Description: The SOA recently launched the Mortality and Longevity Strategic Research Program with the release of a new study on the economic impact of opioid abuse. In this session, results of this study will be presented along with insights and plans for the future of the Program.

Description: Letter from the Chair of the Product Development Council. Challenging times bring opportunities. Today's low interest environment is a rallying cry for our industry to transform our products and the way we do business

Description: In this article, the author discusses discuss the use of the Cox Proportional Hazards Model in developing a predictive underwriting model that produces a mortality multiplier for each individual.

Description: Provide high level summary of predictive modelling.

Description: Article discusses possible effects of negative interest rates on product development, risk management, investment management and in-force management.

Description: In the June 2014 issue of Product Matters, Doug Robbins of Pacific Life authored a fascinating article entitled “Velocity of Diversification.” Therein, he proposed a pricing measure that describes the “…speed at which confidence in profitability is attained”. How can stochastic modeling of mortality be applied to analyze the velocity of diversification, and how would that measure be affected by volatility in the underlying assumptions?

Description: Drivers for mortality are apparently linked to socio-economic differentials within different societal groups. Actuaries are not the only profession interested in unravelling the mystery of why different groups within society experience such different mortality rates. The author gives examples from occupational pension plans in Canada, the UK and Germany.

Description: Social Security provides financial protection by annuitizing retirement. This is not enough for many. My idea creates an additional annuity via Social Security.

Description: This article discusses sessions from the product development section post symposium seminar on product development - beginning to end. Sessions included product specific topics like term, universal life with secondary guarantees, and indexed products. Panel discussions included inforce management and advanced modeling issues.

Description: The objective of this article is to help indexed annuity writers understand the pricing practices and ALM strategies used by their peers in the industry, especially in light of the prevailing low interest rate environment and a possible rise in interest rates.