Description: This session from the 1981 SOA Spring Meeting concerns the relationship of product design and investment philosophy in light of the high interest rate environment and increased lapsation. Topics discussed were changes in the maturity of debt instruments, how withdrawals provisions affect product pricing, allocating specific classes of assets to product lines and surplus objectives resulting from the matching of assets and liabilities. From Record of Society of Actuaries, Vol. 7, No. 3.

Description: This presentation is from session number 25, presented at the 1999 Valuation Actuary Symposium, held September 23-24 in Los Angeles. The panelists discuss Actuarial Guideline XXXIV, which was effective year-end 1998 and addresses reserving for minimum guaranteed death benefits associated with variable annuities, including the requirements of Actuarial Guideline XXXIII. Companies are now offering other guaranteed benefits such as guaranteed living benefits, and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners [NAIC] and the American Academy of Actuaries are working to address reserving for these benefits. The panelists describe the minimum guaranteed benefits in the marketplace and the risks associated with them. Current reserving practices and the latest NAIC and Academy developments are discussed. Discussion from participants is included.

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 the 1960 Transactions Vol. 12 No. 32, this ‘Digest of Informal Discussion’ discusses the advantages and disadvantages of granting cash withdrawal rights to large pension policyholders, and discusses different provisions.

Description: What are the possible future implications to insurance companies of significant improvements in mortality? How can futurism techniques be used in research? The formation of the mortality improvement study group at the Principal Financial Group was the first step toward examining the issue of mortality improvement. In an interactive format, we will present what we learned about mortality and futurism techniques by participating in this group.

Description: This presentation highlights the use of analytics for accelerated underwriting in the U.S. Life Insurance industry.

Description: Economics professor discusses the economics of fair and unfair discrimination in insurance. From the 1988 Record of Society of Actuaries, Vol. 14, No. 4B.

Description: This discussion looks at the preparation of the annual statement on a new form, the difficulties of meeting the requirement to report both incurred and cash entries, the problems which have arisen as result of the requirement that net capital gain or loss be split between realized and unrealized, and the effect the continued requirement of a Security Valuation Reserve prescribed by the NAIC will have on matters such as dividend apportionment and reserve strengthening.

Description: This discussion looks at principles which should govern the determination of the respective proportions of earnings to be allocated to policyholders and stockholders, the level of contingency reserves and surplus which should be maintained, and looks at the extent to which the mandatory Security Valuation Reserve should affect the level of unassigned surplus.

Description: This presentation is an open forum, session 58OF, from the 2004 Spring Meeting of the Society of Actuaries, held June 14-15 in San Antonio, TX. The panelists present both theoretical and practical perspectives of the role of assumed asset returns and credit spreads in determining the fair value of policyholder liabilities. They cover financial economics, how other financial service companies value liabilities, what factors go into determining an appropriate discount rate for insurance liabilities, and issues currently being debated by the International Accounting Standards Board [IASB], and the Financial Accounting Standards Board [FASB]. Discussion from participants is included. From the Record of Society of Actuaries, Volume 30, No. 2.