Description: When building stress tests, modelers need to consider worst cases that are plausible. The most useful and robust scenarios begin qualitatively, with a narrative or story. Consistent quantitative relationships are then developed.

Description: The goal of this paper is to examine similarities between value investing and enterprise risk management (ERM) methods.

Description: The actuarial profession and our stakeholders in the insurance industry are in a unique position to help quantify and mitigate environmental risks via pricing and benefit incentives. Property insurance prices and benefits can encourage responsible and sustainable development. By developing insurance markets and making various types of insurance available in developing regions, which are disproportionately affected by environmental risks and hazards, we can provide protection that is critical for economic development. In spite of the risks posed by environmental issues to actuaries and our stakeholders, and in spite of the opportunities for actuaries and our stakeholders to address environmental risks, actuarial literature is limited with respect to such topics as: environmental risks, including natural disasters, pollution, clean air and water, degradation of the natural and human environment, resource depletion and sustainability, climate change and its consequences; local, national, regional and global efforts to address environmental risks; methods and models used by the scientific community to study environmental risks; methods and assumptions used to quantify the economic or financial risk associated with environmental hazards. This webcast will feature three of the papers addressing these topics that have been published so far in this series of twelve papers. The authors of the papers will present their topics and attendees will be able to participate with questions and answers.

Description: Combinations of risks are an important component of the Survey of Emerging Risks, now in its 15th iteration. Also known as risk clusters or compound risks, the most popular in the survey define threat multipliers, where a risk makes other risks worse. The top risks chosen are trended for the last 10 years, showing interesting cycles and discontinuities.

Description: This is a research report describing the results of an Emerging Risks Survey that asked members of the International Network of Actuarial Risk Managers [INARM] about emerging risks that will have the greatest impact over the next few years. They were also asked by modeling techniques and future spending on risk management.

Description: An opinion about the consolidation of actuarial organizations.

Description: Initiated by the Financial Reporting Section, this paper explores rising interest rates. Following this path, the paper will look at implications of interest rate changes for the life insurance industry, current stress testing practices, and how a risk manager can proactively prepare for an uncertain future. A paper published in 2014 focused on why rates could stay low, and some aspects of this paper are similar (e.g., description of insurance products). This paper also uses a sample model office to help practitioners look at their own exposures. It includes typical interest-sensitive insurance products and how they might perform across various scenarios, as well as a survey to establish current practices for how insurers are testing interest rate risk currently.

Description: The goals of this project are to describe the impact on assets and liabilities if nominal interest rates remained low for an extended period of time. In addition, several other questions were considered that provide insights to the reader: • Is a long-term low interest rate scenario possible? • What could cause a long-term low nominal interest rate scenario and should this be presented to management? • What strategies should insurers and others providing oversight consider in response to an extended low interest rate scenario?

Description: This article discusses that while life style funds make sense for some, a growing minority of individuals successfully make their own investment decisions. It points out that these options should be kept available and that if proper education is provided the informed investor population would grow.

Description: GDP growth has slowed as numerous headwinds have emerged. This article summarizes a research paper by Mark Alberts and Max Rudolph that addresses reasons why this is so and how risk managers can address using scenarios.