Description: Chairperson reviews the section's goals and mission.

Description: First from a comparison of U.S. and Japanese interest rates, abrupt switch to sumo, because sumo is life! Okay, it is not -- in March 2022, there was an upset win when a tall but li wrestler won the tournament. Just as in sumo, when it's not the more massive man who wins, we need to question our assumptions in our models.

Description: The article details the history and educational requirements of the Swiss Association of Actuaries (SAA). The actuarial profession in Switzerland is well-positioned to meet the challenges of regulation, economic capital and insurance financial reporting.

Description: The author describes a course he and his colleague designed and taught at Columbia University called "A Global Perspective of the Health Insurance Market."

Description: Insight into activities of Actuaries Without Borders (AWB), a section of the International Actuarial Association, and SOA involvement in the section. AWB’s mandate is to provide volunteers for projects in countries where the actuarial profession is at an early level of development.

Description: Accomplishments of the past year and a look at initiatives for the year ahead.

Description: Summary of the International Section Council survey results, and how the results will impact council actions going forward.

Description: It is, without doubt, the poorest people in the world who are most in need of the security that insurance brings. Renata De Leers and Queenie Chow discuss why the micro-insurance market has low penetration, and why actuaries are so well placed to assist insurers in understanding their clients' needs.

Description: Catastrophic exposure is on the rise owing to extreme weather and economic development of the past few years. Catastrophic claims peaked in 2017, but continue to pose a challenge to insurance markets. Global reinsurers seem to be well-capitalized despite the increase in CAT claims. But emerging insurance markets show a wide protection gap relative to more advance markets. Can reinsurance play a role in helping to narrow the gap? This article examines a few ideas.

Description: This article discusses world economic and financial trends and how people can be fooled into thinking nothing can go wrong.