Fees in tontines (Q2234753)

The paper focuses on the incorporation of an explicit fee in modern tontine schemes, considering its impact on the attractiveness of these products from the point of view of both the insurer and tontine participants. First, the authors introduce the model setup within a continuous-time setting, describing the mortality model, the tontine structure and the organization of fees. Then the utility-maximizing tontine payoffs under each fee structure is obtained. According to the insurer's perspective, fee-based tontines are compared to fee-based annuities. In particular, the indifference loading of the tontine which makes policyholders indifferent to choosing between annuities or tontines is specified. Moreover, the reserves of annuities and tontines are studied. Some technical details of a specific proof are contained in the Appendix.