Description: This panel discussion is from the 1991 Meeting of the Society of Actuaries, held May 16-17 in New York. The presentation notes that “as reinsurance is used more frequently in major joint ventures and capital raising deals, it comes under increased public scrutiny from regulators, rating agencies and the press. The Federal Government also has been investigating the role of reinsurance in connection with the financial health of insurers.” The panelists' discussion is intended to “help reinsurance actuaries prepare to give testimony and interviews, and to become proactive in explaining the needs and proper uses for reinsurance.”Discussion from participants is included. From the Record of Society of Actuaries, Volume 17, No. 2.

Description: This session from the 1995 SOA Boston Meeting explores reinsurance from the ceding company's perspective including a view from a large, medium and small insurance company. Topics include reasons to reinsure, factors in the reinsurance process, how to select a reinsurer and changes in the process. From the Record of the Society of Actuaries, Vol. 21, No. 4b.

Description: Presented at May 1996 Spring Meeting. This debate centers around what the reinsurance company will look like ten years from now. Discusses the role of traditional reinsurance and assumption reinsurance, effects of Guideline XXX and Regulation 147, effect of improved underwriting, and company structures.

Description: The days of reinsurance treaties bound by a handshake are long gone. Treaties have evolved into complex legal documents. The session will use a recently released study on recapture provisions as a starting point and will expand the discussion to other key treaty provisions. The focus will be on understanding the intentions, concerns and relative positions of both the direct company and the reinsurer so that a mutually beneficial compromise can be explored.

Description: It is well-known that reinsurance can be an effective risk management technique for an insurer. An appropriate use of reinsurance reduces the adverse risk exposure of an insurer and improves the overall viability of the underlying business. The use of reinsurance, on the other hand, incurs additional cost to the insurer in the form of reinsurance premium. This implies that an insurer is faced with a classic tradeoff between risk spreading and risk retaining. The thrust of my research is to propose some reinsurance designs that are optimal from the perspective of an insurer. This presentation describes an empirical approach to optimal reinsurance designs. This new method has the advantage that it does not need to make any explicit assumptions on the distribution of the underling risk. More importantly, it provides a simple and yet practical way of obtaining solution on a wide range of optimal reinsurance models.

Description: This session discussion is about the most current tax issues affecting reinsurance. From Record of the Society of Actuaries Vol. 15, No. 2.

Description: This session from the 1984 SOA Toronto Meeting focuses on reinsurance treaty wording and interpretation with the goal of clearing up as many gray areas as possible. From Record of the Society of Actuaries Vol. 10, No. 4A

Description: This session from the 1995 SOA New York City Meeting examines the structure, cost, risk, volatility, and the use of options for variable annuity guaranteed minimum death benefits. From the Record of the Society of Actuaries, Vol. 21, No. 2.

Description: Panelists at this session of the SOA 1998 Maui I Spring Meeting discuss consolidation in the reinsurance market, including an overview of recent activity, antitrust considerations, effect on direct writers, and post-consolidation integration issues. Use of the Herfindahl Index as a measure of market concentration is discussed.

Description: 2004 SOA Annual Meeting and Exhibit, New York. The panelists addressed fixed annuity regulatory issues with emphasis on the annuity nonforfeiture law, current trends and product design, and how reinsurance can address the conflicting issues of competitiveness and profitability.