Description: This paper evaluates the current practice of operational risk management in the insurance sector. Operational risk is nothing new in insurance, but, because of regulatory requirements, companies have initiated computation of risk capital for their operational losses. The current effort to manage operational risk is not a naturally evolving phenomenon, and operational risk, in the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision’s Basel II definition, is unlikely to be a significant cause of insurers’ failure. In addition, the current Basel II definition of operational risk is not suitable for the insurance sector. Consequently, the invention of models and tools based on the definition is incomplete and illusionary. My findings are based on the analysis of dozens of interviews with insurance industry professionals. I demonstrate the way operational risk is quantified in practice, show that the result obtained from this computation is of littl e use in managerial decision making and propose a set of policy recommendations illustrating the characteristics of operational risk in insurance. This study can be used as a platform for launching dialogues to initiate fresh thinking about operational risk in insurance beyond the current artificial and narrow boundaries.

Description: Presentation of some of the factors to be considered, and approaches which might be employed, in valuing a life insurance company.

Description: S&P Global released its initial version of proposed changes regarding its Insurer Risk-Based Capital Adequacy methodology and assumptions on Dec. 6th, 2021. Unlike prior guidance notes or criteria releases, the proposed changes comprehensively updated the current S&P rating criteria released in 2010. These updates would directly impact many insurers. S&P Global anticipates that 10 percent of existing ratings in the insurance sector would be impacted and the change would lead to more positive rating implications than negative impact. This article focuses on the proposed changes on the S&P risk-based capital (RBC) vs. the current model, then simulate impacts to a representative U.S. life insurer through an illustrative case study.

Description: This article highlights 13 attributes shared by various groups of companies that landed in trouble. The companies are identified, and the attributes are described.

Description: it discusses the framework and modeling of the market consistent valuation of fixed indexed annuity, against the backdrop of the convergence of accounting standards and internal risk management.

Description: From a session at the annual meeting of the Society of Actuaries held in Chicago, Illinois, October 15-18, 2000 Panelists discuss the changes these companies were making, the experience so far as a public company, and how investors are viewing them.

Description: 2004 SOA Spring Meeting, Anaheim, CA. The panel discussed how to analyze LTC flows from an asset perspective, recognize embedded derivatives in LTC and determine strategies for hedging fair value. The goal was for the attendees to learn to view LTC from an investment rather than a liability perspective, recognize embedded risks in today's LTC marketplace, and deal with investment risks in LTC.

Description: This article argues that using Economic Capital as a metric does not capture all of the risks. The author suggests an alternative that better meets a corporation's overall risk management needs. This is value-based ERM, which is an approach that makes the quantification of enterprise value central to all aspects of the ERM process. It is a combination of two techniques—enterprise risk management and value-based management, and it captures all of the risks in a single metric.

Description: 1994 SOA Spring Meeting, San Francisco. This session about fluctuation in interest rates covered: 1. The impact of increasing interest rates on liabilities. 2. Whether insurance companies are prepared for movements in interest rates. 3. The effects that rising interest rates have on the asset side of the balance sheet and some of the associated risks. 4. Investment strategy and asset-liability strategy, using the SPDA product as example.

Description: This article describes an initiative of the Chief Risk Officer Forum to perform a study to benchmark internal models, so as to discuss the admissibility of these models for regulatory purposes in the context of Solvency II. The results of and reactions to that study are discussed.