Search result: Catalogue data in Autumn Semester 2018

Mathematics (General Courses) Information
Actuary SAA Education at ETH Zurich
Further pieces of information are available at Prof. M. Wüthrich's secretariat, HG F 42.
NumberTitleTypeECTSHoursLecturers
401-3925-00LNon-Life Insurance: Mathematics and Statistics Information W8 credits4V + 1UM. V. Wüthrich
AbstractThe lecture aims at providing a basis in non-life insurance mathematics which forms a core subject of actuarial sciences. It discusses collective risk modeling, individual claim size modeling, approximations for compound distributions, ruin theory, premium calculation principles, tariffication with generalized linear models, credibility theory, claims reserving and solvency.
ObjectiveThe student is familiar with the basics in non-life insurance mathematics and statistics. This includes the basic mathematical models for insurance liability modeling, pricing concepts, stochastic claims reserving models and ruin and solvency considerations.
ContentThe following topics are treated:
Collective Risk Modeling
Individual Claim Size Modeling
Approximations for Compound Distributions
Ruin Theory in Discrete Time
Premium Calculation Principles
Tariffication and Generalized Linear Models
Bayesian Models and Credibility Theory
Claims Reserving
Solvency Considerations
Lecture notesM. V. Wüthrich, Non-Life Insurance: Mathematics & Statistics
Link
Prerequisites / NoticeThe exams ONLY take place during the official ETH examination period.

This course will be held in English and counts towards the diploma of "Aktuar SAV". For the latter, see details under Link.

Prerequisites: knowledge of probability theory, statistics and applied stochastic processes.
401-3922-00LLife Insurance MathematicsW4 credits2VM. Koller
AbstractThe classical life insurance model is presented together with the important insurance types (insurance on one and two lives, term and endowment insurance and disability). Besides that the most important terms such as mathematical reserves are introduced and calculated. The profit and loss account and the balance sheet of a life insurance company is explained and illustrated.
Objective
401-3929-00LFinancial Risk Management in Social and Pension Insurance Information W4 credits2VP. Blum
AbstractInvestment returns are an important source of funding for social and pension insurance, and financial risk is an important threat to stability. We study short-term and long-term financial risk and its interplay with other risk factors, and we develop methods for the measurement and management of financial risk and return in an asset/liability context with the goal of assuring sustainable funding.
ObjectiveUnderstand the basic asset-liability framework: essential principles and properties of social and pension insurance; cash flow matching, duration matching, valuation portfolio and loose coupling; the notion of financial risk; long-term vs. short-term risk; coherent measures of risk.

Understand the conditions for sustainable funding: derivation of required returns; interplay between return levels, contribution levels and other parameters; influence of guaranteed benefits.

Understand the notion of risk-taking capability: capital process as a random walk; measures of long-term risk and relation to capital; short-term solvency vs. long-term stability; effect of embedded options and guarantees; interplay between required return and risk-taking capability.

Be able to study empirical properties of financial assets: the Normal hypothesis and the deviations from it; statistical tools for investigating relevant risk and return properties of financial assets; time aggregation properties; be able to conduct analysis of real data for the most important asset classes.

Understand and be able to carry out portfolio construction: the concept of diversification; limitations to diversification; correlation breakdown; incorporation of constraints; sensitivities and shortcomings of optimized portfolios.

Understand and interpret the asset-liability interplay: the optimized portfolio in the asset-liability framework; short-term risk vs. long-term risk; the influence of constraints; feasible and non-feasible solutions; practical considerations.

Understand and be able to address essential problems in asset / liability management, e.g. optimal risk / return positioning, optimal discount rate, target value for funding ratio or turnaround issues.

Have an overall view: see the big picture of what asset returns can and cannot contribute to social security; be aware of the most relevant outcomes; know the role of the actuary in the financial risk management process.
ContentFor pension insurance and other forms of social insurance, investment returns are an important source of funding. In order to earn these returns, substantial financial risks must be taken, and these risks represent an important threat to financial stability, in the long term and in the short term.

Risk and return of financial assets cannot be separated from one another and, hence, asset management and risk management cannot be separated either. Managing financial risk in social and pension insurance is, therefore, the task of reconciling the contradictory dimensions of

1. Required return for a sustainable funding of the institution,
2. Risk-taking capability of the institution,
3. Returns available from financial assets in the market,
4. Risks incurred by investing in these assets.

This task must be accomplished under a number of constraints. Financial risk management in social insurance also means reconciling the long time horizon of the promised insurance benefits with the short time horizon of financial markets and financial risk.

It is not the goal of this lecture to provide the students with any cookbook recipes that can readily be applied without further reflection. The goal is rather to enable the students to develop their own understanding of the problems and possible solutions associated with the management of financial risks in social and pension insurance.

To this end, a rigorous intellectual framework will be developed and a powerful set of mathematical tools from the fields of actuarial mathematics and quantitative risk management will be applied. When analyzing the properties of financial assets, an empirical viewpoint will be taken using statistical tools and considering real-world data.
Lecture notesExtensive handouts will be provided. Moreover, practical examples and data sets in Excel and R will be made available.
Prerequisites / NoticeSolid base knowledge of probability and statistics is indispensable. Specialized concepts from financial and insurance mathematics as well as quantitative risk management will be introduced in the lecture as needed, but some prior knowledge in some of these areas would be an advantage.

This course counts towards the diploma of "Aktuar SAV".

The exams ONLY take place during the official ETH examination period.
401-3928-00LReinsurance AnalyticsW4 credits2VP. Antal, P. Arbenz
AbstractThis course provides an actuarial introduction to reinsurance. The objective is to understand the fundamentals of risk transfer through reinsurance, and the mathematical models for extreme events such as natural or man-made catastrophes. The lecture covers reinsurance contracts, Experience and Exposure pricing, natural catastrophe modelling, solvency regulation, and alternative risk transfer
ObjectiveThis course provides an introduction to reinsurance from an actuarial point of view. The objective is to understand the fundamentals of risk transfer through reinsurance, and the mathematical approaches associated with low frequency high severity events such as natural or man-made catastrophes.
Topics covered include:
- Reinsurance Contracts and Markets: Different forms of reinsurance, their mathematical representation, history of reinsurance, and lines of business.
- Experience Pricing: Modelling of low frequency high severity losses based on historical data, and analytical tools to describe and understand these models
- Exposure Pricing: Loss modelling based on exposure or risk profile information, for both property and casualty risks
- Natural Catastrophe Modelling: History, relevance, structure, and analytical tools used to model natural catastrophes in an insurance context
- Solvency Regulation: Regulatory capital requirements in relation to risks, effects of reinsurance thereon, and differences between the Swiss Solvency Test and Solvency 2
- Alternative Risk Transfer: Alternatives to traditional reinsurance such as insurance linked securities and catastrophe bonds
ContentThis course provides an introduction to reinsurance from an actuarial point of view. The objective is to understand the fundamentals of risk transfer through reinsurance, and the mathematical approaches associated with low frequency high severity events such as natural or man-made catastrophes.
Topics covered include:
- Reinsurance Contracts and Markets: Different forms of reinsurance, their mathematical representation, history of reinsurance, and lines of business.
- Experience Pricing: Modelling of low frequency high severity losses based on historical data, and analytical tools to describe and understand these models
- Exposure Pricing: Loss modelling based on exposure or risk profile information, for both property and casualty risks
- Natural Catastrophe Modelling: History, relevance, structure, and analytical tools used to model natural catastrophes in an insurance context
- Solvency Regulation: Regulatory capital requirements in relation to risks, effects of reinsurance thereon, and differences between the Swiss Solvency Test and Solvency 2
- Alternative Risk Transfer: Alternatives to traditional reinsurance such as insurance linked securities and catastrophe bonds
Lecture notesSlides, lecture notes, and references to literature will be made available.
Prerequisites / NoticeBasic knowledge in statistics, probability theory, and actuarial techniques
401-3927-00LMathematical Modelling in Life InsuranceW4 credits2VT. J. Peter
AbstractIn Life insurance, it is essential to have adequate mortality tables, be it for reserving or pricing purposes. We learn to create mortality tables from scratch. Additionally, we study various guarantees embedded in life insurace products and learn to price them with the help of stochastic models.
ObjectiveThe course's objective is to provide the students with the understanding and the tools to create mortality tables on their own.

Additionally, students should learn to price embedded options in Life insurance. Aside of the mere application of specific models, they should develop an intuition for the various drivers of the value of these options.
ContentFollowing main topics are covered:

1. Overview on guarantees & options in life insurance with a real-world example demonstrating their risks
2. Mortality tables
- Determining raw mortality rates
- Smoothing of raw mortality rates
- Trends in mortality rates
- Lee-Carter model
- Integration of safety margins
3. Primer on Financial Mathematics
- Ito integral
- Black-Scholes and Hull-White model
4. Valuation of Unit linked contracts with embedded options
5. Valuation of Participating contracts
Lecture notesLectures notes and slides will be provided
Prerequisites / NoticeThe exams ONLY take place during the official ETH examination period.

The course counts towards the diploma of "Aktuar SAV".

Good knowledge in probability theory and stochastic processes is assumed. Some knowledge in financial mathematics is useful.
401-3913-01LMathematical Foundations for Finance Information W4 credits3V + 2UE. W. Farkas, M. Schweizer
AbstractFirst introduction to main modelling ideas and mathematical tools from mathematical finance
ObjectiveThis course gives a first introduction to the main modelling ideas and mathematical tools from mathematical finance. It mainly aims at non-mathematicians who need an introduction to the main tools from stochastics used in mathematical finance. However, mathematicians who want to learn some basic modelling ideas and concepts for quantitative finance (before continuing with a more advanced course) may also find this of interest.. The main emphasis will be on ideas, but important results will be given with (sometimes partial) proofs.
ContentTopics to be covered include

- financial market models in finite discrete time
- absence of arbitrage and martingale measures
- valuation and hedging in complete markets
- basics about Brownian motion
- stochastic integration
- stochastic calculus: Itô's formula, Girsanov transformation, Itô's representation theorem
- Black-Scholes formula
Lecture notesLecture notes will be sold at the beginning of the course.
LiteratureLecture notes will be sold at the beginning of the course. Additional (background) references are given there.
Prerequisites / NoticePrerequisites: Results and facts from probability theory as in the book "Probability Essentials" by J. Jacod and P. Protter will be used freely. Especially participants without a direct mathematics background are strongly advised to familiarise themselves with those tools before (or very quickly during) the course. (A possible alternative to the above English textbook are the (German) lecture notes for the standard course "Wahrscheinlichkeitstheorie".)

For those who are not sure about their background, we suggest to look at the exercises in Chapters 8, 9, 22-25, 28 of the Jacod/Protter book. If these pose problems, you will have a hard time during the course. So be prepared.
363-0565-00LPrinciples of MacroeconomicsW3 credits2VJ.‑E. Sturm
AbstractThis course examines the behaviour of macroeconomic variables, such as gross domestic product, unemployment and inflation rates. It tries to answer questions like: How can we explain fluctuations of national economic activity? What can economic policy do against unemployment and inflation. What significance do international economic relations have for Switzerland?
ObjectiveThis lecture will introduce the fundamentals of macroeconomic theory and explain their relevance to every-day economic problems.
ContentThis course helps you understand the world in which you live. There are many questions about the macroeconomy that might spark your curiosity. Why are living standards so meagre in many African countries? Why do some countries have high rates of inflation while others have stable prices? Why have some European countries adopted a common currency? These are just a few of the questions that this course will help you answer.
Furthermore, this course will give you a better understanding of the potential and limits of economic policy. As a voter, you help choose the policies that guide the allocation of society's resources. When deciding which policies to support, you may find yourself asking various questions about economics. What are the burdens associated with alternative forms of taxation? What are the effects of free trade with other countries? What is the best way to protect the environment? How does the government budget deficit affect the economy? These and similar questions are always on the minds of policy makers.
Lecture notesThe course webpage (to be found at Link) contains announcements, course information and lecture slides.
LiteratureThe set-up of the course will closely follow the book of
N. Gregory Mankiw and Mark P. Taylor (2017), Economics, Cengage Learning, Fourth Edition.

We advise you to also buy access to Aplia. This internet platform will support you in learning for this course. To save money, you should buy the book together with Aplia. This is sold as a bundle (ISBN: 978-1-473762008).

Besides this textbook, the slides and lecture notes will cover the content of the lecture and the exam questions.
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