Description: The article discusses modeling of variable annuity behavior risk, with a particular focus on how interaction between different behavioral assumptions complicates modeling. The article gives a brief overview of variable annuity behavior risk, discusses the challenges that behavioral interactions pose for VA modeling, and discusses three potential solutions for dealing with this complexity.

Description: When formulating a personal investment strategy, the application of a disciplined methodology can lead to more rational decision making by the investor. From The Actuary Magazine, April/May 2005

Description: The Life Risk Based Capital Working Group of the NAIC asked for a recommended capital standard from the American Academy of Actuaries for variable annuity contracts with guarantees. In response, the Life Capital Adequacy Subcommittee’s C-3 Work Group the Work Group, chaired by Bob Brown, formulated an approach, which has been dubbed RBC C-3 Phase II.

Description: This article explores reasons for plan sponsors to consider lump-sum payouts. The author suggests for plan sponsors looking to reduce risk, the factors outlined in the article suggest that sponsors may benefit from considering risk-transfer opportunities much sooner than they may have anticipated.

Description: View the complete issue for the August 2014 Reinsurance News newsletter.

Description: This article explores the changing risk profile between the transitional Affordable Care Act (ACA) period (2014-2016) and under the final ACA period (beyond 2017) for the individual market. Actuaries are in a unique position to help facilitate the change from the current ACA period to the final period when health plans will have to take on substantially more risk.

Description: Read the December 2018 issue of Small Talk published by Smaller Insurance Company Section. Practical information on trends that impact sections and activities.

Description: Recent advances in mortality modeling have enabled applicant-specific quantification of mortality risk in life insurance applicants using laboratory and physical measurements. Relative to more conventional underwriting, this approach identifies a small population of significantly under-priced policy and a much larger, cross-subsidizing group whose risk is presently overestimated. Applicants placed in the highest percentile by this scoring methodology are more than 10X as likely to die in a given period as their demographic peers, and represent approximately 5% of short-term claims. Implications for product design are substantial in both the short- and long-term, as the possibilities for adverse selection grow, and the opportunity for fully individualized pricing raises the more distant prospect of products with as many rate classes as applicants.

Description: This article highlights some of OSFI’s expectations regarding the ORSA process, and provides general feedback and observations from OSFI’s reading of 2014 ORSA reports (including KMR) and discussions with insurers.

Description: Written from a regulatory perspective, the article covers the purpose of regulation and some regulatory expectations. The topics include the appointed actuary's involvement in corporate governance, reasonability of results when compared to prior results, data quality, familiarity with the company's annual statement and applicable statutes, and areas where appointed actuaries can add value though services provided to smaller life insurance companies.