Description: Insurance companies utilize derivatives in a variety of ways to manage and mitigate risks that are inherent in their investment or liability portfolios. They can be characterized by three main features: medium long-term duration; large volumes; and significant market risk exposure. Given the persistent low interest rate environment across the curve since the 2008 financial crisis, large companies need to hedge their liabilities, as illustrated by the significant recent increase from $786 billion as of fiscal year 2010 to $1,885 billion as of FY 2014 by insurance companies.As the Variable Annuities (VA) guarantees embedded within those liabilities hold a strong convex risk profile with respect to the underlying stock, VA carriers need to buy some convex hedge assets such as options to match the liability risk profile to improve hedge effectiveness, implying the growing cost of hedging. Such market impact of the quantity on the cost of hedging is further magnified in the recent period with the short-lived, but sharp transitions from low volatility to high volatility, when market volatility suddenly increases, even when there were no well-known fundamental catalysts. This partially stems from the growing managed volatility funds embedded within VA ($bn 400).VA carriers willing to trade a large quantity of options will see such market impact as an important dilemma, as the cost of placing one large order to close position will be far greater than the sum of infinitely small orders differed in time. In that context, managing market impact requires introducing an explicit market impact function, the influence of which the agent will try to minimize. The effect on hedge asset prices significantly depends on whether there is or not significant delta hedging activity. In case of no significant delta hedging activity, the risk appetite has a significant influence on the optimal execution strategy. If there is significant delta hedging activity, the optimal trading involve

Description: 1992 SOA Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C. This session addressed the asset valuation reserve, the interest maintenance reserve, the RBC requirements, and the impact on the company's investment strategies of these reserves.

Description: This presentation is a panel discussion from the 1991 Annual Meeting of the Society of Actuaries, held October 20-23 in Toronto. Citing the current environment of recent insurance company insolvencies, bad investments, and capital erosion, the panelists discuss issues of interest to the investment actuary, including Financial accounting Standards Board [FASB] activity in market-value [MV] accounting, ways to evaluate asset quality and default risk in an MV environment, the impact of MV accounting on investment strategy, the new benchmark of ‘Return on MV Surplus,’ MV behavior of assets and liabilities, use of derivative instruments to hedge MV surplus volatility, and investment aspects of risk-based capital. Discussion from participants is included. From the Record of Society of Actuaries, Volume 17, No. 4B.

Description: The Investment Symposium is a day-and-a-half long seminar that will focus on the issues and questions faced by investors and risk managers, especially related to insurance companies and retirement plans. Presenters will discuss the big picture issues and explore practical solutions to today’s challenges. Experts will share new approaches to portfolio management and cutting edge research in asset-liability management. Technology, regulation and the economic environment will

Description: Discussion of interest rates and investments. The forum looked at the outlook for interest rates on life insurance funds, new developments for the investment of life insurance funds, common stock investments, inflation, and the nature and extent of the valuation problem created by direct investment private placement.

Description: What is the impact of aging populations on economic growth and interest rates?” “Are low interest rates and inflation a short-term phenomenon?” “How will returns from different asset classes be impacted by future demographic trends?” “What are the differences between different countries and regions around the world?”

Description: 1998 SOA Spring Meeting, Maui. Panel discusses the some of the newer outlets that portfolio managers have been using for their investable cash. Topics discussed: 1. New risk classes. 2. Update on insurance and catastrophe risk bonds. 3. Capital-efficient structured notes. 4. Leveraged debt and equity plays. 5. Other risk/reward enhancement techniques.

Description: From the 1960 Transactions Vol. 12 No. 32, this ‘Digest of Informal Discussion’ addresses current developments and proposals with respect to life insurance company investments and inflation. The panelists address questions related to the extent and appropriateness of investment in common stocks, and the impact on actuarial practices and standards.

Description: From the 1985 Valuation Actuary Symposium Discussion of techniques for determining capital requirements needed to support an insurance business, based on the nature of the assets and liabilities on the books and related investment strategies, using ALM modeling

Description: Presentation at May 1996 Spring Meeting Discusses evaluating yield needs and whether the expected net return will outweigh the RBC/rating agency penalty of added surplus requirement, the effect of factoring in volatility, the utility of using assets with high RBC requirements, and the amount limits on various assets.