Description: U.S. bond markets have undergone dramatic changes due to the 2008 Global Financial Crisis (GFC) and the COVID-19 pandemic. In taking a retrospective view, we can see that bond markets, viewed through the lens of major bond indices, have been evolving for quite some time. Within this paper, TD Asset Management Inc. (TDAM) will explore underlying changes that have occurred within the U.S. Corporate Bond Index, a sub-component of the larger U.S. investment grade bond market, over the past decade. We will highlight key structural changes that have occurred within bond markets and why they are noteworthy

Description: From an interactive forum session at the 2000 Valuation Actuary Symposium held in Washington DC, September 14-15, 2000 This interactive forum addressed the major financial reporting issues and concerns of senior actuaries in life insurance companies.

Description: Impact of low and negative interest rates on various aspects of insurer operations including product management, investment management and capital management.

Description: This article takes a look at how defined benefit (DB) pension plan financials ended the third quarter of 2023 on a solid footing, improving the capacity to take meaningful de-risking actions; as DB plans look to de-risk at reasonable costs, they may find it beneficial to consider a broad range of investment options; and completing a core bond allocation with private credit and income-oriented alternative strategies can help achieve important savings over other frequently pursued de-risking approaches, without materially increasing the funded status volatility or downside risk

Description: New Zealand is about to launch its first variable annuity with guaranteed lifetime withdrawal benefits. The product design is mindful of the lessons from the financial crisis in the United States, Europe and Japan.

Description: From a teaching session at the 2000 Valuation Actuary Symposium held in Washington DC, September 14-15, 2000 Discussion of realistic liability models for use in asset adequacy analysis, asset/liability management, pricing/repricing, financial reporting, or other purposes.

Description: This session from the 1984 SOA Toronto Meeting discusses the problems and possible solutions arising from the matching or mismatching of assets and liabilities, including valuation and regulatory implications, in a Canadian and U.S. context. From Record of the Society of Actuaries Vol. 10, No. 4B

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.

Description: Excerpts from Yee's presentation on the S-Curve reserve for Universal life. The S-Curve represents a distribution of amount of assets needed under 550 scenarios which, together with future premiums, will fund all future policy benefits and expenses. The reserve is a specific point on the Curve.

Description: 1992 SOA Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C. This session discussion was about the performance measurement in a risk/return context, incentive compensation as a tool for achieving effective performance, and return attribution using liability-based performance indices.