The insurance industry in a state of flux

Klaus Spremann (editor)

2004

The crisis that insurance companies and other providers of fully funded pension programs find themselves in has made one thing absolutely clear: the financial markets must be factored into any management equation. Insurance companies, too, must devise and plan their strategies and business in line with financial market requirements.

This realization can help companies walk the narrow line between conflicting strategies:

1. They must create value and build up reserves.
2. But they must manage and limit risks, even if the financial markets pay lesser returns on secure investments.
3. First and foremost, however, they must attract new customers, and this means paying out attractive benefits.

Companies can solve this strategic dilemma by addressing the inherent problems on a consistent financial and risk management basis. Thirty authors have teamed up to provide precisely this basis – a capital-market theory for the insurance industry. They dedicate their work to Peter Gessner, who recognized the need for realignment in the insurance industry early on and was ever a powerful proponent of change in the industry.

The book makes interesting reading for all those who deal with financing in general, financial instruments, institutional investments or return and risk management.

Contributing authors include: Günter Bamberg (Augsburg) • Beat Bernet (St. Gallen) • Werner Bonadurer (Arosa und Scottsdale, AZ, USA) • Marco Brück (Basel) • Pascal Gantenbein (St. Gallen) • Hubert Dichtl (Bad Soden/Taunus) • Gregor Dorfleitner (Augsburg) • Thomas Eichelmann (München) • Markus Faulhaber (Stuttgart) • Roland Folz (Stuttgart) • Claudia Garschhammer (München) • Holger Glaab (München) • Antje Henne (Magdeburg) • Stefan Kassberger (Ulm) • Rüdiger Kiesel (Ulm) • Oliver Pfeil (Frankfurt/Main) • Sönke Jost Siemßen (Düsseldorf) • Stefan Rapp (München) • Erik Rederer (Stuttgart) • Peter Reichling (Magdeburg) • Gerhard Scheuenstuhl (München) •Christian Schlenger (Bad Soden/Taunus) • Klaus Schredelseker (Innsbruck) • Burkhard Schwenker (Hamburg) • Klaus Spremann (St. Gallen) • Jochen Sutor (Stuttgart) • Niklas Wagner (München) • Christoph Winter (München) • Rudi Zagst (München) • Dietmar Zietsch (Hannover) • Hans-Joachim Zwiesler (Ulm).