Description: Economics professor discusses the economics of fair and unfair discrimination in insurance. From the 1988 Record of Society of Actuaries, Vol. 14, No. 4B.

Description: Presented at October 1986 Annual Meeting. Discusses background, product design, NAIC model regulations, New York legislation and regulations, investment considerations, financial reporting, and provides a Canadian overview of MVA products.

Description: The panel at this session of the SOA 2003 Washington, DC Spring Meeting look at the product development process with a focus on improving the success rate for new products and process improvement strategies.

Description: Recently, there has been an increase in the product development of simplified issue products in the United States. In the past two years, Gen Re LifeHealth has reviewed over 40 such products, ranging from vanilla direct-marketed products to high-end single premium immediate annuity SPIA paid universal life products. From Small Talk Newsletter, June 2005, Issue No. 24.

Description: This report is a summary based on current actuarial practices around the development and use of policyholder behavior assumptions including the use of dynamic modeling approaches. The research team surveyed and evaluated current practices in the industry; and highlighted current thinking on modeling human behaviors outside the life insurance industry. This project was sponsored by the SOA’s Financial Reporting Section and the Committee on Life Insurance Research.

Description: In this session, the presenters will discuss implementation challenges with US GAAP Long Duration Targeted Improvements (LDTI) for life and annuity products, and methods and changes to actuarial models their organizations use to overcome the challenges. Presenters will specifically discuss the following topics: The current GAAP reporting framework can create challenges with transparency for annuity insurers. Many annuity insurers report on adjusted earning measures in addition to US GAAP, believing the adjusted measures more accurately reflect earnings. Using a variable annuity framework, presenters will discuss key differences between GAAP and adjusted earnings measures, key challenges and their solutions for LDTI implementation, and the potential for LDTI to reduce the need for adjusted earnings measures and increase transparency. For FAS 60 based life products, insurers need to update and modernize the assumption setting process. Presenters will cover methods and the decision process whether to use existing data or new experience studies to review product experience and set assumptions. There is a lack of clarity and guidance for development and implementation of LDTI in a reinsurance framework. For reinsured life products, LDTI guidance is clear on the direct side of the financial statements, but the guidance is less clear on reinsurance ceded values. Presenters will discuss methods and changes to actuarial financial models that are needed in order to ensure the direct and ceded values are consistent.

Description: This article discusses the proper slope of mortality tables, especially at the high attained ages.

Description: Chairperson’s column describing activities the Product Development section has undertaken to date.

Description: Provide high level summary of predictive modelling.

Description: The rules governing the tax treatment of distributions from life insurance or annuity contracts are complex. Worse, the relevant IRC section, section 72, seems at times to be the product of a conspiracy in restraint of understanding.