The paper calculates bonus values in complex insurance schemes.
problem Calculating bonus payments in multi-state with-profit life insurance.
method Combines financial risk simulation with insurance risk methods.
result Efficient numerical procedures for bonus calculation.
This paper offers a financial economic perspective on the optimal time (and age) at which the owner of a Variable Annuity (VA) policy with a Guaranteed Living Withdrawal Benefit (GLWB) rider should initiate guaranteed lifetime income payments. We abstract from utility, bequest and consumption preference issues by treat…
The paper deals with bonus-malus systems with different claim types and varying deductibles. The premium relativities are softened for the policyholders who are in the malus zone and these policyholders are subject to per claim deductibles depending on their levels in the bonus-malus scale and the types of the reported…
Develops a Bonus-Malus model for cyber risk insurance to incentivize cybersecurity.
problem Lack of effective insurance strategies to incentivize cybersecurity.
method Proposes a Bonus-Malus model and a mathematical model with a numerical algorithm.
result Demonstrates how a Bonus-Malus system resolves moral hazard and benefits the insurer.
Paper introduces balanced payment systems to improve liquidity and risk management.
problem Managing liquidity in payment systems and economy is a persistent challenge.
method Introduces interbank balancing method to private payment systems and others.
result Demonstrates effects of balancing on a small example and constructs a balanced subsystem.
A new method streamlines digital payment programming using smart contracts.
problem High costs and security challenges in programming smart contracts for digital payments.
method Transforming digital currencies into token streams and using configurable templates to generate specialized smart contracts.
result Reduces payment programming costs and enhances security, self-enforcement, adaptability, and controllability.
Study minimax optimal RL in factored MDPs with bonus exploration.
problem Optimal reinforcement learning in episodic factored MDPs.
method Proposes two model-based algorithms with bonus exploration for minimax optimal regret.
result Achieves minimax optimal regret guarantees for rich factored structures.
Game theory applied to financial networks, focusing on debt repayment strategies.
problem Understanding financial stability in interconnected systems.
method Modeling financial systems as networks, analyzing utility-maximizing strategies under priority-proportional payments.
result Existence and uniqueness of payment profiles are not guaranteed, even under fixed strategies.
We discuss the pricing methodology for Bonus Certificates and Barrier Reverse-Convertible Structured Products. Pricing for a European barrier condition is straightforward for products of both types and depends on an efficient interpolation of observed market option pricing. Pricing products We discuss the pricing metho…
Stablecoins offer efficient settlement but externalize costs and risks.
problem Comparing stablecoins to card networks in retail payments.
method Unified analytical framework (CLEAR) across five dimensions.
result Stablecoins are advantageous in closed-loop and high-friction contexts but structurally disadvantaged as open-loop instruments.
We introduce an exploration bonus for deep reinforcement learning methods that is easy to implement and adds minimal overhead to the computation performed. The bonus is the error of a neural network predicting features of the observations given by a fixed randomly initialized neural network. We also introduce a method …
This paper considers the optimal dividend payment problem in piecewise-deterministic compound Poisson risk models. The objective is to maximize the expected discounted dividend payout up to the time of ruin. We provide a comparative study in this general framework of both restricted and unrestricted payment schemes, wh…
Research examines motivations and factors influencing retailers' payment method choices.
problem Understanding motivations and factors affecting retailers' payment method choices.
method Qualitative and quantitative analysis of various factors including regulatory constraints, merchant service providers, and demographic variables.
result Lower interchange fees and regulatory constraints make card payment adoption financially feasible for merchants.
Rewards are sparse in the real world and most of today's reinforcement learning algorithms struggle with such sparsity. One solution to this problem is to allow the agent to create rewards for itself - thus making rewards dense and more suitable for learning. In particular, inspired by curious behaviour in animals, obs…
Improved analysis of UCBVI algorithm with better empirical performance.
problem Improving the UCBVI algorithm's performance and understanding its bounds.
method Refined analysis of UCBVI algorithm with improved bonus terms and regret analysis.
result Improving multiplicative constants in UCBVI bounds enhances empirical performance.
The paper examines clearing payments in financial networks to prevent cascaded defaults.
problem Cascaded defaults in financial networks under the proportionality rule.
method Analysis of clearing model under pro-rated payments, derivation of necessary and sufficient conditions for clearing payments, convex optimization problems for computation.
result Clearing payments can be computed by solving convex optimization problems, reducing overall system loss by lifting the proportionality rule.
Paper introduces PHI to identify structurally distinct payment patterns in UK municipal procurement.
problem Vulnerability of public procurement to error, fraud, and corruption in high-volume transactions.
method Introduces Payment Heterogeneity Index (PHI) using Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) and non-parametric statistics.
result Identifies a significant cohort with structurally distinct payment patterns, improving procurement oversight.
A new model calculates optimal clearing payments in dynamic financial networks.
problem Determining fair clearing payments in networks with potential defaults.
method Extends Eisenberg-Noe model to multiple time periods, solving linear programs for optimal payments.
result Proves the model satisfies the priority of debt claims requirement and finds unique optimal payments.
We study an exploration method for model-free RL that generalizes the counter-based exploration bonus methods and takes into account long term exploratory value of actions rather than a single step look-ahead. We propose a model-free RL method that modifies Delayed Q-learning and utilizes the long-term exploration bonu…
Payments data and machine learning improve nowcasting accuracy for macroeconomic indicators.
problem Lagged indicators in linear models are insufficient during crisis periods.
method Non-traditional payments data, nonlinear machine learning, and tailored cross-validation.
result Improved macroeconomic nowcasting accuracy up to 40% during crises.
Blockchain helps secure payments between AI agents.
problem Ensuring secure payments between untrusted AI agents.
method Systematized four-stage lifecycle for A2A payments on blockchain.
result Challenges remain in weak intent binding, misuse, and limited accountability.
Optimal student loan repayment strategies vary based on loan size.
problem Finding the most cost-effective repayment strategy for federal student loans.
method Analyzing the impact of different repayment strategies on total cost for varying loan sizes.
result Optimal repayment strategies depend on the loan balance, with different approaches for small, large, and intermediate balances.
Agent-to-agent finance aims to manage payments and trust for AI agents.
problem Managing financial interactions between autonomous AI agents.
method Develops agent-to-agent finance concept and explores blockchain solutions.
result Agent-to-agent finance can address coordination frictions in financial markets.
The study analyzes how bonus-malus systems and delayed claims settlement affect insurance companies' financial stability.
problem Analyzing the impact of bonus-malus systems and delayed claims settlement on insurance companies' financial stability.
method Examined a discrete-time risk model with time-varying premiums, evaluating two types of claims and settlement delays.
result Delayed settlement of by-claims leads to lower ruin probabilities under specific assumptions.
New algorithm reduces reinforcement learning complexity, approaching contextual bandits.
problem Episodic reinforcement learning's difficulty compared to contextual bandits.
method Proposes MVP algorithm with a new Bernstein-type bonus for episodic reinforcement learning.
result Achieves near-optimal regret bound of $O\left(\left(\sqrt{SAK} + S^2A
ight) \poly\log \left(SAHK
ight)
ight)$, improving state-of-the-art results.
We propose a model in which dividend payments occur at regular, deterministic intervals in an otherwise continuous model. This contrasts traditional models where either the payment of continuous dividends is controlled or the dynamics are given by discrete time processes. Moreover, between two dividend payments, the st…
The paper analyzes multivariate payments in multi-state life insurance using Markovian state processes.
problem Analyzing joint effects of life annuities and death benefits in a multi-state framework.
method Introduces multivariate present value of future payments, derives differential equations and moment generating functions, and focuses on pair-wise covariances.
result Derives Hattendorff type results for pair-wise covariances in a disability model.
AI task delegation faces incentive collapse with unbounded payments as AI accuracy rises.
problem Incentive collapse in AI-assisted task delegation schemes.
method General impossibility result and sentinel-auditing payment mechanism.
result Sentinel-auditing mechanism enforces positive human effort at finite cost, independent of AI accuracy.
The study reveals fundamental limits of fraud detection in card payment networks.
problem Fraud detection in card payment networks is challenging due to structural information impairments.
method Formalized card authorization as a sequential decision problem with delayed feedback, derived minimax regret lower bound.
result Improving issuer reporting quality or reducing censorship can yield larger reductions in the regret floor than increasing model complexity.
We study the problem of determining risk-minimizing investment strategies for insurance payment processes in the presence of taxes and expenses. We consider the situation where taxes and expenses are paid continuously and symmetrically and introduce the concept of tax- and expense-modified risk-minimization. Risk-minim…
We introduce and analyse two algorithms for exploration-exploitation in discrete and continuous Markov Decision Processes (MDPs) based on exploration bonuses. SCAL+ is a variant of SCAL (Fruit et al., 2018) that performs efficient exploration-exploitation in any unknown weakly-communicating MDP for which an upper bo…
The paper introduces Bellman-consistent pessimism to improve offline reinforcement learning without overly pessimistic bias.
problem Offline reinforcement learning's challenge of discovering good policies without exhaustive exploration.
method Introduces Bellman-consistent pessimism for function approximation, improving sample complexity and adaptability.
result Improves sample complexity by O(d) in the action space finite case, and automatically adapts to bias-variance tradeoff. This paper concerns an optimal dividend distribution problem for an insurance company with surplus-dependent premium. In the absence of dividend payments, such a risk process is a particular case of so-called piecewise deterministic Markov processes. The control mechanism chooses the size of dividend payments. The obje…
Paper analyzes strategic underreporting in competitive insurance markets.
problem Strategic underreporting by insureds in competitive insurance markets.
method Develops a dynamic insurance market model with two competing companies and a continuum of insureds, examines the interaction between strategic underreporting and competitive pricing under a Bonus-Malus System framework.
result Establishes the existence and uniqueness of the insureds' optimal reporting barrier and its dependence on BMS premiums; proves the existence of Nash equilibrium premium strategies.
We develop an axiomatic theory of balance functions (future value functions) in the theory of interest that is derived from financial considerations and which applies to general regulated payment streams, including continuous payment streams. Balance functions exist and are unique up to an initial choice of deposit and…
This paper studies a Value-at-Risk (VaR)-regulated optimal portfolio problem of the equity holders of a participating life insurance contract. In a setting with unhedgeable mortality risk and complete financial market, the optimal solution is given explicitly for contracts with mortality risk using a martingale approac…
This paper considers an optimal dividend distribution problem for an insurance company where the dividends are paid in a foreign currency. In the absence of dividend payments, our risk process follows a spectrally negative Lévy process. We assume that the exchange rate is described by a an exponentially Lévy process, p…
Study on incentivizing truthfulness in federated learning with heterogeneous data.
problem Manipulated updates in federated learning due to data heterogeneity.
method Formulated a game-theoretic approach to prevent clients from misreporting their gradient updates.
result Developed a payment rule that provably disincentivizes sending modified updates in federated learning.
New option type preserves fungibility by amortizing payments over time.
problem Traditional installment options destroy fungibility and lapse when payments stop.
method Introduces amortizing perpetual options (AmPOs) with an implicit payment scheme.
result Valuation of AmPOs reduces to vanilla perpetual American options.
This paper concerns an optimal dividend distribution problem for an insurance company whose risk process evolves as a spectrally negative Lévy process (in the absence of dividend payments). The management of the company is assumed to control timing and size of dividend payments. The objective is to maximize the sum of …
We analyze the classical model of compound interest with a constant per-period payment and interest rate. We examine the outstanding balance function as well as the periodic payment function and show that the outstanding balance function is not generally concave in the interest rate, but instead may be initially convex…
Study evaluates AD methods for fraud detection in online credit card payments.
problem Fraud detection in online credit card payments using anomaly detection methods.
method Assessed several recent anomaly detection methods and compared them with standard supervised learning methods.
result LightGBM outperforms other methods but is more sensitive to distribution shifts.
DyFEn simulates blockchain for fee setting in payment channels.
problem Dynamic fee setting in off-chain payment channels.
method Agent-based reinforcement learning in a blockchain simulation.
result Empirical results of reinforcement learning methods on dynamic fee setting.
Analyzes how financial network dependencies can lead to multiple equilibrium outcomes and optimal bailout strategies.
problem Multiple equilibrium outcomes in financial networks due to dependency cycles.
method Characterized necessary and sufficient conditions for bank solvency, and provided upper bounds on optimal bailout payments.
result Minimum bailout payments needed to ensure systemic solvency and prevent cascading defaults.
We consider the problem of maximizing the discounted utility of dividend payments of an insurance company whose reserves are modeled as a classical Cramér-Lundberg risk process. We investigate this optimization problem under the constraint that dividend rate is bounded. We prove that the value function fulfills the Ham…
Study online linear regression with paid noise reduction.
problem Online linear regression with noisy features and the ability to pay for reduced noise.
method Analyzes regret against optimal predictor, uses matrix martingale concentration.
result Optimal regret rates for known and unknown noise covariance.
Study preferences over uncertain time payments, finds growth-optimality better than expected utility theory.
problem Understanding how people make decisions with uncertain timing of payments.
method Normative model of growth-optimality, revisiting experimental evidence on time lotteries.
result Growth-optimality better explains experimental data on time lotteries than expected discounted utility theory.
EQO uses a simple bonus term for efficient exploration in tabular RL.
problem Achieving minimax optimal reinforcement learning with practical efficiency.
method Exploration via Quasi-Optimism, employing a bonus proportional to state-action visit count.
result Achieves the sharpest known regret bound for tabular RL.