Description: An interview with Weili Lu, the president of ARIA

Description: This article summarizes the second Simon Conference for young researchers in Actuarial Science, Risk Management, and Insurance, which took place at Michigan State University last November. The intent is to publicize the event and promote future participation in similar conferences of young researchers. The article will contribute to expanding the horizons of actuarial research performed by the academic community. Participation in the conference also gives professional development opportunity for practicing actuaries.

Description: The actuarial profession is changing rapidly and the skills needed to be successful are also changing. In this session, we will debate key topics and questions, such as: What is the predominant future career path for actuaries? Specialists or generalists? Does the actuarial profession have a meaningful value prop outside our core domains e.g. insurance? What skills are needed for the actuary of the future? What’s the best approach to improve actuarial storytelling to non-actuarial audiences? What’s the role of actuaries to managing and predicting emerging trends and assumptions? What is the role of actuaries in relation to development and ownership of advanced modeling? Is the future actuarial profession smaller/larger than it is today? In either case, how does it differ from today in terms of make-up, deployment, function, purpose, value add, etc.?

Description: Assumptions have been a critical component of actuarial work since the rise of the profession hundreds of years ago. Without well-developed, credible assumptions, reliable financial projections are an impossibility. Yet in 2023, there is still a wide range of assumption processes and governance practices in place throughout the life industry. Follow assumption and governance experts from Oliver Wyman to dig deep into results from our 2023 assumption process and governance survey. Examine what we're seeing currently practiced throughout the industry and offer insights into what we're doing well, as well as where we have opportunities to improve. Explore topics, such as assumption governance frameworks, governance costs, development and review, approval processes, implementation and usage, monitoring, and challenges.Gain a better understanding of how your own assumption processes compare against others in the industry, and learn best practices that can be implemented to improve assumption processes.

Description: Dive into the recent updates to the Bermuda Market and how this may impact current and future market players. Learn more about the Bermuda reserving and capital requirements and how the recent Bermuda Consultation Paper may impact the industry.

Description: The pension risk transfer (PRT) market has increasingly expanded to include the complexity of deferred participants who have additional options that do not exist for a retiree already receiving their benefit. Assumptions on the timing of benefit commencement and form of payment elected are highly dependent on specific pension plan provisions and the census population. These assumptions can have significant impact on the reserves and cash flows affecting not only the initial price but the future profitability of the deal and require a balance of both pension experience and annuity pricing. Learn about considerations for assumptions fit for purpose from pension actuaries working in the PRT market and who specialize in the assumption setting process for deferred lives.

Description: A panel of actuaries and investment experts share their experience with the AG53 requirements for Asset Adequacy Testing. They will discuss challenging areas in the inaugural year of the consideration of complex assets as well as discuss potential areas of future regulatory expectations.

Description: FASB published LTDI requirements in 2018. The effective date for insurers who are SEC filers to publish US GAAP financials under LDTI is January 1, 2023. The effective date for non-public insurers is January 1, 2025. LDTI requires insurers to identify a new category of benefits called market risk benefits (MRBs) in insurance products. Broadly, variable annuity (VA) and fixed indexed annuity (FIA) guaranteed minimum death, accumulation, withdrawal, and income benefits fall under MRBs. Valuing MRBs requires calculating the liability on a fair value basis. Valuing FIA MRBs on a fair value basis can be complicated as several aspects of FIAs such as option budgets and policyholder behavior are driven by company management decisions and the competitive landscape.

Description: The recent round of regulatory changes (LDTI, IFRS17, PBR) has put a demand on actuarial organizations, and, in particular, financial reporting functions unlike most have experienced in their careers. With adoption, where does this leave the financial reporting function going forward? What work is left to be done? How will the financial reporting function need to evolve under these accounting regimes?

Description: Discuss how to treat experience that is impacted by COVID-19 (e.g., 2020+) as well as expected experience moving forward in terms of excess deaths related to COVID and non-COVID topics. The session will also cover how the COVID period has impacted lapse/surrender behavior and the trends that we can expect going forward. Learn about various techniques of adjusting experience for the impact of COVID and the considerations in using such experience and setting a best-estimate assumption going forward. For mortality, the discussion will include both base mortality as well as future mortality improvement and the intersection of both of these.