Description: French language version of Risk Management, August 2014 newsletter.

Description: The purpose of the article is to summarize the results and conclusions of the C-1 Risk Task Force Report prepared for the Committee on Valuation and Related Areas. A key question: Is the risk to insurance companies of defaults on junk bonds sufficient to justify increasing required surplus levels?

Description: This session at the SOA 1990 San Francisco Spring Meeting is about asset segmentation, i.e. segmenting assets among lines of business or liabilities, practical issues involved in the process, and how this enhances asset/liability mangement.

Description: New Zealand is about to launch its first variable annuity with guaranteed lifetime withdrawal benefits. The product design is mindful of the lessons from the financial crisis in the United States, Europe and Japan.

Description: This abstract describes a paper that proposes a quantitative framework which jointly considers the endowment spending policy and the asset allocation decision a-la Markowitz.

Description: It is the purpose of this paper to examine the questions of equity, and practicality of refinements in, the methods of allocation of net investment income and gain by line, class or subclass. Discussions of this paper are included.

Description: Complete issue of the August 2014 Risk Management newsletter.

Description: Abstract: A model for analyzing the probability and severity of default of sovereign entities and banks. The methodology analyzes the risks inherent in the investment of debt of sovereign governments and large financial institutions side-by-side, taking into consideration macroeconomic interactions among the sovereign fiscal and monetary authorities, the financial institutions, and the real economy. The signature aspect of the methodology is that it adapts a Merton-style default model to use explicit measures of sovereign assets and asset volatility.

Description: This session is about the methods of projecting long-run stock returns using inflation rates from bond yield curves with incremental returns for risk taking based on historical data and the relationship between concurrent, expected and unexpected inflation rates and the rates of return on common stocks and U.S. government bonds and notes. From Record of Society of Actuaries Vol. 5, No. 4.

Description: First, the presenters will discuss long term asset mix for an insurance company. Many people attempt to find a perfect solution. Unlike tactical calls on the trading floor, a good strategic asset allocation analysis oftentimes requires the understanding the company's liability and a good long term view of the economy. Many challenging issues arise during this analysis: Best method or metric to determine the optimal asset allocation strategy, alignment with risk tolerance, variation for inforce versus new business, asset classes and derivative instruments available and fit into the modeling exercise. We will attempt to answer these questions by comparing a few popular measures in an Efficient Frontier Analysis. Second, the presenters will cover derivative from a practitioner's point of view. Derivatives are perceived as complex, risky investment vehicles from the public. However, derivatives are commonly used in various areas. Hedging is always a common topic in management discussion. Actuaries should keep current on this important topic. We will provide an overview on the current usage of derivatives in insurance companies. They will also touch on how derivatives are used in product development, the ongoing changes in the derivatives regulation and challenges faced by insurance companies from the practitioner's perspective.