The Own Risk and Solvency Assessment (ORSA) is an internal process used by insurance and reinsurance companies to comprehensively evaluate their risk profile and determine the capital necessary to withstand those risks. Mandated by regulatory frameworks like Europe's Solvency II directive and similar principles in the United States, ORSA requires an insurer to take a hard, forward-looking look at its own unique vulnerabilities. Think of it less as a stuffy report for bureaucrats and more as a company-wide financial fire drill. It forces management to move beyond standard models and ask tough, tailored questions: “What are the specific threats to our business model? What is our appetite for risk? And do we truly have the financial cushion to survive a worst-case scenario that we’ve defined for ourselves?” For an investor, the existence and quality of this process provide a crucial glimpse into the prudence and self-awareness of the company's leadership.
For a value investor, analyzing an insurance company can be tricky. You're essentially betting on the company's ability to manage promises that won't come due for years or even decades. The biggest danger is that the insurer underestimates its future liabilities, underprices its policies, and eventually finds itself unable to pay claims, wiping out shareholders in the process. ORSA is one of your best tools for gauging this exact capability. While you won't get to read the confidential ORSA report itself, a company with a strong ORSA culture exhibits tell-tale signs of quality. It's a powerful window into the firm's Risk Management discipline. A well-executed ORSA signals that management is:
Ultimately, a robust ORSA process helps protect the value of the company's Insurance Float and supports the kind of durable, long-term competitive advantage that value investors seek. It's an indicator of a high-quality management team that takes its responsibility to policyholders and shareholders seriously.
While the specific details are confidential, the ORSA process universally revolves around a few core components. It's a continuous cycle of assessment and strategic adjustment, not just a document that gathers dust on a shelf.
This is the foundational step. The company must identify every conceivable risk it faces. This isn't just about underwriting risk (e.g., a hurricane or pandemic). It includes:
Crucially, management must also define its Risk Appetite—how much risk the company is willing to take on in pursuit of profit. This links risk directly to business strategy.
Here, the company tests its financial resilience against its identified risks. This is where Stress Testing comes into play. Management creates bespoke, severe-but-plausible “nightmare scenarios” and simulates their impact on the balance sheet. For example, what happens if a Category 5 hurricane makes landfall in Florida at the same time as a 30% drop in the stock market? By running these tests, the company determines its true Capital Adequacy and whether it has enough of a buffer to remain solvent through extreme turmoil.
ORSA is a powerful tool, but it's not a guarantee of future success. Its effectiveness depends entirely on the company's culture.
So, how do you use it? You look for the evidence of a good ORSA process. Listen to how the CEO talks about risk on earnings calls. Read the risk-factor disclosures in the annual report—are they generic boilerplate or thoughtful and specific? Does the company maintain a fortress-like balance sheet and demonstrate stable performance across economic cycles? A company with a deeply embedded ORSA culture will shine through in these public disclosures and its long-term results, signaling a well-managed business built to last.