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Modelling longevity bonds: Analysing the Swiss Re Kortis bond

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  • Hunt, Andrew
  • Blake, David

Abstract

A key contribution to the development of the traded market for longevity risk was the issuance of the Kortis bond, the world’s first longevity trend bond, by Swiss Re in 2010. We analyse the design of the Kortis bond, develop suitable mortality models to analyse its payoff and discuss the key risk factors for the bond. We also investigate how the design of the Kortis bond can be adapted and extended to further develop the market for longevity risk.

Suggested Citation

  • Hunt, Andrew & Blake, David, 2015. "Modelling longevity bonds: Analysing the Swiss Re Kortis bond," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 12-29.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:insuma:v:63:y:2015:i:c:p:12-29
    DOI: 10.1016/j.insmatheco.2015.03.017
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    Cited by:

    1. Bahl, Raj Kumari & Sabanis, Sotirios, 2021. "Model-independent price bounds for Catastrophic Mortality Bonds," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 276-291.
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    3. David Blake & Marco Morales & Enrico Biffis & Yijia Lin & Andreas Milidonis, 2017. "Special Edition: Longevity 10 – The Tenth International Longevity Risk and Capital Markets Solutions Conference," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 84(S1), pages 515-532, April.
    4. Li, Hong & Lu, Yang, 2017. "Coherent Forecasting Of Mortality Rates: A Sparse Vector-Autoregression Approach," ASTIN Bulletin, Cambridge University Press, vol. 47(2), pages 563-600, May.
    5. Blake, David & El Karoui, Nicole & Loisel, Stéphane & MacMinn, Richard, 2018. "Longevity risk and capital markets: The 2015–16 update," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 157-173.
    6. Schinzinger, Edo & Denuit, Michel M. & Christiansen, Marcus C., 2016. "A multivariate evolutionary credibility model for mortality improvement rates," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 70-81.
    7. David Blake, 2018. "Longevity: a new asset class," Journal of Asset Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 19(5), pages 278-300, September.
    8. Broeders, Dirk & Mehlkopf, Roel & van Ool, Annick, 2021. "The economics of sharing macro-longevity risk," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 440-458.
    9. Debonneuil, Edouard & Loisel, Stéphane & Planchet, Frédéric, 2018. "Do actuaries believe in longevity deceleration?," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 325-338.
    10. Hunt, Andrew & Blake, David, 2018. "Identifiability, cointegration and the gravity model," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 360-368.
    11. Liu, Yanxin & Li, Johnny Siu-Hang, 2016. "It’s all in the hidden states: A longevity hedging strategy with an explicit measure of population basis risk," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 301-319.
    12. Blake, David & Cairns, Andrew J.G., 2021. "Longevity risk and capital markets: The 2019-20 update," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 395-439.
    13. Leung, Melvern & Fung, Man Chung & O’Hare, Colin, 2018. "A comparative study of pricing approaches for longevity instruments," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 95-116.
    14. Arnold, Séverine & Glushko, Viktoriya, 2021. "Cause-specific mortality rates: Common trends and differences," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 294-308.
    15. Bravo, Jorge M. & Nunes, João Pedro Vidal, 2021. "Pricing longevity derivatives via Fourier transforms," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 81-97.
    16. Raj Kumari Bahl & Sotirios Sabanis, 2016. "Model-Independent Price Bounds for Catastrophic Mortality Bonds," Papers 1607.07108, arXiv.org, revised Dec 2020.
    17. Jarner, Søren F. & Jallbjørn, Snorre, 2020. "Pitfalls and merits of cointegration-based mortality models," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 80-93.
    18. Wang, Pengjie & Pantelous, Athanasios A. & Vahid, Farshid, 2023. "Multi-population mortality projection: The augmented common factor model with structural breaks," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 450-469.
    19. Hanbali, Hamza & Dhaene, Jan & Linders, Daniël, 2022. "Dependence bounds for the difference of stop-loss payoffs on the difference of two random variables," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 22-37.
    20. Fabrizio Culotta, 2021. "Life Expectancy Heterogeneity and Pension Fairness: An Italian North-South Divide," Risks, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-22, March.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Mortality modelling; Age/period/cohort models; General procedure; Cointegration; Cohort effects; Kortis bond;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C15 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Statistical Simulation Methods: General
    • C32 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Time-Series Models; Dynamic Quantile Regressions; Dynamic Treatment Effect Models; Diffusion Processes; State Space Models
    • G13 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Contingent Pricing; Futures Pricing

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