Description: This is a summary of the presentation given during the ARC Conference. Its purpose was to give a brief introduction to subexponential behavior and to show that the family of subexponential distributions provides ideal characteristics to model insurance risks. Although the literature related to this topic accumulated quickly during the last years, a textbook explaining the applications of extreme value theory with intuition as well as insight was still to be written. Embrechts et al, {I 997} satisfies this need and most of the results presented here can be found in this new classic in the actuarial literature.

Description: A discussion of how much risk public pension plans should take on.

Description: Readers are given an introduction to a PBA Implementation Guide for Life Products.

Description: This article discusses risk transfer and how difficult it is to define and describe. For actuaries, the challenge is to develop an analytical framework under which the presence of insurance risk can be identified and assessed.

Description: Panel discussion focused on the Effective Use of Capital. Topics included: 1. Definition of capital 2. Appropriate level of capital and surplus in a life insurance company 3. Alternatives for deploying capital 4. Returns a life company should demand on invested capital 5. How much a company should charge for lending its capital in reinsurance transactions

Description: From a session at the 2001 Valuation Actuary Symposium, held in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, November 29-30, 2001 Panel discussion overview of current risk-based capital RBC requirements of life insurers, as well as insight into topical issues and potential changes to RBC. Items covered include: • Recap of RBC law and RBC calculation rules • Tax impact on the factors • Common stock issue • C-3 testing • Proposed C-3 testing for Variable Annuity Guaranteed Living Benefits VAGLB • Liquidity risk issue

Description: This paper shows how discrete multivariate analysis or multidimensional contingency table methods may be applied to data arising in actuarial work. A brief introduction to the theory is followed by two detailed examples of its application. Finally, the concluding remarks indicate how the procedure could be incorporated into a complete rate-making procedure. This work was performed for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Description: In 1993, the Chicago Board of Trade introduced a futures contract on a financial index that reflects the insurance claims emerging from catastrophes in a portfolio of policies. This article presents a valuation formula for the contract, under the assumption that catastrophes emerge as a Poisson process over time and that the claims from each catastrophe emerge as a Compound Poisson process. The formula is developed by taking conditional expectations with respect to a history of information that includes knowledge about the time of the catastrophes.

Description: This paper deals with how the credibility levels change based on this lack knowledge. Group insuraace models are used, bill some of tile techniques could apply to any insurance risk.

Description: Panelists discuss portfolio restructuring, use of reinsurance to restructure liabilities and in other ways, hedging strategies, and product-mix strategies. From the 1987 Record of Society of Actuaries, Vol. 13, No. 3.