This thesis deals with the dynamic portfolio problem of an insurance company which offers
participating contracts to their policyholders. Thus, we have to determine optimal admissible investment strategies which maximise the utility of the wealth process at maturity.
We represent the insurer’s risk behaviour by an S-shaped utility function and assume a
complete Black-Scholes model in continuous time.
As an introduction to the classical portfolio problem, we consider the martingale approach and the convex duality approach as its theoretical foundation. The key step is
here to separate the dynamic portfolio problem into a static and representation problem.
The martingale method is useful for solving the portfolio problem where the assumed
utility function shows pleasant features like strict concavity. But we cannot guarantee in
general the P-a.s. existence and uniqueness of the optimal terminal wealth. Consequently,
we have to request further requirements to ensure the existence of the unique solution by
using the convex duality approach.
Moreover, we extend the convex duality approach to derive solutions for non-smooth
expected utility optimisation problems. Due to that, we can solve the portfolio problem
where the overall utility function fails to be strictly concave.
We present and discuss two application fields of the provided solution concept:
We study the problem of the manager’s optimal design of compensation where the portfolio manager is supposed to be risk-averse. Here, the compensation consists of a predetermined fixed payment plus, as a bonus payment, a call option on the assets he trades.
As another case of use in the life insurance sector, we focus on the portfolio problem
from the insurer’s standpoint. The insurance undertaking provides participating contracts
which are equity-linked insurance products.
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This thesis deals with the dynamic portfolio problem of an insurance company which offers
participating contracts to their policyholders. Thus, we have to determine optimal admissible investment strategies which maximise the utility of the wealth process at maturity.
We represent the insurer’s risk behaviour by an S-shaped utility function and assume a
complete Black-Scholes model in continuous time.
As an introduction to the classical portfolio problem, we consider the martingale approach a...
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