Pension capital is the single largest block of capital in the global domain of finance and a transformative social force. However, the studies on pension fund capitalism have been geographically limited. Although vast pools of pension capital have been generated outside the Anglo-American institutional environments, we still have little knowledge on the social construction of pension fund capitalism outside that context. The purpose of the study is to develop theoretical-methodological tools for studying the institutional differences in pension fund investments with habitual institutionalist theory at the level of organisation fields, and to apply these tools in an empirical case study that has theoretical relevance concerning the recent financialisation of European pension provision. The case study is focussed on the field of Finnish pension insurance companies that execute the nationally mandatory partly funded TyEL pension scheme. The case study includes a single case analysis at the organisation field level with embedded case analyses on the investment processes in two companies. The study is based on multiple sources of textual and interview data gathered and analysed with content analysis. It is argued that the institutional life of Finnish pension insurance company investments illustrates divergence from the Anglo-American pension fund capitalism and has reinforced elastic institutional solutions especially in domains of governance and regulation even under Europe-wide financialisation pressures. The Finnish case shows that there are alternative institutional solutions for various domains of pension fund capitalism, but the strong Europe-wide trends have all characterised recent institutional change in the TyEL field as well. It is concluded that although the European shift towards pension fund capitalism with the generation of increasingly independent portfolio investors with increasingly principle-based regulation and risk-based supervision has not necessarily implied strong institutional convergence, the European pension investors are likely to share a number of common questions in the future.

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2017-03-29T12:25:16Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Camila Menezes da Silva.pdf: 4221880 bytes, checksum: 07fa6726e815eb9239c3aade33e8bf6e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-03-29T12:25:16Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Camila Menezes da Silva.pdf: 4221880 bytes, checksum: 07fa6726e815eb9239c3aade33e8bf6e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-02-13 / The main objective of this paper is to identify the indicator or the group of accounting indicators to classify the Brazilian insurance companies as solvent or insolvent. Insurance companies play an important role in the society: to restore the financial losses caused by uncertain events. In this context, the uncertainty is a fundamental problem for which insurance companies must be financially prepared not to become insolvent. In Brazil, the ruling entity is SUSEP and it is in charge of overseeing these institutions and establishing rules to help companies to not become insolvent. From the methodological perspective, this research used the discriminant analysis to develop a model that classifies the Brazilian insurance companies as solvent or insolvent. The sample consisted of 30 insurance companies divided into 2 groups: the first group with insurance companies that had some SUSEP intervention; the second one with insurance companies that had no intervention, considered solvent, between 2000 and 2015 years. The 15 indicators were selected to enter the model, after reviewing the prerequisite of the discriminant analysis technique, such normality and the absence of multicollinearity of variables; it was possible to obtain a classification model by the stepwise method. The finding of the developed model, statistically significant, has properly classified 90% of the observations / O objetivo principal desta dissertação é identificar o indicador ou conjunto de indicadores contábeis que melhor discrimine as seguradoras brasileiras em solventes e insolventes. Companhias Seguradoras são empresas responsáveis pela reposição de perdas financeiras causadas por eventos incertos. Nesse sentido, a incerteza é um problema fundamental para o qual estas empresas devem estar financeiramente preparadas, de forma que não se tornem insolventes. No Brasil, a Superintendência de Seguros Privados (SUSEP) é a responsável por fiscalizar estas instituições e estabelecer regras para que as companhias não se tornem insolventes. Do ponto de vista metodológico, utilizou-se a análise discriminante para identificar um modelo que classifique as seguradoras brasileiras em solventes e insolventes. A amostra foi composta por 30 empresas, segregadas em dois grupos: o primeiro com seguradoras consideradas insolventes por terem sofrido alguma intervenção da SUSEP, e o segundo com seguradoras que não tiveram intervenção, no período compreendido entre 2000 e 2015. Inicialmente, foram utilizadas 15 variáveis para predição, após analisar os prérequisitos da técnica da análise discriminante, como normalidade e ausência de multicolinearidade das variáveis, foi possível identificar que a variável RefPg, utilizada para avaliar o retorno financeiro sobre prêmios ganhos, discriminou adequadamente as seguradoras em solventes e insolvente, pelo método stepwise. O resultado obtido com o modelo desenvolvido, estatisticamente significante, classificou adequadamente 90% das observações, sendo que todas as seguradoras solventes foram classificadas corretamente

Il sistema delle garanzie finanziarie del mercato assicurativo è, allo stato attuale, oggetto di processi di riforma comunitari (c.d. progetto Solvency II). Le ipotesi fino ad ora elaborate, nonostante siano lontane dal potersi definire conclusive, prevedono l'apprezzamento del margine di solvibilità relativo al rischio di tasso d'interesse (IRR) assumendo che la struttura per scadenza sia oggetto di shift paralleli della curva. Noti i limiti dell'approccio deterministico ed in forza dei principi fino ad ora consolidati, il presente elaborato si propone l'obiettivo di quantificare il requisito di capitale di una compagnia operante nel ramo vita, a fronte dell'IRR, ipotizzando che la dinamica dei tassi sia governata da un processo stocastico nella forma del modello Cox Ingersoll e Ross (CIR). Le simulazioni sono state sviluppate sugli equilibri patrimoniali di una teorica compagnia, al fine di apprezzare in maniera asettica il contributo dell'impostazione promossa. / Nowadays, the financial guarantees system of insurance market is being interested by a Community reform process (Solvency II project). Even if the current hypothesis are far to be definitive, the present guidelines state that the Solvency Capital Requirement (SCR) related to Interest Rate Risk (IRR) has to be quantified assuming deterministic shocks to the yield curve. The aim of the thesis is to improve the assessment of SCR connected to IRR, calculating interest rates according to Cox, Ingersoll and Ross (cir) stochastic model. Simulations are developed on the asset liability equilibria of a theoretical life insurance company, in order to better appreciate the SCR algebra sensitivity to changes in CIR model parameters.

Bakgrund: 1 januari 2013 kommer Direktivet (2009/138/EG) för Solvens II att implementeras. Detta kommer ske samtidigt inom Europeiska Unionen (EU) och kommer leda till en harmonisering av försäkringslagstiftning i medlemsstaterna. Tidigare svensk lagstiftning, Försäkringsrörelselagen (2010:2043), kommer med andra ord att anpassas till det nya regelverket. Regeländring kan komma att påverka svenska försäkringsbolags bedrivna kapitalförvaltning. Syfte: Syftet med studien är att undersöka om svenska försäkringsbolag utifrån rådande lagstiftning kan bedriva en, enligt finansiell teori, rationell kapitalförvaltning och om möjligheten till att bedriva en rationell kapitalförvaltning kommer att förändras i och med implementeringen av Solvens II. Genomförande: En genomgång av dagens regelverk, Försäkringsrörelselagen, samt Direktivet (2009/138/EG) för Solvens II kommer att presenteras. Utöver detta har fem stycken intervjuer med svenska försäkringsbolag genomförts. Slutsats: Dagens lagstiftning ger inte möjligheter till att bedriva en rationell kapitalförvaltning fullt ut. Solvens II kommer att förbättra försäkringsbolagens möjligheter att bedriva en rationell kapitalförvaltning. Försäkringsbolagen bedriver idag en förvaltning som till stor del kan anses vara rationell utifrån finansiell teori. Dock finns det vissa områden inom förvaltningen som skiljer sig från teorins bild. / Background: January 1, 2013, Directive (2009/138/EC) of Solvency II will be implemented. This will take place simultaneously in the European Union (EU) and will lead to a harmonization of insurance laws of the member states. Former Swedish legislation, Försäkringsrörelselagen (2010:2043), will therefore be adapted to the new framework. The rule change may affect Swedish insurance companies’ asset management. Purpose: The purpose of the thesis is to examine if Swedish insurance companies can apply rational asset management theory when Solvency II is implemented and if changes will occur in the asset management strategies. Implementation: A review of current regulations, Försäkringsrörelselagen (2010:2043), and Directive (2009/138/EC) of Solvency II will be presented. In addition, five interviews with Swedish insurance companies have been done. Conclusion: The current legislation does not provide opportunities to fully apply rational asset management. Solvency II will improve the insurance companies' ability to pursue a rational asset management. The asset management in Swedish insurance companies currently adopts strategies that to high extent comply with generally accepted financial theories. However, there are certain areas within the asset management that deviate from these financial theories.

The background to this thesis is found in the growing importance of the marketing concept. The concept has been used frequently in articles in the past few years, in spite of lack of consensus about what it is. To make a contribution to the theoretical field the theories about service marketing and market orientation had to be examined and the relevant factors drawn out to construct a model for describing market orientation in service companies. The theoretical examination resulted in the follo­wing three components that together constitutes the foundation of the marketing concept in service companies: market information, the support system and the customer meeting. The main purpose of this thesis is to describe and analyze the marke­ting concept in service companies. Within this purpose the study also will identify which driving forces and obstacles affects market orientation. To a certain extent the process towards market orientation also is examined. The first analyses of the two insurance companies showed that the de­gree of activity in working with the factors that constituted the marketing concept varied. In general they had worked with approximately the same factors almost in the same way. In so doing they had worked more with some of the conceptual and behavioral factors than with the others. The cases differed from the theoretical frame of reference, as expected. However, the differences were impossible to explain with the component model. New analyses of the empirical data showed other factors that had influenced the market orientation process in the companies. The new factors could be divided into four groups depending on whether they were considered as internal or external factors and whether they were driving forces or obstacles for the process. One original component that proved to be of great importance in the market orientation process was market information. Neither of the insu­rance companies had worked with that component in a systematic way to find out, for example, the customers needs and wants. The study resulted in a more dynamic model of the market orientation process - the cycle model. It visualize the relation between the compo­nents and it also adds on a time perspective to market orientation, since it is supposed to continue over time. / digitalisering@umu

The world is becoming more and more digitized. Recently many industries have started to research the blockchain technology and particularly smart contracts. One industry that so far has not adopted new technology in the same pace as other industries, is the insurance industry so this interview study aims at finding opportunities and challenges for insurance companies that want to learn about smart contracts and its use cases.By doing a literature review and performing interviews with blockchain experts and insurance company employees, this study found that both IT companies working with smart contracts and the insurance companies have limited knowledge of the legal aspect of smart contracts. The lack of standards and regulations allows IT companies to freely create smart contracts without much quality control. The insurance companies must innovate themselves in order to not be disrupted. The blockchain technology will offer many new insurance types and if the insurance industry fails to adopt the blockchain technology they may face market disruption.There is much room for future research following this study. It would be beneficial to research how contract theory could be used in practice during the creation of legally binding smart contracts. Furthermore, research around fraud prevention in smart contracts would be interesting as would an in-depth exploration of the ecosystem of third party software and services around smart contracts.

The aim of the thesis with title Evaluation of life insurance is to choose the most convenient insurance product for a specific client. Since we choose insurance on the basis of several criteria and it is not obvious at first sight which product is the most advantageous, it is suitable to use methods of multiple criteria decision making. In theoretical part basic notions concerning insurance industry and multiple criteria decision making are explained. Next, all methods which are used to determine weights of criteria and to choose the best variant are described in detail. For purposes of the thesis there were gathered drafts contracts for investment life insurance and risk life insurance from seven insurance companies, which means altogether fourteen contracts. In practical part evaluation criteria are determined in collaboration with client and their weights are calculated. Next, order of particular variants was determined. All process was in person consulted with a specialist from the area of insurance industry. On the basis of used methods of multicriterial evaluation of variants we can say that for the specific client the insurance product Bella Vita from the Insurance Company Generali is the best choice. In comparison with other alternatives it´s advantage is insurance payment already from the fifteenth day in case of incapacity for work, which arose as a consequence of injury and high insurance payment in case of hospitalization. If the client will choose investment variant or risk variant depends only on his decision, because their results are comparable.

The subject of this thesis is an analysis of causes and impacts of credit risk transfer through credit derivatives on the world economy. It deals with the theoretical view of credit derivatives and their definition. A significant part of the work is devoted to a description of the current credit derivatives market and to motives for trading them. In the continuous process of derivative products innovation selected types are described. Those types that were spread during last two decades. In another part are introduced credit derivatives market participants and special attention is given to the banking sector. Important part is the description of an economic situation in countries in crisis. The aim of this work is to give a complete description of all sectors that were influenced by credit derivatives market.

The topic of this master thesis is the application of BI (Business Intelligence) Solutions in the insurance industry. The main objectives are the creation of model analyses and the design and implementation of partial BI solutions on the QlikView platform for smaller non-life insurance companies. The model also takes into consideration aspects of the new EU insurance regulatory directive, Solvency II, by selecting input parameters needed for the calculation of premium and reserve risk using segmentation rules from the lines of business specified in the directive. The thesis consists of three main parts. The first focuses on the QlikView BI platform, its market place, architecture, SW components and the technologies it takes advantage of. It also examines the differences and specific aspects of developing a BI solution using QlikView, compared to other more traditional platforms - one of these aspects is associative data modeling. The second part of the thesis focuses on the financial risks that insurance companies are exposed to, methods for their quantification and techniques that are used for solvency determination -- based upon Solvency II guidelines -- using SCR (Solvency Capital Requirement) and MCR (Minimum Capital Requirement) indicators. Particular chapters explain the concept behind the Solvency II directives and demonstrate the structure of standard formulae used for SCR calculations, which are used for ascertaining the Premium and/or Reserve risk. The final part of the thesis builds upon the earlier sections and contains practical instructions and recommendations for the development of BI solutions based on the QlikView platform in smaller non-life insurance companies. A designed model of the BI application can primarily be used for basic corporate performance monitoring but can also assist in the partial calculation of some risk categories according to the Solvency II directives. The practical section -- which is the ultimate product and the main benefit of this master thesis -- expands beyond the theory to provide a basic conceptual framework for the development of BI applications in small insurance company environments.

Afin de maintenir la stabilité du secteur financier et le dynamisme des autres secteurs del’économie réelle, les sociétés d’assurance sont amenées à renforcer leur soliditéfinancière et leur solvabilité. Cependant, malgré l’importance de la question du niveaudes fonds propres dans la solvabilité des sociétés d’assurance et dans la stabilité globaledu secteur financier, elle n’a fait l’objet que de quelques rares tentatives d’analyse. Dansce contexte, l’objectif principal de notre thèse est d’analyser les déterminants de lastructure financière des sociétés d’assurance françaises et l’effet de l’intégration de larégulation prudentielle dans la formation de leur niveau de fonds propres. A cette fin,nous mobilisons les théories du compromis et du financement hiérarchique dansl’élaboration de notre modèle théorique qui est ensuite testé empiriquement auprès d’unéchantillon de compagnies d’assurance françaises sur la période 2006-2012. Lesprincipaux résultats empiriques démontrent que la réglementation prudentielle influencele niveau des fonds propres dans les compagnies d’assurance françaises. / To maintain the stability of the financial sector and the dynamism in the other sectors ofthe economy, the insurance companies have to improve their solvency and manage theirrisks. Despite the importance of the issue of the level of capital in maintaining the overallstability of the insurance companies sector, it has been the subject of a very fewresearches. In this context, the main objective of our thesis is to analyze the determinantsof the financial structure of French insurance companies and the effect of the integrationof prudential regulation in the formation of their level of capital. To this end, we use TOTand POT to develop our theoretical model that we then tested empirically in a sample ofFrench insurance companies in the period 2006-2012. Our main empirical result is thatprudential regulation affects the determinants of the level of capital in the Frenchinsurance companies.