Description: The author, head of Alternatives Investment Specialists at Fortis Investments, recently presented a research paper on the potential benefits and possible pitfalls of investing in illiquid assets. This newsletter provides a brief summary of that paper. The full paper is available upon request.

Description: Chairperson’s column discussing the state of the world today and how that influences investment strategies and describes to seminars the section sponsored to keep members apprised of changes.

Description: Feature article discussing the PBGC’s asset reallocation plan.

Description: The article introduces a cashflow matching strategic asset allocation (SAA) framework for life insurers. Given the recent shift to higher interest rates after two decades of persistent low interest rates, insurers have an opportunity to enhance their asset liability management by rebalancing asset portfolios to narrow duration gaps and attain higher risk-adjusted yields. The framework aims to align investment objectives with economic, regulatory, and rating agency requirements. It prioritizes cashflow matching as the primary optimization goal and incorporates security-level asset information to assist portfolio managers in executing SAA seamlessly. The article highlights the benefits of the cashflow matching SAA framework, including greater attention to cashflow matching, unbiased results, readily executable strategies, and stable economic reserves. A case study is included to demonstrate the effectiveness of the framework in improving risk-adjusted return and cashflow matching for a representative liability block.

Description: This is a Fellowship Credit Research Paper. A portfolio of different insurance policies such as temporary, endowment and whole-life insurance policies is studied in a stochastic mortality and interest environment. The first two moments of the present value of the benefits of the portfolio are derived. The riskiness of the portfolio as measured by the variance of the present value of the benefits can be divided into an insurance risk and an investment risk in two different ways. One way leads to a more natural interpretation of the two risk components. A simple portfolio is used to illustrate the results.

Description: Reviews anecdotal evidence that the current shift to passive investing is an indication that investors are irrationally ignoring market risk.

Description: This panel discussed studies of the risk of loss due to changes in the interest rate environment. It addressed why the C-3 risk is important and how inflation and stability in interest rates can affect the financial soundness of life insurance companies. There was also a discussion of the theoretical work being carried out to calibrate the C-3 risk of variation in interest rates and to what extent the valuation actuary can properly recognize the risk of loss from changes in the interest rate environment within the framework of valuations laws and regulations.

Description: This presentation at the SOA 1990 Annual Meeting offers financial market perspectives on volatility, responses to volatility, new financial products, risk and performance.

Description: This session from the 1995 SOA New York Meeting addresses asset prepayments including emerging prepayment experience in the mortgage-backed - CMO security arena, special modeling considerations when addressing prepayments and the NAIC's FLUX model and the scenario and assumption specifications of that model. From the Record of the Society of Actuaries, Vol. 21, No. 2.