Description: Discusses the problem with options that insurers have been dealing with for some years, not the options of various sorts that recently have been coming into use as portfolio-management tools. Recommends better asset/liability matching and other courses of action.

Description: In this article, we summarize inflationary factors that may result in a sharp increase in interest rates and implications for life insurer convexity risk exposure, most notably to dynamic policyholder lapsation. We further provide insights into potential ALM strategies to mitigate this convexity risk. Due to the prolonged low-interest rate environment and low minimum interest rate guarantees offered to policyholders, liability convexity is higher than prior historical periods, which results in life insurers’ ALM positions being extremely vulnerable to short-term interest rate spikes. Convexity mismatches cause issues for life insurers under both rising and declining interest rate scenarios. This means that life insurers are not compensated for taking convexity risk and, therefore, convexity matching should always be considered in the asset optimization process. There are mixed signals from policymakers and financial markets regarding potential inflationary and sharply rising interest rate scenarios. The key takeaway is that life insurers are not compensated for taking convexity risk and it is the right time for insurers to review convexity exposure. There are different approaches available to mitigate convexity exposure through rebalancing of asset positions and hedges within each life insurer’s risk limits.

Description: In this session, panelists will lift the curtain on the main features of investment grade (IG) private placement bonds and below investment grade (BIG) private debt and compare them with available public bond and bank loan alternatives. The panel will examine the motivations for insurance companies and pension funds to invest in private debt and the legal, diligence and operational requirements to maintain a private debt portfolio. We will also conduct a 2017 private placement market review and look forward to 2018’s likely new USD and non-USD issuance and which industry sectors are likely to issue. This session will also cover their risk and reward characteristics, and the structural intricacies of the various IG and BIG debt types and whether there is sufficient compensation for illiquidity and other risks.

Description: From the 1985 Valuation Actuary Symposium Discussion of the practical application of cash flow testing in the valuation process.

Description: Presented at September 1995 Valuation Actuary Symposium. Regulators discuss their expectations from the Actuarial Report based upon asset adequacy analysis.

Description: Presentation of asset liability management techniques to better manage interest rate risk by matching the anticipated cash flows from assets with that of the companies liabilities. Some alternative perspectives/techniques from Canadian insurers are discussed. Article discusses the varying asset/liability management issues pertinent to life insurance companies and defined benefit plan sponsors

Description: This session discussion is about synchronization of crediting rates and investment strategies. What are the mechanisms for achieving coordination? How is the process affected by the insurance market? By the capital market? What is the effect of policy design? From Record of the Society of Actuaries Vol. 15, No. 3B.

Description: 1994 SOA Spring Meeting, Orlando. This teaching session introduced Course 230 to seasoned actuaries who missed the opportunity to study ALM material on their road to Fellowship. The focus of this session was to expose the various subjects covered, identify reading materials, and highlight a few topics.

Description: This paper discusses extending the general nonparallel shift approach to duration analysis developed previously and explores the immunization model within the multivariate context. A discussion of the paper follows. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1991, Vol. 43.

Description: This presentation is from session number 43, presented at the 1999 Valuation Actuary Symposium, held September 23-24 in Los Angeles. Increasingly, many insurance companies are enhancing the regulatory cash-flow testing for quantitative analysis of their operations. Enhancements include adding new business, extension of the New York 7 scenarios, and other ways of getting value in addition to compliance. Panelists discuss how widespread the practice of leveraging cash-flow testing is to create a strategic, quantitative tool to support management decision making.