In this paper we extend the Least Squares Monte Carlo approach proposed by Longstaff and Schwartz for the valuation of American-style
contingent-claims to the case of life insurance contracts. These contracts, in fact, often embed an American-style option,
called surrender option, that entitles its owner to terminate early the contract and receive a cash amount, called surrender
value. The additional complication arising in life insurance policies with respect to purely financial American contracts
is that there is not a fixed date within which the option can be exercised, since its “maturity” is driven by mortality factors.
This complication has been handled by very few papers, often at the cost of excessively simplified valuation frameworks. The
aim of this contribution, that is not a specific valuation model but a methodological approach, is to allow a full exploitation
of the flexibility inborn in Monte Carlo and quasi-Monte Carlo methods in order to deal with more realistic valuation frameworks.
Key words Surrender option - Least Squares Monte Carlo approach
Financial support from Cofinanziamento MIUR on ‘Valutazioni nelle assicurazioni vita e nel settore previdenziale: metodologie
attuariali, economiche e finanziarie” is gratefully acknowledged.