The aim of my thesis is using a questionnaire to find out level of insurance, habits and preferences of respondents in selected areas of insurance. These results will also be used as input data for the analysis of the insurance products of selected insurance companies. Offers of insurance company will be assessed by several criteria. The formed options will be evaluate by multi-criteria methods for evaluation of alternatives. Insurance offer will be assessed on the basis of model examples using the above mentioned methods. There will be analyzed the products of the compulsory insurance, travel insurance and property insurance. The output of my thesis will be identification of the best deals in each type of insurance and also in general. In addition, there will be created a sequence of other insurance companies with their percentage ranking. It will also be evaluated the insurance company, which respondents considered as the best and also those for which they usually have their insurance contracts. Analyzed insurance companies will be selected on the basis of survey results.

Thesis advisor: Pierluigi Balduzzi / This dissertation consists of two essays in empirical asset pricing. Chapter I, "Skewness and Co-skewness in Bond Returns," explores skewness and co-skewness in discrete-horizon bond returns. Using data for 1976-2005, we find bond skewness is comparable to that in equities, varies with the holding period and varies over time. Speculative-grade bonds and collateralized securities have substantial negative skewness. The sign of the price of co-skewness risk in fixed income market is in general consistent with the theoretical prediction of the three-moment CAPM. Co-skewness against the market portfolio is priced differently in various bond sectors: taking a unit of co-skewness risk is rewarded with 0.43% and 2.47% per month for corporate bonds and collateralized securities, respectively. Co-skewness risk helps explain the cross section of expected bond returns when state variables such as inflation, real activity, or short term interest rates are included, or when conditioning information is exploited. Chapter II, "Modern Portfolio Management with Conditioning Information," studies models in which active portfolio managers optimize performance relative to a benchmark and utilize conditioning information unavailable to their clients. We provide explicit solutions for the optimal strategies with multiple risky assets, with or without a risk free asset, and also consider various constraints on portfolio risk or on portfolio weights. The equilibrium implications of the models are discussed. A currency portfolio example shows that the optimal solutions improve the measured performance by 53% out of sample, compared with portfolios ignoring conditioning information. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2009. / Submitted to: Boston College. Carroll School of Management. / Discipline: Finance.

In this thesis the existence of the yield premium of green bonds is investigated. This paper complies with the instructions that were used in the analysis run by Zerbib(2018). The results of the fixed-effect panel regression confirm the hyphotesis on which our paper is based on. We found a nagative premium: the yield of the conventional bond is higher than the yield of the green bond. Furthermore, this paper examines how the defintion of the greenness of the bond is specified by various institutions and experts.

Neste estudo, é testada empiricamente a hipótese de eficiência no mercado a termo de câmbio brasileiro, para o período recente de flutuação cambial. A freqüência dos dados é diária, e as taxas a termo são construídas com base no mercado de swaps. É utilizado um método de estimação semi-paramétrico e estatisticamente robusto no contexto de distribuições com caudas pesadas. Este método ainda permite que se trabalhe com séries não-estacionárias no nível (sem diferenciar) e com observações sobrepostas (quando o prazo do contrato a termo excede o intervalo entre as observações da amostra). A hipótese de eficiência é rejeitada quando se usa o método robusto; por outro lado, um método mais sensível à presença de outliers falha em rejeitar a hipótese. Por fim, são discutidas algumas questões relativas à hipótese de eficiência, com especial ênfase para a questão de se a rejeição da hipótese é devida à presença de um prêmio de risco cambial, da ineficiência de mercado ou de ambos os fatores. Os resultados sugerem que o mercado de câmbio a termo no Brasil não é eficiente. / In this dissertation, the forward exchange market efficiency hypothesis is tested for the recent floating regime in Brazil. We use daily frequency data, with implied forward rates based on the swap market. The statistical approach is a semiparametric procedure which is statistically robust to data distributions with heavy tails and allows for non-stationarity of the data and overlapping observations (when the interval between observations is shorter than the futures maturity). The efficiency hypothesis is rejected when the robust procedure is used; still, a distinct procedure more sensible to the presence of outliers fails to reject the hypothesis. At last, we discuss some issues regarding the efficiency hypothesis, emphasizing the question of whether the rejection of the efficiency hypothesis denounces the presence of a risk premium, of market inefficiency or both. The results suggest the Brazilian forward exchange market is not efficient.

Neste artigo, avaliamos o prêmio de risco implícito incorporado nos preços futuros de soja através de um modelo de dois fatore bem conhecido na literatura de commodities. Como os preços da soja na última década têm flutuado muito, primeiro examinamos as quebras estruturais na variância/volatilidade para obter uma proxy para as mudanças nos prêmios de risco. Em seguida, calibramos o modelo de dois fatores em cada subperíodo de toda a série de acordo com as quebras encontradas. Em seqüência, calculamos o prêmio de risco implícito pelo modelo. Constatamos que o prêmio de risco é variável no tempo, não apenas no sinal, mas também na magnitude. Além disso, quando os preços estavam subindo, a posição dominante era dos produtores protegendo-se com um prêmio de risco positivo, enquanto quando os preços estavam caíndo, consumidores se protegiam com um prémio de risco negativo. / In this paper we evaluate the implied risk premium embedded in soybean future prices through a well-known two-factor model in the commodity literature. Since soybean prices in the past decade have fluctuated greatly, we first examine the structural breaks in variance/volatility to obtain a proxy for risk premiums changes. Then we calibrate the two-factor model in each sub-period of the entire series according to the breaks found. In sequence we compute the risk premium implied by the model. We find that the risk premium is time-varying, not only in sign but also in magnitude. Furthermore, when prices were rising prevailing position was of producers hedging with a positive risk premium, while when prices were falling consumers hedged with a negative risk premium.

Em diversos países, reformas legais com o intuito melhorar o nível de governança corporativa das empresas, através da alteração de regras de disclosure e da instituição de maiores direitos a acionistas minoritários, podem se constituir em processos demorados e de difícil implementação. A criação de segmentos diferenciados de listagem das ações, com base no nível de governança adotado, e a adesão voluntária de algumas empresas a esses níveis, demonstram a preocupação privada com melhores práticas de governança corporativa. Nesse contexto, o presente estudo buscou analisar se a adesão voluntária a melhores práticas de governança corporativa seria valorizada pelo mercado em termos da valorização das ações dessas empresas, de um aumento na demanda por suas ações, e da aproximação dos preços das ações com e sem direito a voto, indicando que a percepção de expropriação dos direitos dos minoritários diminui com o comprometimento voluntário das empresas a essas regras. A adesão aos níveis diferenciados de governança corporativa da Bovespa foi utilizada como sinalizador desse comprometimento e buscou-se testar a eficiência do mercado brasileiro em termos do impacto do anúncio da migração sobre as variáveis do estudo. A variável retorno, analisada através de um estudo de evento, evidenciou um retorno anormal acumulado de 3,57% no momento do anúncio da adesão, mas não apresentou resultados significantes na efetiva migração. Utilizando Sistema de Regressões Aparentemente Não-Relacionadas (Seemingly Unrelated Regressions SUR), o retorno acumulado tido como anormal para na janela de evento foi de apenas 1,89% no momento de anúncio, e de -2,15% no momento da migração. O aumento médio no volume negociado das ações das empresas da amostra foi de 29,4% no momento do anúncio, enquanto que, no momento da migração, o aumento verificado foi de 41,2%. O lançamento de ADRs ex-ante apresentou um efeito positivo no retorno, mas um efeito negativo no volume negociado. Por fim, a análise da percepção de expropriação de acionistas minoritários, mostrou que o prêmio de voto médio cai tanto no momento do anúncio (-0,54%) quanto no momento da migração (-1,93%). / In many countries, legal reforms to improve the corporate governance level of the companies through changes in disclosure rules and improvements in minority investors rights represents a long process, difficult to implement. The creation of private stock exchange segments, based on the level of corporate governance adopted by the firms, and the voluntary commit to these segments, show the private concern to better corporate governance practices. In this context, the present study attempt to analyze if the voluntary adherence to better corporate governance practices has value for the market in terms of the valorization of the company shares, the rise in demand for their shares and the approximation of the prices of their voting and non-voting shares, which would indicate that this voluntary commitment causes a decrease in the minority rights´ expropriation perception. The adherence to the Bovespa premium markets was taken as a sign of this commitment and the efficiency of the Brazilian market was tested in terms of the impact of the announcement in the variables studied. The event study of the variable return indicates a 3,57% cumulative abnormal return in the moment the company announce the adherence to the premium market, but the results are not statistically significant for the moment they actually adhere to the premium market. Using the Seemingly Unrelated Regressions Model, the cumulative abnormal return at the moment of announcement was only 1,89%, and -2,15% at the moment of adherence. The mean rise in the volume traded at the moment of the announcement for the companies in the sample was 29,4%, and in the moment of adherence, the rise was 41,2%. The ex-ante ADR issue shows a positive effect in return but a negative effect in the volume traded. Finally, the analysis of minority shareholders expropriation perception shows a decrease in voting premium both at the moment of announcement (-0,54%) than at the moment of adherence (-1,93%).

This thesis is dedicated to the largest insurance company in the Czech insurance market, Ceska pojistovna, which also has the longest tradition. Position is evaluated from different perspectives. It takes into account the historical context, position in Generali PPF Holding and rating. The new strategy of Ceska pojistovna and some innovations in the insurance products are described. The analysis is performed on indicators such as premium written and market share, as well as profit and different ratios of the financial statements. At the end, it tries to estimate the future development.

This thesis deals with analysis of development in insurance penetration of the Czech republic. The importance of insurance is growing in years, what is numerically expressed in values of insurance penetration indicators. This thesis is focused on development in the Czech republic between years 2000-2010. To review values in the broader context will be indicators compared with EU countries. The thesis is finished by summary of the insurance penetration in the Czech republic and by the prognosis of the further development.

The thesis analyses recent important issues affecting the insurance industry (both global and local). 1.EU anti-discrimination policy's impact on insurance risk 2.Catastrophe Risks and Reinsurance, Earthquake in Japan, 2011 3.BankInsurance - Single-Premium Life Insurance 4.Pension reform: New opportunities for private insurers 5.The reasons of low performance of non-life insurance industry

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