Description: After nearly a decade of work by ACLI and representatives of its member companies, the Society of Actuaries SOA, the American Academy of Actuaries Academy, and the NAIC’s Life and Health Actuarial Task Force LHATF, on Sept. 24, 2008, the NAIC adopted a new actuarial guideline for applying the method of computing statutory reserves for variable annuity contracts AG VACARVM.

Description: Feature article from the newsletter Product Matters discussing variable annuities and principle-based approaches to reserve and capital requirements.

Description: From a session at the 2000 Valuation Actuary Symposium held in Washington DC, September 14-15, 2000 Charts to be attached to the session on 'Minimum Guaranteed Benefits on Variable Annuities'.

Description: This presentation is from session number 25, presented at the 1999 Valuation Actuary Symposium, held September 23-24 in Los Angeles. The panelists discuss Actuarial Guideline XXXIV, which was effective year-end 1998 and addresses reserving for minimum guaranteed death benefits associated with variable annuities, including the requirements of Actuarial Guideline XXXIII. Companies are now offering other guaranteed benefits such as guaranteed living benefits, and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners [NAIC] and the American Academy of Actuaries are working to address reserving for these benefits. The panelists describe the minimum guaranteed benefits in the marketplace and the risks associated with them. Current reserving practices and the latest NAIC and Academy developments are discussed. Discussion from participants is included.

Description: Discusses how AG 34 provides a clarification of CARVM for variable annuities with MGDB’s.

Description: 1998 Valuation Actuary Symposium. The panelists addressed regulatory activity with respect to minimum guaranteed benefits for variable annuities: Specifically, AG XXXIV as it relates to minimum guaranteed death benefits and regulatory work that is being done in the guaranteed living benefits area.

Description: The article described two methods for calculating the benefit ratio described in AICPA Standard of Practice SOP 03-1. Method 1 calculates the benefit ratio as the quotient of the expectation of A and the expectation of B where A is benefits and B is assessments. Method 2 calculates the benefit ratio as the expectation of the quotient of A and B.

Description: New Zealand is about to launch its first variable annuity with guaranteed lifetime withdrawal benefits. The product design is mindful of the lessons from the financial crisis in the United States, Europe and Japan.

Description: Life and annuity markets around the world have seen increasingly complex investment-combined products, including universal life, fixed indexed annuities, variable annuities with a wide variety of guaranteed benefits, indexed variable annuities, etc. Insurance companies are facing unprecedented exposure to financial risks in addition to traditional mortality and longevity risks. The risk assessment and modeling for such complex designs by conventional methods often focus heavily on their market competitiveness and profitability. However, there seems to be a lack of quantifiable and systematic approach to assess investment risks associated with investment combined products. The objective of the proposed work is to develop a framework for quantifying and analyzing various forms of contractual designs and showcase different techniques to assess the trade-off between competitive contractual designs and their practical implications with regard to the difficulty of risk management.

Description: ASU 2018-12 introduced a new concept called “market risk benefits” (MRBs). MRBs are a new accounting classification for benefits within deposit contracts, offering protection from “other than nominal market risk.” This applies to products with account values, including variable and indexed annuities with guaranteed living or death benefits attached (aka GMxBs). ASU 2018-12 Section 944-40-30-19D mentions both a non-option and an option-based valuation approach to account for MRBs. This article considers the option-based approach. The purpose is to highlight weaknesses in the current application of the option approach to MRBs, propose an alternative method, and consider the benefits of the new approach. The intent of this article is to persuade practictioners / actuaries / accountants that this is a better approach for applying the fair value option method to market risk benefits.