Description: This paper presents multiple book reviews: Reports from Staff of U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Ways and Means and U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, Reports in Connection with Social Security Legislation 1975-77, 'Statement on Cost Comparisons of Individual Life Insurance Policies', by Canadian Institute of Actuaries, 'Investment Activities of Life Insurance Companies' from Huebner Foundation Lectures, 'The Life Insurance Industry's Marketing Dilemma' by Johns, 'The Future of Social Security' by Munnell, 'Social Security - Today and Tomorrow' by Ball, 'Mortality Table Construction' by Batten, 'Mortality Table Construction' by Batten, 'The Crisis in Social Security - Problems and Prospects' by Boskin, 'A History of Interest Rates' by Homer, 'Indexation of Pensions and Other Benefits' by Robert Myers, 'Life Insurance Accounting' by Strain, '1978 Annual Report of the Board of Trustees of the Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund...' by US Congress. Brief summaries of additional readings are also included.

Description: This report examines mortality and other actuarial assumptions for products sold at older ages.

Description: Insurers are struggling to keep pace with rapidly changing economic conditions, customer needs and regulation. We at Oliver Wyman believe there is an opportunity for many insurers to generate more customer value and fuel their growth by rethinking their approach to Product Development.

Description: This paper describes a method of comparing net costs of dissimilar life insurance contracts. The principles are consistent with those of the interest-adjusted method recommended by the Moorhead committee. The significance of the results, possible applications of the method, and some concerns and conclusions are discussed.

Description: A discussion of the need to search for alternative mortality tables other than the 1975- 80 and 1990-95 tables to use as the base table, which may be more appropriate for a particular company or specific products.

Description: This paper presents a generalized profits released model which resolves the difficulties of the traditional analysis posed by products that have fluctuating profits and losses over time or have no initial investment. Discussions of the paper are included.

Description: Discusses how competitive pressures are dramatically altering the distribution process for life insurance. Product pricing and client service are cornerstones in the changes to distribution.

Description: These are responses to Richard Ziock's work, Gross Premiums for Term Insurance with Varying Benefits and Premiums.

Description: Gross premium calculation methods may be arbitrarily separated into: a- Type 1 methods those which initially have commissions and other per cent of premium expenses in the denominator and b- Type 2 methods those which initially have commissions and other per cent of premium expenses in the numerator. The traditional Type 1 methods directly calculate the gross premium. The purpose of this paper is: 1. to present a Type 1 method of gross premium calculation which does the following: a Incorporates the cost of reinsurance into the gross premium calculation and may be shown as a level annual cost over the gross premium calculation period. b Calculates the effect on profit margins of a change in the retention limit without redoing the original calculation. c Calculates the premiums needed to break even e.g., amortize the initial investment in surplus at the end of each policy year as a by-product. d Calculates the profit or loss generated in each policy year or over any number of policy years for any gross premium without redoing the original calculation or first using a trial gross premium. e Directly solves for the gross premium that will produce any specified profit over any number of policy years without redoing the original calculation or first using a trial gross premium. f Directly solves for the premium that will produce a specified yield on surplus invested in new business by a flexible technique not first involving the use of the renewal net premium or any other preliminary gross premium. 2. to provide a mathematical definition of a financially meaningful average policy size which recognizes the cost of reinsurance. 3. to provide for mathematical definitions of common measures of profit, and the mathematical relationships between them. 4. To establish formulas expressing the effect of changes in various assumptions used in the gross premium calculation as a lev

Description: This article discusses challenges in innovation, governance, and balancing the tension that naturally arises between them. Company culture is often a driver of success or failure in innovation. This article outlines a new dynamic to address this challenge.