We study an asset allocation problem for a defined-contribution (DC) pension scheme in its accumulation phase. We assume that the amount contributed to the pension fund by a pension plan member is coupled with the salary income which fluctuates randomly over time and contains both a hedgeable and non-hedgeable risk component. We consider an economy in which macroeconomic risks are existent. We assume that the economy can be in one of I states (regimes) and switches randomly between those states. The state of the economy affects the dynamics of the tradeable risky asset and the contribution process (the salary income of a pension plan member). To model the switching behavior of the economy we use a counting process with stochastic intensities. We find the investment strategy which maximizes the expected exponential utility of the discounted excess wealth over a target payment, e.g. a target lifetime annuity.

This paper examines the question to what extent premia for macroeconomic risks in banking are sufficient to avoid banking crises. We investigate a competitive banking system embedded in an overlapping-generations model subject to repeated macroeconomic shocks. We show that even if banks fully incorporate macroeconomic risks into their pricing of loans, a banking system may enter bankruptcy with probability one. A major cause for this default is that risk premia of a competitive banking system may become too small if the capital base is low.