Description: ongoing discussion of the proper interest rate to use in discounting liability cash flows to reflect credit risk of the insurer in a fair value accounting system

Description: Discusses the recent developments with RBC requirements. At the forefront of the RBC changes is the stochastic exclusion test.

Description: The ideal business situations for securitization would be those where a company faces significant risks or has significant growth opportunities and where conventional sources of risk hedging or financing are not available or are too expensive. Ultimately, securitization should be able to provide hedging and/or financing that is more effective and less expensive than the alternatives.

Description: This article discusses the pending book entitled 'Dynamic Risk Modeling Handbook.' The proposed scope and outline of the book is reviewed. This is a revision of the 'DFA Handbook' which was published in 1995.

Description: A critical step in valuing a company for the purpose of financial reporting is the computation of the market value of economic surplus (MVES). This article provides a novel approach to the valuation of MVES that is stable and reasonably immune to “market noise.” Current approaches to the calculation of economic surplus of an insurance company generally define such surplus as the market value of the assets (MVA) supporting the liabilities less the market value of liabilities (MVL). While MVA is observable in the market, MVL is typically computed directly, without regard to the underlying supporting assets. Subtracting MVL from any value of assets that changes with market movements results in an unstable surplus. Consequently, a surplus that is not fully reflective of market sentiment has been rejected by many. This same approach is further used in the calculation of market consistent embedded value (MCEV) when a balance sheet approach is used .

Description: This article discusses how insurers that focus on their core competencies and astutely outsource other functions will become more competitive and improve their performance.

Description: This is an interview with Prakash Shimpi who talks about enterprise risk management, research and development. From News Direct, September 2005, Issue No. 51.

Description: Highlights of Society of Actuaries research efforts in the financial services practice area.

Description: An introduction to the Product Development Section's new subgroup supporting interested in the practice of in force management.

Description: This article provides an analysis of Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities TIPS, examining the mechanics of these bonds, how they have performed to date and what may be expected for the future.