Description: In this mortgage crisis, it appears mortgage brokers and mortgage originating bankers were similar to unchecked MGAs. These brokers and banks had an incentive to produce mortgages that would generate fees for them. Those mortgagees would then be sold to investors, generating additional fees – but it appears there were often no incentives to align the interests of those mortgage producers with the purchasers of these mortgages. The brokers and banks “did not have any skin in the game.”

Description: This crisis first started with subprime loans and quickly morphed into a credit crisis that eventually engulfed a lot of financial institutions around the world. If a AAA were really a AAA, this crisis would probably have been contained and localized. As the crisis developed, evidence emerged from the shadows that revealed the questionable quality of some AAA-rated MBS or ABS. Subprime loans were the weakest link. As the credit boom came to an end and the economy slowed down further, the Alt-A, prime and credit card loans were also affected. The subprime crisis is only the symptom of a much larger underlying problem. Both consumers and corporations were overleveraged.

Description: This document is a call for essays issued by the Society of Actuaries Research Institute. It seeks submissions that explore the impact of Artificial Intelligence/Large Language Models on retirement professionals and retirees. The document provides background information, research objectives, and a list of illustrative topics and questions that the essays can address. The submission guidelines, timeline, and evaluation criteria are also outlined.

Description: The present crisis in global financial markets has created an impression that enterprise risk management ERM has failed broadly to protect the safety and soundness of the financial system as well as that of many institutions, including insurance companies.

Description: This document is a call for essays issued by the Society of Actuaries Research Institute. It seeks submissions that explore the impact of Artificial Intelligence/Large Language Models on retirement professionals and retirees. The document provides background information, research objectives, and a list of illustrative topics and questions that the essays can address. The submission guidelines, timeline, and evaluation criteria are also outlined.

Description: The upside of the downturn is that these powerful, influential, connected and important, yet incompetent people can be removed from their positions. To quote a great insight of Ayn Rand: “There is no substitute for competence.”

Description: Three drivers that are often not at the top of lists about the origins of the crisis: a At some level, every entity that handles risks should be assessing what would happen if they ended up owning the risk that they thought they would only have temporarily b The change in the real estate market that was driven by the non-marginal amount of new subprime buyers who came into the market and c Risk managers should always be aware that marginal analysis can produce incorrect results.

Description: The Society of Actuaries’ Aging and Retirement Strategic Research Program is pleased to release a collection of essays in response to a call for essays exploring ideas and thoughts on working in retirement and phased retirement programs.

Description: Essay submission on impact of COVID-19 on Senior Housing and Support.