Description: Since the last installment of the biennial WTW North America Life Insurance Pricing Methodology Survey in 2018, the market has been coming to terms with the prospect of “lower for even longer” interest rates and been confronted with the economic and social impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. This article examines what effects these and market-specific factors have had on profit targets and pricing and reserving strategy. The survey looked at the profit objectives and assumptions used in pricing 2020 new issues of individual life and annuity products, with a focus on past practices, not future plans.

Description: A discussion of how patents can be used to recover the cost of innovation in product development and operations

Description: Article Description * “Agile” development is all the buzz in the IT world. You may have heard your IT teams talk about scrums, sprints, and the war room and wondered if they were playing a strange new sport. Or perhaps you are already applying agile techniques in your product development. This article will discuss what agile methodology is, pros and cons, and how you might apply it to insurance product development.

Description: This paper will show that the result of using the 1975-80 select/ultimate table, as opposed to the more modern 1990-95 select/ultimate table, can be a significant understatement of future mortality and hence anticipated profits may prove to be illusory.

Description: This article describes services of a reinsurance intermediary and the use of reinsurance to meet financial objectives.

Description: An interview with Joe Gilmour to share his views on the future innovations in underwriting that will help grow the individual life insurance business.

Description: The need for the rapid evolution, or maybe a revolution, of the Insurance business platform is a necessity in the new economy. The key drivers are technology combined with rapid improvements in customer experience, or more accurately the expectations of the customer’s experience. For Insurers that have begun the transformation to a digital business they will recognize the opportunity to take advantage of their head-start with a platform business, while others will see the evolution as an opportunity to “leap frog” into the digital business leadership.

Description: Impact of low and negative interest rates on various aspects of insurer operations including product management, investment management and capital management.

Description: A high-level overview of the recent release of the update to the illustration practice notes, or IPNs.

Description: Description of the mathematics involved when looking at low probability events within a company from the perspective of the C-Suite. The accumulation of small probability events leads to a much higher probability of at least one of them happening in a given period.