Description: This is the brief supplement to the report regarding the Table of Uniform Seniority for Joint Life Caculations. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1959, Vol. 11, No. 31.

Description: Current tax issues affecting the insurance industry, including the Inflation Reduction Act (Budget Reconciliation Bill)'s tax provisions, including the corporate minimum book income tax and share repurchase (or stock buyback) excise tax; the tax treatment of non coordinated benefits (also known as fixed indemnity benefits); and an update on the OECD’s Base Erosion and Profit Shifting Project

Description: After years of discussion and debate, PrinciplesBased Reserving (PBR) is finally a reality. Small insurance companies have a unique opportunity to decide between electing for the company-wide exemption or adopting the PBR methods. This article discusses the benefits and challenges of the options available to small insurers under VM-20 as well as best practices that have been found along the way.

Description: This article summarizes the treatment of changes in the basis for determining life insurance tax reserves under prior law and describes the changes enacted by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. It further explains the procedures for changing the basis of computing reserves under the new rules as outlined in Revenue Procedure 2019-10, the IRS’s December 2018 guidance on the subject, and discusses the uncertainties that remain.

Description: The current insurance maket in Malaysia and the potential for future growth is described.

Description: This article details the IRS' Revenue Ruling 2005-6. This ruling provides formal guidance on how to treat family term riders for purposes of the computational limit calculations in Internal Revenue Code IRC sections 7702 and 7702A i.e., calculations of net single premiums, guideline single premiums, guideline level premiums and 7-pay premiums. From Small Talk Newsletter, June 2005, Issue No. 24.

Description: The problem and largest challenge with systemic risk identification and management is that high-risk activities and high-risk companies are often identified only with hindsight. This article identifies risk factors and proposes a framework for systemic risk management that can be applied in advance by regulators, company management, and other stakeholders

Description: Feature article discussing the changes IFRS 4 Phase II will have on reinsurance contracts.

Description: This paper applies the research in Prospect Theory of Kahneman and Tversky to explain why sales of annuities lag sales of life insurance products. The author theorizes that life insurance is easier to sell because customers perceive themselves to be in the domain of losses, while potential annuity customers perceive themselves to be in the domain of gains. Kahneman and Tversky showed us that people are mostly risk averse in the domain of gains and risk seeking in the domain of losses. Purchase of an annuity or life product is a risky investment. Customers will find it easier to take the risk in the life insurance domain of losses than the annuity domain of gains. The author then proposes a hybrid life annuity product that might address both mortality and longevity risk in one product that would allow both products to be more competitive than stand-alone products.