Financial Risk Management by Insurers : An Analysis of the Process

On-site visits to financial service firms were conducted to review and evaluate their risk management systems. In the insurance sector, this evaluation covered prominent life/health and property-liability insurers, both in the United States and abroad. The information obtained covered both the philosophy and the practice of financial risk management. This article outlines the results of this investigation. It reports the state of risk management techniques in the industry. It reports the standard of practice and evaluates how and why it is conducted in the particular way chosen. In addition, critiques are offered where appropriate. We discuss the problems which the industry finds most difficult to address, shortcomings of the current methodology used to analyze risk, and the elements that are missing in the current procedures of risk management