16.4 Risk Taxonomy

Insurance Hazard:

  • Unique to insurers that is intentionally taken on to make a profit, the crusx is having inadequate premium to cover the expsosure

  • In-force exposures:

    1. Accumulation (CAT)

    2. Underwriting (non-CAT)

  • Past exposures (reserve deterioration)

Financial Risk:

  • Volatility in: interest rate, FX, equity, credit, liquidity

    • Liquidity risk is the risk of having insufficient liquid assets to be able to meet a sudden cash demand
  • Focus on assets of insurance company (Insurers tend to have high \(\frac{Asset}{Equity}\) ratio)

    • Financial risk impact our liability as well

Operational Risk:

  • Execution risks of the company (things don’t turn out as planned)

  • Relates to threats to company value from actions (either the action itself of its consequences departed from plan)

Strategic Risk:

  • Risk about choices: making the right/wrong choice, or refusing to choose, or fail to recognize the need to choose

  • Inherent threat to the company in choosing the wrong plan given the current and expected market conditions

Remark. Operational and strategic risks are less amenable to quantitative modeling