Description: General Section news.

Description: The article provides an update on the activities of the LEARN Program in 2014 and 2015.

Description: This article is a review of the book by Joshua Foer. It covers the history of memory techniques, the way a human brain organizes memory, and various problems and successes in memory recall. The author starts by interviewing memory savants, and learns from them that the ability to perform seemingly impossible memory tricks is simply a matter of studying and practicing proven techniques used for millennia. This review suggests that actuaries can benefit greatly from some of these techniques despite the availability of electronic hand-held devices to recall facts because the person who does not need to rely upon such devices can have a huge perceptual advantage in executive presentations.

Description: Suicide is one of the ten leading causes of death in the United States and the only one of those causes that is trending in the wrong direction over the last 15 years. This article examines several aspects of suicide in the United States with a focus on its impact on the insurance industry. The findings were compiled from publicly available data through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, from internal RGA data, and also from interviews with topic experts. The article highlights the difference in suicide rates between the general population and the insured population, the proportion of claims from suicide, the spike in suicide rates at the end of the contestability (or exemption period), and current thoughts from counseling experts on prevention. It also demonstrates an increase in suicide rates during times of economic turmoil.

Description: The excess capacity that has triggered structural reinsurance market shifts has companies focusing on uninsured and underinsured exposures to tackle the issue.

Description: Over the last two decades, three versions of the Valuation Basic Tables were developed. In this article, two key participants share their experience.

Description: The article describes medical progress in cancer diagnostics and addresses its implications for Critical Illness Insurance.

Description: We look in this article at the challenges which life insurance companies operating in a low interest environment have to face.