This session from the 2009 ReFocus Meeting includes industry experts' predictions on how the current economic crisis will reshape our industry from risk appetite, regulation and rating agency environment to capital markets and future growth opportunities.

Research paper that was the result of an invitation by the SOA's Pension Section Research Committee PSRC to explore the adequacy of the current and future supplies of high-quality long-term bonds in Canada, the U.S., and other countries to meet the future needs and obligations of defined benefit retirement systems.

Slides from a presentation at the Society of Actuaries 2007 Annual Meeting, held in October, 2007 in Washington, D.C.Presents - Financial Economics and Public Funds Discussion of a variety of subjects relating to public sector pension plans, including: 1. disconnect between financial economics and methods for valuing pension assets and liabilities, which masks the true risks including volatility and adequacy of funding levels and 2. Loss of trust in the actuarial profession if promises to public sector plan participants can't be met long term with current levels of funding, 3. Intergenerational transfer of risk/costs given the methodologies

This is a discussion of a previously published paper, "Pension Fund Excellence: Creating Value for Stakeholders" part one.

This is a book review for "A Fifty-Year Labor of Love: The History of Employees Life Company (Mutual) 1946–1996" part two.

This is a book review for "The Economics of Financial Markets" part three.

This is a book review for "Visual Revelations: Graphical Tales of Fate and Deception from Napoleon Bonaparte to Ross Perot" by H. Walner, part four.

This paper discusses is concerned with the theoretical value that a company's liabilities would have if they were traded in complete markets. Two paradigms for calculating this value are given. First, the direct approach is to find the present value of the cash flows to the liabilities, using an appropriate rate for discounting. The indirect approach is to value the liabilities as the difference between the value of the assets and the present value of distributable earnings.

In this paper the author studied orders of pairs of ruin probabilities resulting from two claim severity random variables X and Y for a continuous-time surplus process perturbed by diffusion, each of which is the underlying risk Z with or without a deductible and/or a policy limit imposed, called a layer of Z.

In the past year, there have been significant rating agency actions as a result of the financial crisis. At this presentation from the SOA 09 Annual Meeting & Exhibit, representatives from Moody's and A.M. Best rating agencies provide their views on current challenges and opportunities for life and health insurance companies.