The book provides a sound mathematical base for life insurance mathematics and applies the underlying concepts to concrete examples. Moreover the models presented make it possible to model life insurance policies by means of Markov chains. Two chapters covering ALM and abstract valuation concepts on the background of Solvency II complete this volume. Numerous examples and a parallel treatment of discrete and continuous approaches help the reader to implement the theory directly in practice.

The book provides a sound mathematical base for life insurance mathematics and applies the underlying concepts to concrete examples. Moreover the models presented make it possible to model life insurance policies by means of Markov chains. Two chapters covering ALM and abstract valuation concepts on the background of Solvency II complete this volume. Numerous examples and a parallel treatment of discrete and continuous approaches help the reader to implement the theory directly in practice.

This textbook provides a broad overview of the present state of insurance mathematics and some related topics in risk management, financial mathematics and probability. Both non-life and life aspects are covered. The emphasis is on probability and modeling rather than statistics and practical implementation. Aimed at the graduate level, pointing in part to current research topics, it can potentially replace other textbooks on basic non-life insurance mathematics and advanced risk management methods in non-life insurance. Based on chapters selected according to the particular topics in mind, the book may serve as a source for introductory courses to insurance mathematics for non-specialists, advanced courses for actuarial students, or courses on probabilistic aspects of risk. It will also be useful for practitioners and students/researchers in related areas such as finance and statistics who wish to get an overview of the general area of mathematical modeling and analysis in insurance.

"Offers a mathematical introduction to non-life insurance and, at the same time, to a multitude of applied stochastic processes. It gives detailed discussions of the fundamental models for claim sizes, claim arrivals, the total claim amount, and their probabilistic properties....The reader gets to know how the underlying probabilistic structures allow one to determine premiums in a portfolio or in an individual policy." --Zentralblatt für Didaktik der Mathematik

HaIley's Comet has been prominently displayed in many newspapers during the last few months. For the first time in 76 years it appeared this winter, clearly visible against the nocturnal sky. This is an appropriate occasion to point out the fact that Sir Edmund Halley also constructed the world's first life table in 1693, thus creating the scientific foundation of life insurance. Halley's life table and its successors were viewed as deterministic laws, i. e. the number of deaths in any given group and year was considered to be a weIl defined number that could be calculated by means of a life table. However, in reality this number is random. Thus any mathematical treatment of life insurance will have to rely more and more on prob ability theory. By sponsoring this monograph the Swiss Association of Actuaries wishes to support the "modern" probabilistic view oflife contingencies. We are fortu nate that Professor Gerber, an internationally renowned expert, has assumed the task of writing the monograph. We thank the Springer-Verlag and hope that this monograph will be the first in a successful series of actuarial texts. Hans Bühlmann Zürich, March 1986 President Swiss Association of Actuaries Preface Two major developments have influenced the environment of actuarial math ematics. One is the arrival of powerful and affordable computers; the once important problem of numerical calculation has become almost trivial in many instances.

The aim of the book is to provide an overview of risk management in life insurance companies. The focus is twofold: (1) to provide a broad view of the different topics needed for risk management and (2) to provide the necessary tools and techniques to concretely apply them in practice. Much emphasis has been put into the presentation of the book so that it presents the theory in a simple but sound manner. The first chapters deal with valuation concepts which are defined and analysed, the emphasis is on understanding the risks in corresponding assets and liabilities such as bonds, shares and also insurance liabilities. In the following chapters risk appetite and key insurance processes and their risks are presented and analysed. This more general treatment is followed by chapters describing asset risks, insurance risks and operational risks - the application of models and reporting of the corresponding risks is central. Next, the risks of insurance companies and of special insurance products are looked at. The aim is to show the intrinsic risks in some particular products and the way they can be analysed. The book finishes with emerging risks and risk management from a regulatory point of view, the standard model of Solvency II and the Swiss Solvency Test are analysed and explained. The book has several mathematical appendices which deal with the basic mathematical tools, e.g. probability theory, stochastic processes, Markov chains and a stochastic life insurance model based on Markov chains. Moreover, the appendices look at the mathematical formulation of abstract valuation concepts such as replicating portfolios, state space deflators, arbitrage free pricing and the valuation of unit linked products with guarantees. The various concepts in the book are supported by tables and figures.