Description: The article introduces a cashflow matching strategic asset allocation (SAA) framework for life insurers. Given the recent shift to higher interest rates after two decades of persistent low interest rates, insurers have an opportunity to enhance their asset liability management by rebalancing asset portfolios to narrow duration gaps and attain higher risk-adjusted yields. The framework aims to align investment objectives with economic, regulatory, and rating agency requirements. It prioritizes cashflow matching as the primary optimization goal and incorporates security-level asset information to assist portfolio managers in executing SAA seamlessly. The article highlights the benefits of the cashflow matching SAA framework, including greater attention to cashflow matching, unbiased results, readily executable strategies, and stable economic reserves. A case study is included to demonstrate the effectiveness of the framework in improving risk-adjusted return and cashflow matching for a representative liability block.

Description: The first of two parts of a panel discussion, by conference call, on the the evolution of Enterprise Risk Management at life insurance companies, and actuaries' roles in that evolution.

Description: Most of our standard risk management processes are designed to work well within a shifting environment that stays fundamentally the same over time. We are likely to experience something drastically different starting soon - a major regime change. This webinar addresses how we might react to such turbulent times both to survive current issues and prepare to thrive in a new future. Participants will learn how scenario planning can be used to help envision a way forward. A case study will look at the ways that this regime change might affect our cities, how that could affect insurers and how both cities and insurers can approach the transition period as well as plotting a course for the future regime.

Description: There is value in a framework that allows a smooth transition from a qualitative assessment to a quantitative analysis as entities mature in their understanding of climate risk. In this webcast, a case study on climate change's impact on home prices, a topic the SOA published research on, will be discussed along with other perspectives. The goal of this webcast will be for attendees to takeaway knowledge and tools to begin to move toward quantitative assessments in their own fields of practice.

Description: Scenario generators used in financial models to quantify risk are sometimes described as being as either “real-world” or “risk-neutral”. The difference is in the treatment of the market price of risk. This report explores the relationship between real-world and risk-neutral scenarios and when it is appropriate to use each type.

Description: Where once an insurer's chief investment officer (CIO) reigned supreme over assets-aided and sometimes hindered by the involvement of a chief risk officer (CRO)-these days managing portfolio risk and return seems to be an altogether more complex affair. No less of this complexity has come from the expansion by insurers into illiquid assets in the last decade. Moving away from traditional assets has raised scrutiny of liquidity risk management, but how do insurers tackle this? In a world 'brimming with large and growing portfolio allocations to illiquid private assets,' liquidity management concerns are distinct from a typical CRO's portfolio or asset risk orientation. There's a need to look at all aspects of a fund's liquidity demands and sources, such as top-down asset allocation, bottom-up private market deal-making activities, and internal and external operations. A dedicated liquidity management function should also be able to identify both explicit and potential liquidity demands and sources and, in particular, stay in touch with market movements and the regulatory environment. It should identify, evaluate and keep at-the-ready possible external liquidity facilities-for example, the secondary market for private equity stakes, a collateralized portfolio liquidity line, a repurchase agreement or a futures program. A high-quality liquidity management team can also identify when a fund has too much liquidity, the cost of being overly cautious and how to put excess liquidity to work.

Description: The world of climate risk disclosures has seen dizzying levels of change in the last few years. In 2023, many regulators have publicly issued guidance on what insurance companies and other FIs should look to disclose. So what are we seeing in these disclosures and how do we use this information? Join our panel of experts to learn about the evolution of U.S. life insurance industry's climate disclosures and how insurers of all sizes and complexities are responding to NAIC's requirements.

Description: With seemingly unending demands on life & annuity companies for more intense and complex calculations, as well as greater sophistication around analytics, and all of this done at speed, never before has it been so important to seek out maximum efficiency in constructing models. In this session the panelists examine how the combination of various model efficiency approaches, pulling in many different facets of modeling and making it flexible enough to dial up or down various modeling components, can bring about incredible results. Not only does it become possible to produce and expand upon financial risk metrics via a building block approach, but also enables life insurers to produce analytics and dashboards to support strategic decisions that were simply not possible or cost effectively viable before.

Description: The working life of actuaries has become faster paced, more complex, and potentially more volatile than in any previous period in the history of the profession. Furthermore, actuaries are increasingly being asked to expand their roles into areas that lie beyond the traditional space associated with the actuarial profession. As a result, actuaries are increasingly finding themselves faced with professional and ethical dilemmas for which there is little precedent to rely for guidance. Take part in a guided discussion about three real-world case studies where actuaries were required to make difficult decisions. We will see how by remaining calm and leaning on the ASOPs, actuaries were able to navigate professional and ethical pitfalls despite pressure from key stakeholders. Each case study will highlight actuaries working in different areas within the industry. Some examples may include: - Case study 1: An actuary working for a direct insurer finds a last-minute error during a busy production cycle. - Case study 2: An actuary working for a reinsurer finds themselves under pressure to apply an unrealistic assumption. - Case study 3: An actuarial consultant is under pressure from a non-actuarial client to perform work in a way that would not comply with actuarial standards. By attending the session, you will: - Understand how to lean on the ASOPs to keep cool during stressful situations. - Manage deadlines and expectations. - Balance risk and reward, and remain true professionals, no matter how hot the fire.

Description: ClubVita Session Series Buyouts and indemnity swaps remove all the longevity risk from an underlying population. However, they can be difficult to unwind and are not very flexible or widely tradable. Explore the characteristics and product structures of indexed based longevity swaps, demonstrating how they can cover any term, how they hedge the key component of trend risk and how, with new technology developments, they could lead to a liquid market.