Description: This article discusses the impact of rising interest rates on annuity writers and life insurers and the risk management challenges it presents. Falling interest rates were addressed as well.

Description: Actuaries and rating agencies increasingly believe that the NAIC's formulaic required capital standard does not adequately address a company's insurance, economic market and credit, reporting and pricing risk structure. Economic capital, based upon a stochastic evaluation of a company's total risk exposures, presents a new approach for accurately gauging a company's exposure to risk. Attendees learn what economic capital is, how it is calculated, what it tells company management about risk exposures and how it can serve as a valuable risk-adjusted measurement tool. From the Record of the Society of Actuaries, Volume 29, No. 1: Washington D.C. Spring Meeting, May 29–30, 2003, Session 24OF.

Description: From a session at the Spring meeting of the Society of Actuaries held in San Antonio, Texas, June 14-15, 2004 This session covers different methods for estimating future volatility of financial markets, how to predict the effect of volatility on insurance company results, alternative approaches to managing volatility and the impact on volatility management on the choice of modeling method.

Description: 2004 SOA Annual Meeting and Exhibit, New York. The panelists discussed approaches for measuring risk across risk elements on a consistent basis and discuss the methods for aggregating results and measuring diversification.

Description: 1996 Valuation Actuary Symposium. Questions asked and answered included: 1. What do regulators expect or want as far as asset adequacy analysis for shorter-term liabilities such as IBNR? 2. What responsibility does the appointed actuary have in verifying reserves for reinsured business? 3. If the assets for the market value adjusted annuity are held in a separate account and valued at market, what rates should be used to present value the projected guaranteed benefits? 4. May a company perform the cash-flow testing based on the low level of reserves held in the domiciliary state rather than the higher reserve actually held in the state with the special state in filing? 5. Have there been any situations where an opining valuation actuary has been held personally responsible?