By Anthony Cappelletti
Welcome to our second issue of General Insurance Insights, the SOA’s biannual newsletter for those with an interest in general insurance (aka property and casualty insurance). Within this newsletter, we include two articles in an area of increasing interest for general insurance actuaries: the growing use of autonomous function technology in automobiles. The development of self-driving cars is moving forward but the development and implementation of autonomous function technologies in newer automobiles is already having an effect on the insurance industry. The first article, written by Scott Lennox, FSA, FCIA, FCAS, staff fellow at the SOA, will inform readers on the types of technology that are currently making their way into automobiles and those that we can expect in the near future. This article provides insights from Scott’s discussions with Kim Hazelbaker, senior vice president with the Highway Loss Data Institute. The second article, written by Dr. Anand Rao of PWC, will inform readers on how the development of technology will affect the insurance industry regarding personal lines automobile insurance.
Also in this issue, there is an article by Stuart Klugman, FSA, CERA, Ph.D., senior staff fellow at the SOA, summarizing interviews with volunteers for the SOA’s general insurance exams in which they recount their experiences. In addition to this, there is an update from the SOA’s Research Department regarding issues of interest to general insurance actuaries and an update of general insurance professional development opportunities.
Since our last issue, the SOA offered the following professional development opportunities with relevance to general insurance:
- Cyber Risk and the Actuary webcast;
- Excel and Beyond webcast; and
- Enterprise Risk Management Symposium (SOA as co-sponsor).
The SOA is currently planning the following professional development opportunities in 2016 for those with an interest in general insurance:
- 10 sessions relevant to general insurance for the 2016 Annual Meeting in Las Vegas;
- Two symposiums in Asia that will include sessions relevant to general insurance;
- A standalone seminar in Asia specific to general insurance; and
- The Advanced Business Analytics Seminar (pertinent to analyses performed by general insurance actuaries).
Additionally, the SOA continues to offer the General Insurance fellowship module “Applications of Statistical Techniques” as a stand-alone e-course for continuing education.
At the end of April, I had the honor of being a panelist for a webinar on “How to Maximize ROI in Your Cyber Risk Mitigation Efforts” sponsored by the SOA and presented by Risk & Insurance. Also on the panel were Max Rudolph, FSA, CERA, founder of Rudolph Financial Consulting LLC and Alex Krutov, MAAA, ASA, FCAS, CERA, president of Navigation Advisors LLC. A recording of the webinar and the slide deck are available on the Risk & Insurance website.
The SOA opened a new community platform in May of this year at https://engage.soa.org. The platform includes a private community for GI; SOA members listing GI as an area of practice have automatically been invited to join. If you were not automatically invited to join but would like to, send an email with your name, address, employer and email address to generalinsurance@soa.org. Scott Lennox and I are involved in the discussions. We are pleased with this opportunity to exchange thoughts and ideas within the SOA’s GI Community.
Our goals with General Insurance Insights are to keep readers informed on topics of interest to general insurance actuaries and to develop the general insurance actuarial community within the SOA. We welcome your feedback and ideas to help us achieve these goals. If you have questions, feedback, or ideas regarding General Insurance Insights, feel free to contact me at acappelletti@soa.org. I would also like to take this opportunity to inform our readers that we are always looking for volunteers in general insurance at the SOA. Whether it be for exams, research, or writing an article for the newsletter, let us know if you are interested
Anthony Cappelletti, FSA, FCIA, FCAS, is a staff fellow for the SOA. He can be contacted at acappelletti@soa.org.