20)
By letting
in (4.20), we obtain inequality (4.14).
The proof of inequality (4.15) is similar to the one for inequality (4.14). □
5. Numerical Illustrations
5.1. Example 5.1
Suppose that sequences
and
satisfy the conditions in Theorem 5. Initial surpluses
and
. The distribution functions of
and
are defined in Table 1 and Table 2, respectively:
Inequality (3.18) implies for all
there exists
such that
and
. E.g. from (3.21) we chose
this follows
then couple
is the solution of Theorem 5.
If
then
,
and
. Hence, couple
also satisfy Proposition 1.
5.2. Example 5.2
In this example, let
and
take the same structure and values as the ones in Example 5.1. Initial surpluses
and
.
The interest rate sequence of the cedent
is a homogeneous Markov chain,
takes values:
,
and
. The transition probability matrix of the process
is
Similarly, the interest rate sequence of the reinsurer
is a homogeneous Markov chain,
takes values:
,
and
. The transition probability matrix of the process
is
Let
and
, we have Table 3 and Table 4.
We denote the moment-generating functions of
and
are
Table 1. Distribution function of
.
Table 2. Distribution function of
.
Table 3. Distribution function of
.
Table 4. Distribution function of
.
(5.1)
and
(5.2)
for
.
Using Matlab software, we obtain
and
which are the solutions of equations
and
, respectively.
If
then Equation (4.1) can be written
(5.3)
Similarly, for
and
Equation (4.1) is equivalent to, respectively,
(5.4)
and
(5.5)
Combining the solutions of Equations (5.3), (5.4) and (5.5), we have
Similarly, for
and
Equation (4.11) can be written, respectively,
(5.6)
(5.7)
and
(5.8)
From the solutions of Equations (5.6), (5.7) and (5.8), this implies
.
Other couples
then
,
,
and
are defined as the ones above. Table 5 gives some numerical results of the upper bounds of
,
,
and
for all
and
. Note couples
in Table 5 satisfy Proposition 1.
In Table 5, the upper bounds of (4.14) and (4.15) are tighter than the ones (3.10) and (3.11), respectively. This is in a good accordance with [1] [2] . If
and
increase then the cedent’s upper bounds of the ruin probabilities increase while the reinsurer’s upper bounds of the ruin probabilities decrease.
6. Conclusions and Suggestions
・ The surplus processes given by (2.7) and (2.13) can be viewed as an extension of the ones (1.1) and (1.2);
・ By martingale method, the author obtains the upper bounds of the ultimate ruin probabilities of the cedent and the reinsurer in the risk models under excess of loss reinsurance;
Table 5. The upper bounds of the ruin probabilities for other couples
.
・ There remain many open issues, e.g.
- building the upper bounds of the ultimate ruin probabilities in the risk model under combination of quota share and excess of loss reinsurance;
- investigating the joint ruin probability of the cedent and the reinsurer in the risk model under excess of loss reinsurance;
- establishing the optimality problems under ruin-related optimization criteria.
Further research in some of these directions is in progress.
Acknowledgements
The author wishes to thank professor Bui Khoi Dam for his helpful suggestions and many valuable comments while the author makes this paper.