What are the factors that determine risk-adjusted returns of Croatian life insurers?

Abstract

Purpose: When conducting their business, insurers face various risks that are controlled for in order to mitigate them and protect the insured, inter alia. Moreover, being aware of the factors that determine the reward-to-risk ratio for insurers is also of crucial importance. Thus, the aim of this research is to identify potential factors that influence risk-adjusted returns of life insurance companies. Methodology: The analysis is conducted on a sample of life insurers that operated in Croatia in the period from 2016 to 2020. For this purpose, risk-adjusted ROA, i.e. the Sharpe ratio, is used as a risk-adjusted return measure, while independent variables encompass several insurance firm-oriented and insurance industry-specific variables, as well as variables depicting the level of macroeconomic development, stock market, bond market and institutional development. Results: After conducting dynamic panel analysis, the obtained results suggest that the premium growth rate, asset-based size, the net premium to surplus ratio, i.e. leverage, as well as bond market development are significant factors when determining risk-adjusted returns. Conclusion: Risk-adjusted returns are determined by insurance firm-oriented factors which are important not only to investors but also to insurance market regulators and insurance firm managers.