Description: Re/insurance rates have been increasing since 2018, although pricing momentum has decelerated recently. Insurers and reinsurers are working to enhance profitability and improve the value proposition for clients in an environment of uncertainty about natural catastrophes, COVID-19-related losses, and social inflation, among other factors. This article describes drivers of the current underwriting cycle, compares it with past cycles, and provides considerations for the future.

Description: Frequently Asked Questions about the SOA's University-Earned Credit (UEC) program.

Description: To understand the relationship between lifestyle behaviors and mortality, RGA investigated a national, health-related, mortality-linked data set provided by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). RGA Strategic Research Actuary Julianne Callaway discusses the company's findings.

Description: For over a decade, life insurers have been challenged by a low interest rate environment, making it difficult to find investments with adequate yield, manage corporate spreads, and offer competitive products to consumers. While interest rates are still low compared to the early 2000’s, volatility in rates over the past year, during which the 10-year U.S. Treasury rate has increased by nearly 100 basis points, could indicate a longer-term trend of rising rates. What would a rising rate environment imply for life insurance writers? Insurers able to react to interest rate changes with agility can remain relevant in an evolving economy, protecting themselves and their policyholders. This article addresses risks and considerations faced by insurers with respect to in-force retention, pricing and product mix, and reinsurance and mergers & acquisitions.

Description: How to make the third pillar of the pension system develop faster is a hot topic in the field of social security research in recent years. Its development is facing three dilemmas: cognitive dilemma, economic transformation dilemma and incentive dilemma. According to the order from easy to difficult, four suggestions are put forward: to build the third pillar system by introducing personal accounts; to separate individual accounts from urban and rural residence insurance and put them in the third pillar; to integrate housing funds into the third pillar; to turn short-term bank savings into long-term pension reserve by improving social welfare.