A duration approach for the measurement of biometric risks in life insurance

Abstract

Duration concepts are standard methods for measuring interest rate risks of portfolios, liabilities or other cash flows. Macaulay duration, effective duration and key-rate duration are widely used in practice according to different types of yield curves. In this paper, we will present a formulation for a forward rate duration measure by using multi-dimensional Taylor series approximation. It allows to measure the interest rate risk based on arbitrary forward rates. This approach can easily be adopted for biometric risk management, allowing the definition of a biometric duration. The biometric duration will be applied to actuarial present values of premiums and benefits as well as the actuarial reserve to quantify the corresponding biometric risk. It proves to be an easy-to-use tool in the actuarial practise.