Edition

GI PD Opportunities Update

By Anthony Cappelletti

Photo of several paper boats floating on water all facing the same direction, with one yellow paper boat facing perpendicular to the blue paper boats.

Editor’s Note: SOA in-person events in 2023 are being held in locations where the COVID-19 pandemic is deemed to be under control and government restrictions on travel and public gatherings are no longer in place. Furthermore, in-person events in 2023 may be offered on a hybrid basis in which some, or all, of the content is offered virtually.

The following is a list of recent professional development (PD) opportunities, offered by the SOA, with general insurance (GI) relevant content:

  • “Predictive Analytics Hack-A-Thon” March–Online
  • “Predictive Analytics Seminar” April–Online
  • “Using Predictive Analytics: How to Get Started – Topic Call” May–Online
  • “Practically Everything, Everywhere, All at Once” June–Webcast
  • “Risk Manager in a Storm” June–Webcast

If you missed a webcast, remember that recordings of past webcasts are available on-demand.

Session planning is underway for the 2023 SOA ImpACT Conference. The conference is scheduled as a hybrid event. It will be held in Indianapolis, Oct. 22–25 and virtually Nov. 6–9. Please be sure to submit any session proposals you may have for GI relevant topics.

The SOA offers the following GI relevant e-courses for PD:

  • “Applications of Statistical Techniques for Professional Development e-Course,” and
  • “Enterprise Risk Management e-Course.”

Additionally, the SOA offers four certificate programs, all of which are relevant to GI:

  • IFRI Certificate,
  • Predictive Analytics Certificate, and
  • Ethical & Responsible Use of Data Certificate, and
  • Climate Risk.

Be sure to have a look at the SOA’s webpage for professional development opportunities. The webpage allows filtering on many levels to facilitate searching for opportunities. It also includes links to past events that may include access to the presentation slide deck.

Reading actuarial papers is a good source of PD. The North American Actuarial Journal often includes papers that are relevant to GI. GI relevant articles recently published online include:

  • “A Deep Factor Model for Crop Yield Forecasting and Insurance Ratemaking” by W. Zhu
  • “A Tractable Class of Multivariate Phase-Type Distributions for Loss Modeling” by M. Bladt
  • “Flexible Weather Index Insurance Design with Penalized Splines” by K.S. Tang and J. Zhang
  • “Multivariate Insurance Portfolio Risk Retention Using the Method of Multipliers” by G. Lee
  • “Non-Life Insurance Risk Classification Using Categorical Embedding” by P. Shi and K. Shi
  • “An Empirical Assessment of Regulatory Lag in Insurance Rate Filings” by P. Born, J. B. Karl and R. Klein
  • “On a Risk Model with Dual Seasonalities” by Y. Miao, K. Sendova and B. Jones
  • “On Fitting Probability Distribution to Univariate Grouped Actuarial Data with Both Group Mean and Relative Frequencies” by G. Khemka, D. Pitt and J. Zhang

The SOA’s digital publication, The Actuary, often includes articles that are relevant to GI. Recently posted articles that are GI relevant include:

  • “Uncertainty Management: From Computation to Imagination” by B. Robidoux
  • “The Transfer of Major Latin American Risks to the International Reinsurance Market” by J. Campelo, J. Sanchez, J.Auza and J. Bustelo
  • “Emerging Risks for Saudi Arabia’s Industries” by A. Alzahrani
  • “An International Career” Q&A with Tatcha Ayana, FSA, CERA, P&C actuary
  • “A Resilient Future” by N. Cantle
  • “Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of Things” by A. Suggu

Reading research papers can be a good source of professional development. Check out the SOA Research Institute for GI relevant research at SOA General Insurance Research, SOA Catastrophe & Climate Research and SOA Risk Management Research. Recent SOA research relevant to GI that were posted on the SOA website include:

  • “Cyber Risks in the Smart Home Ecosystem: Identification, Modeling, and Pricing”
  • “Cyber Risk Modeling Methods and Data Sets”
  • “Catastrophic Cyber Risk: An Expert Panel Discussion Series”
  • “CyLit: An NLP-Powered Repository and Search Tool for Cyber Risk Literature”
  • “Perceptions of Younger Generations on Risk and Insurance”
  • “Implications of Evolving Technology in Auto Insurance: An Expert Panel Discussion”

The SOA counts on everyone’s support and ideas to make the most of our continuing education opportunities. If you have any GI specific (or GI relevant) ideas for seminars, meeting sessions, and webcast topics, or would like to write a GI relevant article, please forward them to SOA Staff Fellow Anthony Cappelletti at acappelletti@soa.org.

There are also volunteer opportunities to work on the GI Track exams as an item writer and/or grader. Refer to the SOA website for volunteering—click the Volunteer Now sidebar and then select General Insurance Exams Item Writers.

In addition to offerings from the SOA, many GI PD opportunities are expected to be held during the year from other sources. For example, from March to May of this year, the following were offered by other organizations:

  • In March, the American Academy of Actuaries held the webinar “Connecting the Insurance Industry and Academia on Catastrophe and Climate Modeling: Webinar Series—Introduction,” the Casualty Actuarial Society held their “Ratemaking, Product, and Modeling Seminar,” and the European Actuarial Academy held the webinar “Recent Developments in Climate Risk Scenario Analysis.”
  • In April, the American Academy of Actuaries held the webinar “Connecting the Insurance Industry and Academia on Catastrophe and Climate Modeling: Webinar Series—Second Session,” the Casualty Actuarial Society held the webinar “Reserving with Machine Learning: Innovations from Loyalty Programs to Insurance,” and the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries held their General Insurance Spring Conference.
  • In May, the American Academy of Actuaries held the webinar “Connecting the Insurance Industry and Academia on Catastrophe and Climate Modeling: Webinar Series—Third Session,” the Casualty Actuarial Society held their Spring Meeting, the Canadian Institute of Actuaries held the webinar “Advanced Analytics for Insurance,” and the “International Congress of Actuaries” was hosted by the International Actuarial Association and the Actuaries Institute Australia.
  • Every month, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners have a Book Club Call: Casualty Actuarial and Statistical (C) Task Force. These are webinars intended to share knowledge of predictive analytics.

Statements of fact and opinions expressed herein are those of the individual authors and are not necessarily those of the Society of Actuaries, the editors, or the respective authors’ employers.

Anthony Cappelletti, FSA, FCIA, FCAS, is a staff fellow for the SOA. He can be contacted at acappelletti@soa.org.