Financial reform has been a major concern for China's transitional economy - especially in the realms of banking and insurance - since accession to the WTO in 2001. This book scrutinizes the development and limitations of these industries during the process of institutional transformation, and demonstrates that they are now facing severe challenges as well as opportunities. The relationships between the market structure, behavior and performance of China's banking and insurance industries are analysed. The strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threat (SWOT) approach is utilized in investigating the impact of WTO accession on Chinese banking and insurance, and strategies for the prevention of future financial crises are prescribed. Exploring the juxtaposition of institutional transformation in China and the financial risk inherent in the old system, the book concludes that with WTO accession and the opening up of financial services to foreign companies, competitiveness will become fiercer, resulting in increased uncertainty, intensifying the level of risk even further. Banking and Insurance in the New China will prove invaluable to multinational enterprise managers, brokers, dealers and investors, business economists, students and academics with a specific interest in the Chinese economy.

Medical Selection of Life Risks has long been recognised as the reference book on insurance medicine. The fourth edition provides a comprehensive guide to life expectancy for underwriters and clinicians involved in the life insurance industry. Extensively revised and expanded the 4th edition of Medical Selection of Life Risks reflects developments in life and healthcare insurance as well as medicine. There are completely new chapters: on the underwriting of genetic diseases, disability underwriting, impaired lives annuities, musculoskeletal and soft tissue disorders. Several major chapters have been completely re-written, including respiratory, ischemic and congenital heart diseases and oncology. Part I - deals with the principles of life and disability insurance and the logistics of life underwriting. Part II - is devoted to a systematic clinical appraisal of underwriting problems, mainly relating to life insurance but also, where appropriate, to disability, critical illness and long term care insurance.

Macroprudential policies, tools and supervision have become important since the last financial crisis. This book addresses general and methodological issues and provides a framework for the analysis of macroprudential policies and supervision in insurance. It focuses on policy related issues and global level aspects of macroprudential in insurance.

If you are ready for simple explanations, practical solutions, and time-tested strategies that will reap huge savings in insurance costs, then Hide Here Comes the Insurance Guy is here to help Rick Vassar, a certified expert in the commercial insurance arena, writes from a risk manager's perspective as he tackles the often confusing field of commercial insurance with his real numbers, real solutions strategy. Developed not just as an initial learning tool but also as an ongoing resource for experienced managers as well as the uninitiated, this simple guide will help busy executives and business owners reduce expenses in their current programs. Vassar will teach you four distinct steps for controlling your insurance costs: Understand the language and the process Know the players and how to better manage the process Develop a strategy and a plan to maximize coverage for minimal cost Invest the time and gain real financial benefits With a fresh perspective, this guidebook provides insight into an industry that is constantly evolving, and it shows how you can potentially save your company millions of dollars in insurance costs

Changes in production processes reflect the technological advances permeat ing our products and services. U. S. industry is modernizing and automating. In parallel, direct labor is fading as the primary cost driver while engineering and technology related cost elements loom ever larger. Traditional, labor-based ap proaches to estimating costs are losing their relevance. Old methods require aug mentation with new estimating tools and techniques that capture the emerging environment. This volume represents one of many responses to this challenge by the cost analysis profession. The Institute of Cost Analysis (lCA) is dedicated to improving the effective ness of cost and price analysis and enhancing the professional competence of its members. We encourage and promote exchange of research findings and appli cations between the academic community and cost professionals in industry and government. The 1990 National Meeting in Los Angeles, jointly spo sored by ICA and the National Estimating Society (NES), provides such a forum. Presen tations will focus on new and improved tools and techniques of cost analysis. This volume is the second in a series. The first was produced in conjunction with the 1989 National Meeting of ICA/NES in Washington, D.C. The articles in this volume, all refereed, were selected from about 100 submitted for presen tation at the Los Angeles meeting."

This collection critically explores the use of financial technology (FinTech) and artificial intelligence (AI) in the financial sector and discusses effective regulation and the prevention of crime. Focusing on crypto-assets, InsureTech and the digitisation of financial dispute resolution, the book examines the strategic and ethical aspects of incorporating AI into the financial sector. The volume adopts a comparative legal approach to: critically evaluate the strategic and ethical benefits and challenges of AI in the financial sector; critically analyse the role, values and challenges of FinTech in society; make recommendations on protecting vulnerable customers without restricting financial innovation; and to make recommendations on effective regulation and prevention of crime in these areas. The book will be of interest to teachers and students of banking and financial regulation related modules, researchers in computer science, corporate governance, and business and economics. It will also be a valuable resource for policy makers including government departments, law enforcement agencies, financial regulatory agencies, people employed within the financial services sector, and professional services such as law, and technology.

Confronted with the continuing cost expansion in the health care sector, policy makers face a dilemma: limiting moral hazard in medical care requires that consumers participate in the cost, yet copayment is strongly resisted by today's socially insured. Thus, the experiences of three private German health insurers will be of interest to physicians, social scientists, and policy makers. Insurer A writes conventional plans with deductibles and coinsurance; B pays back three-monthly premiums as a fixed rebate for no claims; while C runs an experience-rated bonus system starting with a rebate of three-monthly premiums for the first year without a claim, reaching a maximum of five after three years. While both rebates and bonuses are quite popular among insureds, this study shows that bonus options are particularly effective in limiting the demand for ambulatory and even hospital care. But what about adverse effects on health caused by the desire to save one's bonus? On this issue, there is some surprising evidence.

This book examines interesting new topics in applied economics from the perspectives of the economics of information and risk, two fields of economics that address the consequences of asymmetric information, environmental risk and uncertainty for the nature and efficiency of interactions between individuals and organizations. In the economics of information, the essential task is to examine the condition of asymmetric information under which the information gap is exploited. For the economics of risk, it is important to investigate types of behavior including risk aversion, risk sharing, and risk prevention, and to reexamine the classical expected utility approach and the relationships among several types of the changes in risk. Few books have ever analyzed topics in applied economics with regard to information and risk. This book provides a comprehensive collection of applied analyses, while also revisiting certain basic concepts in the economics of information and risk. The book consists of two parts. In Part I, several aspects of applied economics are investigated, including public policy, labor economics, and political economics, from the standpoint of the economics of (asymmetric) information. First, several basic frameworks of the incentive mechanism with regard to transaction-specific investment are assessed, then various tools for market design and organization design are explored. In Part II, mathematical measures of risk and risk aversion are examined in more detail, and readers are introduced to stochastic selection rules governing choice behavior under uncertainty. Several types of change in the random variable for the cumulative distribution function (CDF) and probability distribution function (PDF) are discussed. In closing, the part investigates the comparative static results of these changes in CDF or PDF on the general decision model, incorporating uncertain situations in applied economics.

This book explores the role of the insurance industry in contributing to, and responding to, the harms that climate change has brought and will bring either directly or indirectly. The Anthropocene signifies a new role for humankind: we are the only species that has become a driving force in the planetary system. What might criminology be in the Anthropocene? What does the Anthropocene suggest for future theory and practice of criminology? Criminology and Climate, as part of Routledge's Criminology at the Edge Series, seeks to contribute to this research agenda by exploring differing vantage points relevant to thinking within criminology. Contemporary societies are presented with myriad intersecting and interacting climate-related harms at multiple scales. Criminology and Climate brings attention to the finance sector, with a particular focus on the insurance industry as one of its most significant components, in both generating and responding to new climate 'harmscapes'. Bringing together thought leaders from a variety of disciplines, this book considers what finance and insurance have done and might still do, as 'fulcrum institutions', to contribute to the realisation of safe and just planetary spaces. An accessible and compelling read, this book will appeal to students and scholars of criminology, sociology, law and environmental studies and provides readers with a basis to analyse the challenges and opportunities for the finance sector, and in particular the insurance industry, in the regulation of climate harms.

The only student textbook covering this frequently-taught subject Fully updated new edition includes updates in case law and the ongoing impact of the Insurance Act 2015 and a revised chapter on smart contracts to include discussion of Blockchain First two editions extremely well received and adopted by the market

Statistics published by the U. S. Department of Commerce (1980) indicate that in 1977 we spent 8. 1% of our gross national product (GNP) on life, health, property-casualty, and other forms of insurance. An additional 5. 7% was used to pay the Social Security tax, which is another form of insurance premium, for a total of 14. 8% of the GNP. \ Although insurance had its historical origin in marine insurance, it has now developed into one of the major industries of the American economy and extends into many areas of economic activity. One area where growth has been particularly strong is the medical sector. Health insurance is a major institution in all industrialized countries. It became a government responsibility in 1883 when Bismarck intro duced a compulsory program of health insurance for industrial workers in Germany. Programs for workers in various industrial and income categories soon followed in other European countries-Austria (1888), Hungary (1891), Norway (1909), Servia (1910), Great Britain (1911), and Russia and Romania (1912) (Rubinow, 1913:250). Programs in these countries were extended in subsequent years, and other countries in Europe followed with their own programs. Consequently, today most industrial countries have universal or near-universal health insurance coverage. In the United States the issue of national health insurance has been seriously debated since just prior to World War I, and polling data since the 1930s show that a substantial majority of the public has been supportive of such a program (Erskine, 1975)."

The First International Conference on Insurance Solvency was held at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania from June 18th through June 20th, 1986. The conference was the inaugural event for Wharton's Center for Research on Risk and Insurance. In atten dance were thirty-nine representatives from Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Israel, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The papers presented at the Conference are published in two volumes, this book and a companion volume, Classical Insurance Solvency Theory, J. D. Cummins and R. A. Derrig, eds. (Norwell, MA: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1988). The first volume presented two papers reflecting important advances in actuarial solvency theory. The current volume goes beyond the actuarial approach to encom pass papers applying the insights and techniques of financial economics. The papers fall into two groups. The first group con sists of papers that adopt an essentially actuarial or statistical ap proach to solvency modelling. These papers represent methodology advances over prior efforts at operational modelling of insurance companies. The emphasis is on cash flow analysis and many of the models incorporate investment income, inflation, taxation, and other economic variables. The papers in second group bring financial economics to bear on various aspects of solvency analysis. These papers discuss insurance applications of asset pricing models, capital structure theory, and the economic theory of agency."

This study investigates the complex link between natural disasters, individual behaviour - in the form of an individual's risk-taking propensity and level of trust - and the demand for microinsurance. Developing countries are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of natural hazards and climate change as they affect their development processes and set back poverty reduction efforts. Using a unique data set for rural Cambodia based on a survey, experimental games and a discrete choice experiment, the study highlights the importance of perceptions, expectations and psychological factors in decision-making processes with substantial consequences for long-term economic perspectives and poverty alleviation.

The growth of Islamic finance today is undeniable given its services, product innovation, performance and achievements, with the Islamic insurance market being no exception; it has retained global market recognition in a parallel platform as Islamic finance moves forward. There is much written regarding the Islamic insurance system, but rarely do researchers present the various Islamic insurance products and their structures in one collective place. This book is a timely addition in meeting contemporary market demands by providing a much-needed overview of the Islamic insurance products and their Shari'ah compliant structures. This book would be of interest to academics, researchers, students and professionals who are seeking to understand the products offered.

The digital transformation of finance and banking enables traditional services to be delivered in a more effective and efficient way but, at the same time, presents crucial issues such as fast growing new asset classes, new currencies, datafication and data privacy, algorithmization of law and regulation and, last but not least, new models of financial crime. This book approaches the evolution of digital finance from a business perspective and in a holistic way, providing cutting-edge knowledge of how the digital financial system works in its three main domains: banking, insurance and capital markets. It offers a bird's eye view of the major issues and developments in these individual sectors. The book begins by examining the wider framework of the subsequent analysis and over the next three parts, discusses the opportunities, risks and challenges facing the digitalization of these individual financial subsectors, highlighting the similarities and differences in their digitalization agenda, as well as the existing linkages and dependencies among them. The book clarifies the strategic issues facing the development of digital finance in these major subsectors over the coming years. The book has three key messages: that digital transformation changes fundamentally the way financial businesses operate; that individual trades have their own digitalization agenda; and that the State with its regulatory power and central banking and money has a particularly important role to play. It will be of interest to scholars, students and researchers of finance and banking, as well as policymakers wishing to understand the values and limitations of new forms of digital money.

This is an analysis of the increasing convergence of banking and insurance in the retail area, a trend often referred to as bancassurance. In the first part of the book, industry- and firm-level characteristics which contribute to the increasing level of cross-industry penetration in the banking and insurance sector are analyzed. The second part of the book provides an account of banks' entry strategies into insurance. It focuses on identifying the key factors which determine whether or not entry will be successful. The book includes case studies of particular banks. provides an account of banks' entry strategies into insurance.

A comprehensive guide designed to help consumers understand the American health insurance system so that they can obtain the benefits to which they are entitled. Epstein explains the ins and outs of both new and traditional health insurance plans, including traditional individual and group policies, HMOs and other types of managed care plans, self-funded plans, Medicare, Medicare HMOs, Medigap, long-term care, COBRA, CHAMPUS, and Medical Savings Accounts.

Written by a nationally syndicated columnist, this useful volume also deals with special health insurance issues related to children, adults with special needs, and individuals who may need long-term care. In addition, Epstein provides valuable information for individuals who are in the process of changing jobs or making changes in their marital or family status, choosing a health insurance plan, or arranging long-term care--including placement in a nursing home or an assisted-living facility--for an aging parent. The book has a practical focus with a variety of tables and worksheets to help consumers establish a system for preventing health insurance problems, and for dealing with any health insurance problems that may arise. It also contains answers to common questions about health insurance, and provides a list of organizations that offer detailed information and advice in regard to specific health insurance problems.

The cooperation and contamination among mathematicians, statisticians and econometricians working in actuarial sciences and finance are improving the research on these topics and producing numerous meaningful scientific results. This volume presents new ideas in the form of four- to six-page papers presented at the International Conference MAF2022 - Mathematical and Statistical Methods for Actuarial Sciences and Finance. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the conference, to which this book is related, was organized in a hybrid form by the Department of Economics and Statistics of the University of Salerno, with the partnership of the Department of Economics of Ca Foscari University of Venice, and was held from 20 to 22 April 2022 in Salerno (Italy) MAF2022 is the tenth edition of an international biennial series of scientific meetings, started in 2004 on the initiative of the Department of Economics and Statistics of the University of Salerno. It has established itself internationally with gradual and continuous growth and scientific enrichment. The effectiveness of this idea has been proven by the wide participation in all the editions, which have been held in Salerno (2004, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2022), Venice (2008, 2012 and 2020 online), Paris (2016) and Madrid (2018). This book covers a wide variety of subjects: artificial intelligence and machine learning in finance and insurance, behavioural finance, credit risk methods and models, dynamic optimization in finance, financial data analytics, forecasting dynamics of actuarial and financial phenomena, foreign exchange markets, insurance models, interest rate models, longevity risk, models and methods for financial time series analysis, multivariate techniques for financial markets analysis, pension systems, portfolio selection and management, real-world finance, risk analysis and management, trading systems, and others. This volume is a valuable resource for academics, PhD students, practitioners, professionals and researchers. Moreover, it is also of interest to other readers with quantitative background knowledge.