The effectiveness of unit-linked insurance funds in Poland

Demographic changes along with shifts in pension system in Poland lead to increasing interest in investment products allowing for voluntary cumulation of retirement capital. What is key for the selection of such product, is its effectiveness measured by the relation of benefits to costs, including risk. The article demonstrates the results of study in which we estimated and evaluated the effectiveness of unit-linked insurance funds which represent such class of financial products. The examination was aimed at checking whether the funds under research generate abnormal and superior rates of return as well as whether they are managed actively or passively. We utilized OLS method to estimate CAPM parameters for studied funds and we calculated Treynor ratios, Jensen alphas and tracking errors for them. As the result, we obtained estimations evidencing negative abnormal and negative superior rates of return for almost entire observation period. We also reported passivity in managing the funds.