Description: In the June 2014 issue of Product Matters, Doug Robbins of Pacific Life authored a fascinating article entitled “Velocity of Diversification.” Therein, he proposed a pricing measure that describes the “…speed at which confidence in profitability is attained”. How can stochastic modeling of mortality be applied to analyze the velocity of diversification, and how would that measure be affected by volatility in the underlying assumptions?

Description: This article talks about longevity risk and reinsurance and its global challenges.

Description: A Discussion of why female mortality is higher than male mortality at higher ages.

Description: Recent advances in mortality modeling have enabled applicant-specific quantification of mortality risk in life insurance applicants using laboratory and physical measurements. Relative to more conventional underwriting, this approach identifies a small population of significantly under-priced policy and a much larger, cross-subsidizing group whose risk is presently overestimated. Applicants placed in the highest percentile by this scoring methodology are more than 10X as likely to die in a given period as their demographic peers, and represent approximately 5% of short-term claims. Implications for product design are substantial in both the short- and long-term, as the possibilities for adverse selection grow, and the opportunity for fully individualized pricing raises the more distant prospect of products with as many rate classes as applicants.

Description: View the complete issue for the August 2014 Reinsurance News newsletter.

Description: Summary of the non-routine business transacted at meetings of the Executive Committee of the Society of Actuaries on Dec. 13, 1979 and the Board of Governors on Jan. 24, 1980

Description: Using the Cox proportional Hazards Model to improve underwriting debits and credits.

Description: Describes a process for identifying relevant industry experience to credibility-weight with relevant company experience to set modeling assumptions and margins.

Description: Describes a process for identifying relevant industry experience to credibility-weight with relevant company experience to set modeling assumptions and margins.

Description: The author discusses arguments for the appropriate methods for determining exposure and mortality rates, quoting the actuarial literature back to 1898. From ‘The Actuary’ Volume 15, No. 3.