Description: This paper uses operations research to develop the answer to a question concerning the optimal size of a debit, which is a defined geographical area for an agent to sell and service business as part of a 'combination company' operation. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1968, Vol. 20, Pt. 1, No. 57.

Description: This session from the 1983 SOA Spring Meeting discusses distribution systems including alternative and supplementary types of distribution systems.

Description: This session at the SOA 2003 Washington, DC Spring Meeting discusses pricing and product design for sales via the internet from the standpoint of a traditional insurance company and from a totally internet-based company.

Description: This session at the SOA 1998 Maui I Spring Meeting examines some ways in which bancassurance has been implemented by insurers in other countries and prospects in the U.S.

Description: This presentation, session number 53PD, took place at the 2000 Annual Meeting of the Society of Actuaries, held October 15-18 in Chicago. The panelists note that “for several years only a few foreign insurers were permitted to provide life and health insurance in China. In recent years, regulators have been more receptive to the new entry of foreign insurers…” Topics include history of the development of the market, market demographics, including regionalization, types of products, distribution systems, and regulatory requirements for entry and continued operation. Discussion from participants is included. From the Record of the Society of Actuaries, Volume 26, No. 3.

Description: A convergence of forces has obsolesced virtually every element of the traditional paradigm of the U.S. life insurance business - the products sold, who sells them, and how they are sold. This article documents the decline in life insurance ownership and sales, and emerging trends - with the market being bifurcated into service intensive vs. commodity.

Description: This literature guide focuses on the distribution costs, especially the field compensation costs, that are incurred through the traditional general agency, branch office or brokerage structures for individual life, annuity and disability products.

Description: A recap of the first international reinsurance conference to take place in the Dominican Republic.

Description: Presented at June 1985 Spring Meeting. Discusses: participation in strain, United States or international structure, type of stock ownership and tax implications.

Description: Discusses some of the industry dynamics driving change in the industry distribution and compensation systems, the general-agency/career-agent system at MassMutual, the branch-manager and PPGA-like systems at Penn Mutual, and New York's recent letter on agent-owned reinsurance companies. From the 1988 Record of Society of Actuaries, Vol. 14, No. 2.