In this paper we study the optimal dividend problem for a company whose surplus process evolves as a spectrally positive Lévy process before dividends are deducted. This model includes the dual model of the classical risk model and the dual model with diffusion as special cases. We assume that dividends are paid to the shareholders according to an admissible strategy whose dividend rate is bounded by a constant. The objective is to find a dividend policy so as to maximize the expected discounted value of dividends which are paid to the shareholders until the company is ruined. We show that the optimal dividend strategy is formed by a threshold strategy.

This paper presents the design of optimal Bonus-Malus Systems using finite mixture models, extending the work of Lemaire (1995; Lemaire, J. (1995) Bonus-Malus Systems in Automobile Insurance. Norwell, MA: Kluwer) and Frangos and Vrontos (2001; Frangos, N. and Vrontos, S. (2001) Design of optimal bonus-malus systems with a frequency and a severity component on an individual basis in automobile insurance. ASTIN Bulletin, 31(1), 1–22). Specifically, for the frequency component we employ finite Poisson, Delaporte and Negative Binomial mixtures, while for the severity component we employ finite Exponential, Gamma, Weibull and Generalized Beta Type II mixtures, updating the posterior probability. We also consider the case of a finite Negative Binomial mixture and a finite Pareto mixture updating the posterior mean. The generalized Bonus-Malus Systems we propose, integrate risk classification and experience rating by taking into account both the a priori and a posteriori characteristics of each policyholder.

Spectral expansion techniques have been extensively exploited for the pricing of exotic options. In this paper, we present novel applications of spectral methods for the quantitative risk management of variable annuity guaranteed benefits such as guaranteed minimum maturity benefits and guaranteed minimum death benefits. The objective is to find efficient and accurate solution methods for the computation of risk measures, which is the key to determining risk-based capital according to regulatory requirements. Our example calculations show that two spectral methods used in this paper are highly efficient and numerically more stable than conventional known methods. Hence these approaches are more suitable for intensive calculations involving death benefits.

Modelling automobile insurance claims is a crucial component in the ratemaking procedure. This paper focuses on the probability that a policyholder reports a claim, where the classical logit link does not provide a right model. This is so because databases related with automobile claims are often unbalanced, containing more non-claims than the presence of claims. In this work an asymmetric logit model, which takes into account the large number of non-claims in the portfolio, is considered. Both, logit and asymmetric logit models from a Bayesian point of view, are used to a sample that was collected from a major automobile insurance company in Spain in 2009, resulting in a dataset of 2,000 passenger vehicle. We establish the validity of the asymmetric model in front of the conventional logit link. The use of a garage, the age of the vehicle and the duration of the client's relation with the company are all shown to be significant explanatory variables by the logit model. The asymmetric model includes, in addition, the length of time the policyholder has held a driving licence and the type of use made of the vehicle. The asymmetric model provides a better fit to the data examined.

We consider the optimal dividend control problem to find an optimal strategy under the constraint that dividend rates is restricted such that the expected total discounted dividends are maximized for an insurance company. The evolution of the reserve is modeled by a diffusion process with drift and volatility coefficients modulated by an observable Markov chain. We consider the regime-switching threshold strategy which pays out dividends at the maximal possible rate when the current reserve is above some critical level dependent on the regime of the Markov chain at the time, and pays nothing when the reserve is below that level. We give sufficient conditions under which such type of strategy is optimal for the regime-switching model.