Description: Regime switching models have become a popular tool in econometric time series modeling since their introduction in Hamilton [1989].These models have been widely applied for equity-returns for investment guarantees. A prominent risk management challenge is hedging these guarantees, given the equity regime switching process. This presentation develops some methodologies for regime-switching portfolio replication and use real world data to demonstrate and evaluate their effects. A Bayesian approach for regime switching model fitting is used, which allows for the examination of the robustness of each of the optimization methods when parameter uncertainty is present.

Description: This guide lists literature sources that an actuary can use to gain knowledge on investments and asset/liability management. It can be viewed as a preliminary road map for the actuary seeking direction to enhance his or her knowledge in these areas. The emphasis of this guide is on fixed-income securities.

Description: 1998 Valuation Actuary Symposium. The panelists discussed how asset liability management is synonymous with a dynamic financial analysis and quantitative risk management. Topics covered were systems implementations including asset risk exposure optimization given a company-specific set of liabilities and total risk exposure optimization, which includes stochastic analysis of alternative asset and liability strategies.

Description: Panelists discuss: [1] a way to study interest-rate risk using stochastic methods, [2] a conceptual framework needed to evaluate the suitability of an investment strategy for insurance liabilities, and [3] how one company [Capital Holding] develops investment strategies and asset/liability management policies. From the 1988 Record of Society of Actuaries, Vol. 14, No. 2.

Description: This session will provide an overview of recent developments from the perspective of an insurance company and an auditor.

Description: What is the impact of aging populations on economic growth and interest rates?” “Are low interest rates and inflation a short-term phenomenon?” “How will returns from different asset classes be impacted by future demographic trends?” “What are the differences between different countries and regions around the world?”

Description: This article outlines the results of the appointed actuaries survey to gather information on current practices related to asset adequacy analysis performed in 2008 by the Financial Reporting Section Council.

Description: The author discusses the use of genetic algorithms as they apply to actuaries, specifically the application of characteristics and their potential to solve life insurance asset and liability management problems. He also highlights various ways genetic algorithms can be used to solve a variety of actuarial problems.

Description: This session at the SOA 1990 Annual Meeting discusses how rating agencies view asset/liability matching at insurance companies and how it affects the rating process.

Description: Prepared for the Society of Actuaries by STATLAB at the University of Western Ontario, this report contains the results of a cash flow testing, ‘CFT,’ software survey performed in 2004. The results were based on the responses of 110 life insurance companies in the U.S. and Canada. The goal of the survey was to produce a report that will serve as a reference for comparing the available CFT packages and lead to better software and modeling techniques. CFT refers to analysis which is used to support both the Asset Adequacy Analysis for the Actuarial Opinion for U.S. companies, and the ALM Provision for Adverse Deviations in applying the Canadian Asset Liability Method to determine reserves for Canadian companies.