Description: This is the second part of a 2 part series on Real options analysis (ROA). This article looks into the limitations of using financial option theory when doing real options analysis with projects that are long-dated and uncertain, such as: 1. First-degree homogeneity, 2. Uncertainty must derive from Brownian motion, and 3. Risk neutrality.

Description: New digital data known as alternative data is everywhere. Our industry has seen the financial, and hi-tech industries leverage new digital data to expand their key offerings and core services. From the lens of the global life and health industry, new digital data is still searching to be further understood. Risk assessment is a current focus area for using alternative data. A key question is even though risk assessment has always been data-driven, can it now move to the next level with the arrival of this alternative data. Can we use alternative data to make the risk assessment process quicker, cheaper, or faster thereby driving more sales and better conversion rates. It is an exciting time! With the increased adoption of health and well-being apps, data such as physical activity, nutrition, sleep, and mental wellness is now readily available. Expanded data such as digital biomarkers, IoT data, electronic health records and many more can also be accessed. However, how to effectively implement alternative data remains a challenge across the industry. We firmly believe it is, and will continue to be, imperative to take a structured approach to alternative data through a set of key considerations and a framework of principles.

Description: 1993 SOA Meeting, Quebec. This session is about how reinsurers are adapting to market changes. Topics included: 1. How reinsurers are adapting to changes driving direct writers. 2. Is gIobalization of reinsurance having a major effect? 3. In what ways has the reinsurance industry changed over the years and in what ways has it not changed?

Description: The SOA analyzed Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI) claims data from 2009 – 2015 to better understand cost and utilization trends in the commercial health insurance market.

Description: Universal Life with Secondary Guarantees (ULSG) was first introduced in the late 1990's as low-cost, long-term death benefit protection. As this business ages, writers are experiencing pressured earnings from emerging experience, secondary markets for insurance products and low interest rates. In response, writers are sharpening their pencils on experience analysis and risk management with an eye for opportunities to increase the performance of their blocks.

Description: Ensuring employees retire with adequate benefits is an ever-growing challenge. During this webcast, we will highlight key insights from the fields of behavioral economics and data analytics that can be utilized to better equip employees for retirement. Areas of focus will include inherent biases that people exhibit and how employers can use these biases to design plan features that will nudge their employees towards making better decisions for their futures.

Description: The mismatch between how interest rate impacts the value of assets and liabilities could have material negative impact to companies’ earnings and surplus. To quantify and mitigate the impact of such mismatches, companies have used matching a combination of duration and convexity. I will review these measurement techniques and their limitations.

Description: In today’s market of post-pandemic consolidation and org chart streamlining, we’ve observed significant changes to actuarial career development and advancement opportunities. But, those changes aren’t occurring in equal measures across the arc of the actuarial career. Our focus is on the impact felt by experienced reinsurance actuaries.

Description: As a follow-up to a previous five-part series on accounting for ceded reinsurance under LDTI, this article focuses on one issue that has, until now, been left without a general solution—how to measure the reinsured portion of a direct loss from capping a net premium ratio or flooring a liability. After acknowledging limited guidance on the issue, the article describes the various events that can lead to a loss, how reinsurance protects against loss, and how that is translated into formulas for measuring the reinsured portion of a loss.

Description: Learn about key actuarial and analytic tools and methodologies used by commercial health insurance to identify and quantify drivers of healthcare cost and utilization (including wasteful and low-value ones) and risks. Use case scenarios in which these tools and methodologies apply, such as underwriting, reinsurance, medical management for population health and chronic diseases, managed care contracting, insurance market reform, provider payment reform, etc., will also be covered. Experience from the U.S., China and other parts of the world will be shared.