Description: This presentation, session number 53PD, took place at the 2000 Annual Meeting of the Society of Actuaries, held October 15-18 in Chicago. The panelists note that “for several years only a few foreign insurers were permitted to provide life and health insurance in China. In recent years, regulators have been more receptive to the new entry of foreign insurers…” Topics include history of the development of the market, market demographics, including regionalization, types of products, distribution systems, and regulatory requirements for entry and continued operation. Discussion from participants is included. From the Record of the Society of Actuaries, Volume 26, No. 3.

Description: Future mortality improvement has been a common assumption in life insurance and annuity pricing and forecasting for many years. However, experience over the last decade suggests this might be an assumption that merits reconsideration in the United States. This article will take a closer look at factors that impact mortality improvement trends and discuss why insurers may want to reevaluate product designs to better manage the associated mortality risk. We then introduce a product idea with this in mind, where premiums are based on a life expectancy index and insurers share the risk (and opportunity) or mortality improvement with policyholders.

Description: This article outlines the results of the appointed actuaries survey to gather information on current practices related to asset adequacy analysis performed in 2008 by the Financial Reporting Section Council.

Description: Continuation of article from previous issue. This article illustrates the practical and financial implications of applying nested stochastic techniques to a sample product.

Description: This session at the 1998 Valuation Actuary Symposium looks at how companies can use the cash-flow testing structure for additional analysis and be more useful to the managment of the company. The concept of transfer pricing within a life company is explained.

Description: 1998 Valuation Actuary Symposium. Dynamic Financial Condition Analysis is analysis and sensitivity testing and stress testing. Stated another way it is measuring the ability of a company to support future operations. The panelists provided an update on recent Society research that has been done and examples in practice.

Description: Full version of The Financial Reporter, Issue No. 70, September 2007.

Description: This paper applies the research in Prospect Theory of Kahneman and Tversky to explain why sales of annuities lag sales of life insurance products. The author theorizes that life insurance is easier to sell because customers perceive themselves to be in the domain of losses, while potential annuity customers perceive themselves to be in the domain of gains. Kahneman and Tversky showed us that people are mostly risk averse in the domain of gains and risk seeking in the domain of losses. Purchase of an annuity or life product is a risky investment. Customers will find it easier to take the risk in the life insurance domain of losses than the annuity domain of gains. The author then proposes a hybrid life annuity product that might address both mortality and longevity risk in one product that would allow both products to be more competitive than stand-alone products.

Description: 1993 SOA Annual Meeting in New York. This session is about Dynamic Solvency Handbook developed by The Financial and Investment Management Practice Education Committee. The handbook is for actuaries who prepare solvency reports, and the targeted completion date was December 31, 1994.

Description: This presentation is a concurrent session from the 1991 Meeting of the Society of Actuaries, held April 18-19 in New Orleans. The panelists discuss the financial management of insurance company liabilities, including the criteria for identifying significant product portfolios, lessons learned from historical results, and the challenges facing the financial managers in the future. They discuss the state of management information for appropriate product or market segments and how to improve it, and action plans for financial managers to improve financial results. Discussion from participants is included. From the Record of Society of Actuaries, Volume 17, No. 1.