Description: The Society of Actuaries Strategic Research Program Steering Committee is pleased to release this report examining how well people estimate their own life expectancy.

Description: The purpose of this paper was to examine the job and compensation of the ordinary life insurance agent in relation to commissions and expense regulation and to examine how well the industry responds to customer needs, and consider how the system might be changed. The paper establishes some criteria for evaluating appropriateness of systems of both agent compensation and expense regulation. The paper is followed by submitted discussion papers

Description: Discusses highlights of the recent survey sent to all 9,435 active Canadian and U.S. members of the SOA.

Description: In a well-designed enterprise risk management (ERM) program, the firm integrates risk management into the strategic planning process, addressing strategic risk, financial risk, operational risk and hazard risk under a single overarching process. This is particularly important to large financial firms, such as property and casualty (P&C) insurers, which face a diverse set of risks. In contrast to previous studies that document a significant product line and geographic diversification discount relative to more focused competitors, our analysis suggests that firms with effective ERM programs exhibit a performance premium. Using the Standard and Poor’s (S&P) ERM ratings from 2006 to 2012, we find that product line diversification has a significant positive effect on value for more diversified firms with well-implemented ERM programs, as compared to those with weak ERM.

Description: This report details a study of the 2000-2015 group life waiver of premium experience

Description: An overview of the retirement schemes across various Asia markets, looking at each of the 5 pillars of the retirement model. As a result of ageing workforce and increasing life expectancy, retirement savings gap is becoming a major social issue for many countries. An effective retirement systems require all stakeholders including the government, employers, retirement services providers and individuals to understand the risks involved, their roles and responsibilities, and to commit to do their part in tackling the retirement savings gap issue. This presentation will point out where improvements can be made from each stakeholder's perspectives, with a focus on the Asia markets which contain a mix of some of the most populous countries in the world and countries with very small population, developed economies as well as emerging markets, young and old labor force, and finally different cultures, all of which affects how people view and prepare for retirement.

Description: A critical step in valuing a company for the purpose of financial reporting is the computation of the market value of economic surplus (MVES). This article provides a novel approach to the valuation of MVES that is stable and reasonably immune to “market noise.” Current approaches to the calculation of economic surplus of an insurance company generally define such surplus as the market value of the assets (MVA) supporting the liabilities less the market value of liabilities (MVL). While MVA is observable in the market, MVL is typically computed directly, without regard to the underlying supporting assets. Subtracting MVL from any value of assets that changes with market movements results in an unstable surplus. Consequently, a surplus that is not fully reflective of market sentiment has been rejected by many. This same approach is further used in the calculation of market consistent embedded value (MCEV) when a balance sheet approach is used .

Description: Mr. Rallis will discuss trends in the market for risk transfer of defined benefit plans in the US. He will also address implications of increasing longevity.

Description: This is one of a series of SOA-sponsored papers on the subject of Evaluating the Results of Care Management Interventions. This paper addresses the theory of measurement design and provides a practical evaluation of the most common designs for the practitioner.

Description: This is the first report in a series on the current state and future opportunity of the retirement market in China. This report, edition one of the series, summarizes the significant outcomes from the study. Also included in this edition is a retirement forecast outlining the drivers of change for China’s retirement market and the resulting opportunities.