Description: Highlights of the 1997 International Underwriting Congress with an in depth discussion of 1 critical illness policies and 2 Use of population data where little insurance data exists.

Description: In this article, the author talks about how the actuarial profession can position itself as the natural choice for complex risk management work.

Description: The world around us keeps changing F.A.S.T. propelling life insurance companies to respond with F.R.E.S.H. product solutions.

Description: British actuary, also a noted financial expert, talks about the way that domestic financial systems are not in equilibrium. He specifically describes some of the underlying financial flows in the system, how those underlying financial flows drive markets responsible for markets either rising or falling, and then the behavior of those markets. Next, he assesses the sentiment of the markets. Last, he talks about what happens when the financial flows and expectations are in the same direction. From the 1988 Record of Society of Actuaries, Vol. 14, No. 3.

Description: This abstract describes a presentation that highlights technological, demographic, cultural, criminal, regulatory, and global market changes that foreshadow threats to marketplace firms’ survival.

Description: In this article, Tze Leong introduces the subject of Takaful (Islamic insurance) to a worldwide audience based on his experiences and observations in Malaysia and its surrounding region. Through this, he shares some reflections that we could apply to the conventional insurance market.

Description: The editor discusses editorial board changes, welcomes new section council members, and mentions highlighted articles in this issue.

Description: The letter from the president features an excerpt of SOA President Mark J. Freedman’s address to members at the 2013 SOA Annual Meeting & Exhibit calling for the profession to embrace international development, seek out new opportunities for growth, and become involved in research and public policy.

Description: Highlights of the SOA international strategy statement, International Committee topics, and other SOA international activities.

Description: Companies operating in international markets have additional issues to consider from a risk management point of view. Fluctuations in exchange rates, political and sovereign risks, regulatory issues, capital management and human resources considerations are among these. This session gives attendees the opportunity to understand how multinationals currently deal with these issues and how they are functionally structured to handle the risk management process. From the Record of the Society of Actuaries, Volume 29, No. 1: Washington, D.C. Spring Meeting, May 29–30, 2003, Session 30PD.