Description: Two breakout sessions were held. Their goal was to explore ways in which researchers and practitioners could be brought closer together. The following summaries were edited by Stuart Klugman from notes taken by the indicated participants: Session #1 - Bridging the gap with regard to modality and morbidity and Session #2 - Bridging the gap with regard to financial modeling.

Description: Commentary on practical observations resulting from constructing and running Economic Capital models. Possible standardization of assumptions and result interpretation are morphing even though use of E.C. models has now been around for years.

Description: This article is the first installment of a three-part series that aims to provide an overview of ESGs and will focus on the general motivation for stochastic modeling, its advantages and its limitations. Future articles will further break down the key factors of ESGs and the application of these factors to better understand the Academy Interest Rate Generator (AIRG).

Description: Discussion of Capital Market Modeling techniques

Description: Results of an industry survey on life insurance companies' efforts to implement the recently adopted Life Risk-Based Capital Phase II Instructions, which include new requirements for variable annuity contracts. Adopted by the NAIC on October 14, 2005, the new requirements are effective for year-end 2005. Also discusses a summary of the requirements set forth in the instructions.

Description: This work investigates the use of a statistical approach to calculate the incurred but not reported IBNR reserve directly. This allows for the reserve to be estimated in one step, without completion factors, and it provides a confidence interval around the estimate of IBNR as well.

Description: The behavior of extreme paths in the usual stochastic interest rate models is not nearly so plausible as the behavior of their expected values and variances. This paper proposes a new class of models that deliver more plausible extreme paths while preserving the usual expected value and variance behavior. Along the way we derive the closed form solution for the traditional mean-reverting lognormal process, including the drift compensation.

Description: This paper proposes a model for the incurred but not reported - IBNR- claims of an insurance company. This model will be fit to third party automobile bodily injury claims for which the months and years of occurrence of the accident are available. From the Actuarial Research Clearing House 1990 VOL. 1

Description: Feature article describing the latest developments with the International Accounting Standards Board and the Financial Accounting Standards Board.

Description: This panel discussion considers some of the approaches, techniques and problems in the development of corporate models and assumptions. The pros and cons of buying versus developing models was discussed and the use of deterministic versus stochastic models was addressed as well.