Rising liquidity risk tends to amplify the deterioration of a firm’s capital position under adverse scenarios and
should be considered an essential element of insurance stress test.
In general, the long-term funding profile of insurers is less susceptible to funding shocks than banks (although
such risks cannot be excluded). Insurance companies may still have liquidity and maturity mismatches, and the
duration gap tends to be negative (especially for life insurers). Moreover, some financial transactions, such as
the use of OTC derivatives for hedging and securities lending, could create short-term cash flow needs (such as
high quality collateral) that are markedly different from long-term cash flow projections associated with
insurance liabilities and are inherently more susceptible to the financial market effects. In many countries,
insurance regulations are imposed to limit liquidity risks, such as investment limits for loans or real estate,
prohibition of certain derivatives and securities lending transactions to protect the interest of policyholders.
Stress testing liquidity risk in insurance is most relevant for non-life insurance and reinsurance. Liquidity stress
tests can shed a light on specific vulnerabilities faced by reinsurers that would have to settle large claims after a
major natural catastrophe.1
In many countries, insurance supervisors are monitoring liquidity positions of
reinsurers and non-life insurers by comparing their liquid assets with potential payment amount of large claims.
However, there is no well-established market practice of liquidity stress within the industry yet. One possible
approach is to make use of cash flow projections with certain stress scenarios (such as large claims from
catastrophe events, lower future premiums from commercial lines in response to greater competition, and
collateral needs from OTC derivative transactions).