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Tails probabilities are of paramount importance in shaping the risk profile of portfolios with credit risk sensitive securities. In this context, risk management tools require simulations that accurately capture the tails, and optimization models that limit tail effects. Ignoring tail events in the simulation or using inadequate optimization metrics can have significant effects and reduce portfolio efficiency. The resulting portfolio risk profile can be grossly misrepresented when long‐run performance is optimized without accounting for short‐term tail effects. This article illustrates pitfalls and suggests models to avoid them.

Insurers are competing by adopting product innovations that provide the insured with integrated coverage for actuarial and financial risks. This article compares the contract structures of blended life policies between the insurance markets in Italy and the United Kingdom within the context of asset‐liability management and welfare analysis.

Insurance liabilities are converging with capital markets products (e.g. derivatives and securitizations), thereby increasing the demand for integrated asset and liability management strategies. This article compares the value‐added by an integrative approach‐based on scenario optimization modelling‐relative to traditional risk management methods. The authors present some examples of products offered by the insurance industry in Italy, and apply the results of the analysis to the design of competitive insurance policies.

This paper aims to use a risk management approach for re-profiling of sovereign debt. It develops profiles that trade off expected cost of financing alternative debt structures against their risk. The risk profiles are particularly informative for countries facing sovereign debt crisis, as they allow us to identify, with high probability, debt unsustainability. Risk profiles for two eurozone countries with excessive debt, Cyprus and Italy, were developed. In addition, risk profiles were developed for a proposal to impose debt sanctions in the Ukrainian crisis and it was shown that the financial impact could be substantial.

Using scenario analysis, a risk measure of the sovereign’s debt – Conditional Debt-at-Risk – was developed, and an optimization model was then used to trade off expected cost of debt financing against the Conditional Debt-at-Risk. The model is applied to three diverse settings from current crises.

The methodology traces informative risk profiles to identify sustainable debt structures. Interesting, although tentative, conclusions are drawn for the countries where the methodology was applied. Cyprus’s debt sustainability hinges on current International Monetary Fund (IMF) projections about gross domestic product growth and small deviations can push debt into unsustainable territory. For Italy, our analysis provides evidence of debt unsustainability. Common assumption of debt by eurozone member states could restore sustainability for Italy. Finally, it is shown how a proposal to impose debt sanctions against Russia for the Ukrainian crisis could have significant financial impact for Ukraine.

Additional work is needed to calibrate the simulation models for each country separately. Nevertheless, the direction of the results is such that more careful calibration will most likely not alter the conclusions but make them stronger instead.

The results provide significant insights for the management of sovereign debt for Cyprus and Italy. They also show the significant positive impact on Ukrainian public finances from debt sanctions. However, the most important practical implication is to show how the proposed methodology provided a decision support tool for restructuring and rescheduling sovereign debt for crisis countries.

There is widespread acceptance that debt restructuring has been too little and too late in recent crises failing to re-establish market access in a durable way. How to develop risk profiles for alternative debt structures has been illustrated. Debt profiles that are unsustainable can be identified, with high probability, and alternative structures proposed that restore sustainability. The methodology proposed in this paper is providing a useful tool of analysis. The topic of debt relief is currently debated widely at policy circles by the IMF and the United Nations, and the analysis of this paper provides some insightful input to the debate.

The use of scenario analysis for sovereign debt modeling and the use of an optimization model developed by the authors in previous research provide empirical analysis for three current problems in sovereign debt management. Useful insights are obtained for three important real-world cases for Cyprus, Italy and Ukraine.

This article presents a model for the fair valuation of a large class of insurance and pension liabilities. Life insurance companies and pension funds often issue policies/contracts with embedded options such as minimum return guarantees and bonus and surrender options. Until recently, most companies have neglected the proper valuation and risk management of these contingent claims. Recent recommendations from FASB and IASC have forced companies to revise their policies; the common theme in the recommended new accounting standards is the application of market or fair valuation principles throughout the balance sheet. In order to implement mark‐to‐market accounting, financial models are needed. The author presents a model of this type, discusses its implementation, and illustrates its potential usefulness with numerical examples. He concludes that minimum return guarantees can become very valuable, insolvency risk can be significant in realistic scenarios, and effective regulatory intervention rules can be of significant value to policyholders.

Fat‐tailed distributions have been found in many financial and economic variables ranging from forecasting returns on financial assets to modeling recovery distributions in bankruptcies. They have also been found in numerous insurance applications such as catastrophic insurance claims and in value‐at‐risk measures employed by risk managers. Financial applications include: