Risk Based Capital, Audit Committee Effectiveness and Reserve Management in Indonesia Life Insurance Companies

Abstract

This study examines whether Risk-Based Capital (RBC) and audit committee effectiveness constrain reserve management in Indonesian life insurance companies. The analysis uses a balanced panel of 40 conventional life insurers observed from 2020 to 2024, producing 200 firm-year observations. Reserve management is measured through abnormal Net Technical Reserve, derived from a first-stage model that estimates the normal reserve ratio using benefit ratio, premium growth, reinsurance dependence, and firm size. The reported main specification applies two-way fixed effects with firm- and year-specific effects and White period cross-section clustered standard errors. The results show that RBC has a negative and statistically significant coefficient, while audit committee meeting frequency also has a negative and significant association with reserve management. Foreign ownership is positively associated with reserve management, whereas the proportion of independent commissioners is not significant. The findings indicate that capital adequacy and active audit committee monitoring are associated with lower reserve discretion. The study contributes evidence from a regulated emerging-market life insurance setting, while also identifying specification and measurement issues that require robustness verification before strong causal claims are made.