By Anthony Cappelletti
Welcome to the June 2020 issue of General Insurance Insights, the SOA’s biannual newsletter for those with an interest in general insurance (aka, P&C or property and casualty insurance). Before I get into my usual notes, I must comment on the global pandemic affecting many of us in one way or another. The COVID-19 pandemic has spread across the world in a matter of weeks. Hospitals in infection hotspots have been pushed to limits or beyond. In many jurisdictions, a new normal of physical distancing is in place—public gatherings and non-essential travel are restricted. I hope that all who are reading this are safe and healthy.
This issue includes a couple of articles of interest to general insurance actuaries. The first article is one I wrote titled “COVID-19 and General Insurance.” In this article, I briefly describe some of the ways that the COVID-19 pandemic is having an effect on the many GI lines of business. The second article is “My Experience With the CPC Review Process” by Achille Sime, FSA, CERA, FIAF, MAAA, Affiliate of the CAS. This article outlines Achille’s personal experiences of going through the American Academy of Actuaries’ Casualty Practice Council Procedures for Reviewing Qualifications for Signing the NAIC Property and Casualty Annual Statement Loss Reserve Opinion.
Also included in this issue:
- “General Insurance Research Update,” an update on the latest from the SOA’s research efforts relevant to GI; and
- “GI PD Opportunities Update,” an update of professional development (PD) opportunities with significant GI relevant content.
Over the past several issues, I provided updates on the status of NFIP reauthorization. Since 2017, the NFIP has been kept operational through an unprecedented sequence of temporary extensions—some of them lasting only a few weeks. On Dec. 20, 2019, legislation was passed by Congress extending NFIP authorization to Sept. 30, 2020. This extension at least gives the NFIP stakeholders some sense of stability as it will last for over nine months. However, it is still only temporary. A longer-term re-authorization that considers reforms to help the program’s stakeholders is required.
In December of 2019, the Actuarial Standards Board (ASB) voted to adopt a new Actuarial Standard of Practice (ASOP) that affects all practice areas including GI: ASOP No. 56, Modeling. It has an effective date of Oct. 1, 2020. Actuaries rely on modeling applications in their work. This ASOP provides professional standards that an actuary is to follow when using models in an analysis. All actuaries should become familiar with this ASOP which can be found on the ASB website.
Last year, the U.S. National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) recognized the SOA’s GI track by including FSA in the GI track[1] as an accepted actuarial designation for signing the NAIC P/C Statement of Actuarial Opinion (SAO). This year, the SOA’s GI track received some international recognition. The Honk Kong Insurance Authority is now including FSA in the GI track[2] as a qualification acceptable for taking on the role of signing actuary for a GI liability valuation.
Our goals with General Insurance Insights are to keep readers informed on topics of interest to GI actuaries and to develop the GI 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.
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. Please visit the SOA Volunteer Opportunities Database. The database includes all open volunteer opportunities at the SOA. In addition to this, we are also looking for ideas on GI continuing education offerings and authors (or ideas) for articles in upcoming issues of General Insurance Insights. Let me know if you would like to contribute.
Anthony Cappelletti, FSA, FCIA, FCAS, is a staff fellow for the SOA. He can be contacted at acappelletti@soa.org.
[1] Including the following optional exams: the Advanced Topics in General Insurance Exam and the United States’ version of the Financial and Regulatory Environment Exam.
[2] Including the following optional exam: the Advanced Topics in General Insurance Exam.