Description: Most actuaries deal with model development at some point in their career. However, very few of us have proper training in programming, software engineering or software shop operations. Explore topics, techniques, and practices from the FinTech and IT industries that can be applied to building robust, high-quality actuarial models. This session will be of particular interest to actuaries engaged in 'in-house' model development, managers of modeling teams, and actuaries interested in software development.

Description: Panelists of this teaching session discuss: [1] policyholder and company behavior and its impact on model and assumptions, [2] model purpose and structure, data collection, and behavior models, and [3] the modeling process, including objectives, considerations, constraints, and validation. Session 10 of the 1996 Valuation Actuary Symposium.

Description: This presentation illustrates a calibration model against 60 years of historical data using a pragmatic mixture of filtering, maximum likelihood and method of moments techniques, and compare the resulting model with interest rates in contemporary economic scenario generators.

Description: This presentation explores the applicability of multiple population versions of the Lee-Carter model in the modelling of mortality by cause of death and socio-economic stratification.

Description: Asset cash flow modeling and asset assumptions are growing in importance with PBR especially considering the low interest rate environment. The Academy’s Life Practice Council and Life Valuation Committee have formed a Low Interest Rate Asset Adequacy Testing Task Force which has conducted an industry survey to raise awareness and summarize the actuarial best practices for financial reporting actuaries practicing in today’s very low interest rate environment. As the scrutiny on the asset side ratchets up, actuaries must consider how best to develop the asset assumptions as well as model the reinvestment and disinvestment strategies. Coherent assumptions and modeling practices across modeling exercises are expected while respecting the purpose of each calculation.

Description: With many complex regulatory changes on the horizon as well as pressures to ensure model accuracy from auditors, regulatory requirements and new actuarial standards of practice, the importance of robust model validation is coming to the forefront of actuaries’ minds. What was previously a day-two task for many companies is becoming just as important as model development! In this session, you will hear from those that have been deeply involved in building model validation frameworks and tools in responses to regulatory changes GAAP Long Duration Targeted Improvements (“LDTI”) and Principles Based Reserves (“PBR”).

Description: The session will feature case study discussion of how insurers can improve their model architecture and data visualization to prepare for the increasing demands of the future. Actuarial data and analysis has long been limited by the complexity and diversity of historical systems. External pressure on insurers is higher than ever before, as new requirements take effect under PBR, GAAP Targeted Improvements, and IFRS17.

Description: The session offers high-level initial steps to get started using R, as well as a list of helpful resources for both general data science and actuarial science with R. Attendees will learn about popular R packages to perform practical tasks such as importing, transforming and visualizing data, as well as packages commonly used by actuaries. You will also be introduced to the markdown package for creating reproducible and reusable analyses and workflows. By the end of the session, you will be familiar enough with using R and RStudio to begin incorporating these tools in your day-to-day work as an actuary

Description: At this session 7OF of the 2004 Valuation Actuary Symposium panelists discuss the conceptual and practical issues of modeling to reflect developing areas, including fair-value and embedded-value measurement, embedded guarantees and stochastically determined capital requirements.

Description: An increasing need exists for the actuary to provide ranges and frequency distributions of possible values instead of providing only mean values. This discussion will cover: projections of asset experience under various economic scenarios, a practical application of profit analysis using scenarios and a deterministic model, exploring possible values by means of stochastic modeling, and a description of the new life contingencies textbook's stochastic approach and application to some practical population and census problems. From Record of the Society of Actuaries 1981, Volume 7, No. 4.