Use the usual aggregate claims model assumption that the claim count is independent of the sequence of severities. Conditional on , the probability generating function of the sum is the product of the severity generating functions. The empty sum has value zero. Thus the law of total expectation gives the random-sum transform identity
for , with the usual continuous interpretation at .
For a claim count distribution in the Panjer claim-count class, multiply the count recurrence by and sum. With ,
Consequently , or
The chain rule applied to the composition then gives
For , compare the coefficients of . The two products give
Move the term to the left and combine the remaining coefficients, since . The Panjer recursion with zero severities is therefore
For the usual nondegenerate proper Panjer laws, , so . If a degenerate count is represented by redundant constants making this denominator zero, the aggregate is identically zero and must be handled directly rather than dividing by zero.
Because severities are nonnegative, the aggregate is zero exactly when every included severity is zero. Count-severity independence gives the initialization
In particular generally exceeds when zero severities are possible.
The count-severity independence is necessary and is implicit, rather than explicitly stated, in the printed random-sum setup. For a concrete counterexample without it, take independent Bernoulli- variables and put . Then , so , whereas . Independence of the among themselves alone cannot justify the requested formula.