Description: Read the August 2018 issue of Risk Management published by the Joint Risk Management Section. Newsletters provide practical information for the working actuary, articles on trends that impact sections and news about section activities.

Description: The article explores the possibility of using the emerging technology for life insurers to build a monitor system for better risk and profitability management.

Description: April 2018 issue of The Modeling Platform by the Modeling Section. Practical information for actuaries, trends that impact section, section activities.

Description: Tools that should be in place to support a validation program and covers a case study of a validation of an Actuarial Guideline 43 (AG43) model.

Description: Read the French language version of the March 2018 issue of Risk Management published by the Joint Risk Management Section. Newsletters provide practical information for the working actuary, articles on trends that impact sections and news about section activities.

Description: Read the March 2018 issue of Risk Management published by the Joint Risk Management Section. Newsletters provide practical information for the working actuary, articles on trends that impact sections and news about section activities.

Description: Describes using the new multi-risk scenario generator to create sensitivity tests at moderately adverse probability levels, resulting in margins to use for PBR.

Description: How can actuaries tailor their work to a target audience? This article explores success stories and key considerations when preparing work for others.

Description: How do combo products fit in the new statutory valuation framework?

Description: The standard for measuring retirement income adequacy has been the final earnings replacement rate (usually targeted at 70%). But - does it work?

Description: A listing of the 2016 modeling-related sessions and webcasts from the SOA. Most meeting session recordings are available for free to SOA members.

Description: Read the April 2017 issue of The Modeling Platform published by the Modeling Section. Newsletters provide practical information for the working actuary, articles on trends that impact sections and news about section activities.

Description: A discussion of areas of AAT where the Actuary uses a considerable degree of discretion and judgment and guidance is limited.

Description: This article walks through the process of building a cluster model using off-the-shelf software.

Description: This article is the first installment of a three-part series and is focused on providing an overview of LTC modeling approaches and considerations.

Description: A brief overview of modeling bonds and mortgages

Description: Insurance regulations are undergoing a paradigm shift in determining capital and reserves. With Solvency II in Europe and principle-based reserving in the United States, the old formula-based static approach is being replaced or supplemented by a principle-based dynamic method. This change requires enhanced modeling, stochastic simulation and sensitivity analysis, which pose challenges to insurers whose infrastructure has not been built for big computation. This paper introduces a method of building complicated models with small reusable modules and running them on a many-task computing platform to achieve high performance with simplicity. The paper presents an example of a term life insurance model built to take advantage of computer hardware for parallel computing at the task level.

Description: Insurance regulations are undergoing a paradigm shift in determining capital and reserves. With Solvency II in Europe and principle-based reserving in the United States, the old formula-based static approach is being replaced or supplemented by a principle-based dynamic method. This change requires enhanced modeling, stochastic simulation and sensitivity analysis, which pose challenges to insurers whose infrastructure has not been built for big computation. This paper introduces a method of building complicated models with small reusable modules and running them on a many-task computing platform to achieve high performance with simplicity. The paper presents an example of a term life insurance model built to take advantage of computer hardware for parallel computing at the task level.

Description: Read the August 2016 issue of Risk Management published by the Joint Risk Management Section. Newsletters provide practical information for the working actuary, articles on trends that impact sections and news about section activities.

Description: Read the July 2016 issue of Product Matters!

Description: On October 30, 2015, the SOA Assumption Development and Governance Group, an informal discussion group consisting of nearly 200 interested actuaries with topics pertaining to actuarial assumption development and governance, organized an industry discussion call on end-to-end assumption documentation practices. The purpose of this call was to generate a large list of ideas for best-practice assumption documentation. More than thirty companies were represented in the call, including direct insurers, reinsurers and consulting firms. This article is the work product of the discussion written by Laurie Li and Alex Zaidlin.

Description: Six years after the global financial crisis, the reshaped contours of the market for the life insurance industry are coming into focus.

Description: The article explores impact of resetting cap vs static cap choice for the GLWB rider for a Fixed Index Annuity for a Point to Point. Moreover, analysis of a Monthly Sum Cap is provided showing impacts of particular choices of market models (e.g. Black, Heston, Bates) used to price this deal.

Description: On October 30, 2015, the SOA Assumption Development and Governance Group, an informal discussion group consisting of nearly 200 interested actuaries with topics pertaining to actuarial assumption development and governance, organized an industry discussion call on end-to-end assumption documentation practices. The purpose of this call was to generate a large list of ideas for best-practice assumption documentation. More than thirty companies were represented in the call, including direct insurers, reinsurers and consulting firms. This article is the work product of the discussion written by Laurie Li and Alex Zaidlin.

Description: February 2016 issue of Product Matters!

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: Health Watch, Issue 79, December 2015, Health Watch

Description: The next evolution of actuarial systems in the U.S. will likely be a move toward a single system solution. This article defines a single system solution and illustrates how models can be shared across actuarial functions, the potential benefits of a single system solution, and describes potential mitigation strategies to address typical actuarial concerns.

Description: Looks at free and inexpensive resources for the novice in predictive analytics, covering the data analysis theory as well as the most commonly used languages/software used in the field.

Description: After a summary of FASB decisions in their GAAP Targeted Improvements project, this article describes several issues that will need to be resolved either by the board or in actuarial practice and argues for seeking solutions that provide meaningful results without overly complicating valuation processes.

Description: How predictive analytics techniques can be used in the health practice.

Description: The article focuses on the use of predictive analytics in the development of experience studies, pros and cons of using predictive analytics versus traditional techniques, and the implications for setting assumptions and improving profitability.

Description: In physics and engineering education, Fermi problems require solutions based on good approximate calculations with little or no actual data, involving making justified guesses and deducing bounds without using sophisticated tools. The idea of Fermi problems are of particular relevance to today's actuaries, as pricing, reserving, and financial reporting involve more and more complex stochastic components. The paper discusses some approximate solutions developed in academia in the spirit of Fermi problems.

Description: The author delves into other important parts that should be in the scope of model validation besides the code.

Description: In the summer of 2012 the SIC decided the time was right to find out what current practices were with respect to Asset Adequacy Testing. This article summarizes the survey process and results obtained. The purpose of the survey was twofold: first, to educate actuaries prior to year-end work about current AOMR practice reflecting changes since the American Academy of Actuaries’ (AAA’s) 2004 Practice Note had been issued; secondly, to provide enough information such that an update of that practice note could be done should the AAA decide a revision to the note was desired.

Description: A risk map is an effective and dynamic tool in helping companies develop a broader view of their risks.

Description: Members of the American Academy of Actuaries’ Solvency Committee have put together an acronym reference chart. This handy guide can be folded up to fit in your wallet and quickly reviewed so you can fearlessly enter an elevator.

Description: Information about a social insurance modeling mini-seminar at the SOA’s 2010 Annual Meeting

Description: Discusses methods to efficiently run stochastic models in light of AG 43.

Description: A discussion of insurance claims processing and payment systems, and how to achieve the minimum possible number of errors.

Description: Feature article from the newsletter Product Matters discussing variable annuities and principle-based approaches to reserve and capital requirements.

Description: Shows why predictive modeling should be a necessary tool for the life actuary, identifies examples of various limitations in traditional mortality experience analyses, and also posits various predictive modeling techniques as a means of avoiding these constraints.

Description: The author has gathered a variety of resources, general theories, and specific practices concerning spreadsheet errors and their avoidance.

Description: NewsDirect article that discusses the benefits of automating the underwriting process. Underwriting speed, the east of case submission and sales support stand out as the most important factors.

Description: Discusses the shrinkage of pension benefits in Britain and the mortality and interest rate risk in British pension plans.

Description: The purpose of this discussion is to introduce a few additional points and discuss how different assumptions will alter the results in some cases.

Description: This paper analyzes the optimal retention level with a portfolio of insurance risks, and premiums invested in risk-free and risky assets. Optimality is defined here as maximizing expected utility of terminal payout.

Description: In this paper we investigate three investment-consumption problems for a risk averse investor: i an investment only problem that involves utility from only terminal wealth, ii an investment-consumption problem that involves utility from only consumption, and iii an extended investment-consumption problem that involves utility from both consumption and terminal wealth. We model these problems under a multiperiod setup that incorporates three types of uncertainties: the economic environment uncertainty, the asset return uncertainty, and the mortality uncertainty. By using dynamic programming, analytical expressions of the optimal investment consumption strategies to these problems are derived. Some economic implications on these results are also discussed.

Description: This article discusses a simple simulation model that analyzes the implications of using real world assumptions for determining customer behavior when calculating hedge positions to support minimum guarantees for variable annuities. Article from Risk and Rewards, August 2006, Issue No. 8.

Description: ongoing discussion of the proper interest rate to use in discounting liability cash flows to reflect credit risk of the insurer in a fair value accounting system

Description: This article looks at pharmacy benefit management and the use of data, reviews standard pharmacoeconomic analysis methods, and discusses points for formulary decision making and what is known about the process. From Health Section News, March 2005, Issue No. 49.

Description: An Overview of Stochastic Simulation modeling techniques and usages

Description: Discussion of Capital Market Modeling techniques

Description: Incorporating Pended Claims in Medical IBNR Estimates. Issue No. 45.

Description: Measurement of the Volatility Risk of Traditional Actuarial Risks for use in pricing and reserving

Description: This article discusses secondary factors that affect pricing and long-term care claims experience gender, marital status, region, product type, distribution, and education.

Description: Introduction to Private Placement VUL

Description: This articles describes some of the industry issues that new-generation risk modeling technologies can address and the emerging technology of simultion as it applies to risk modeling.

Description: This article summarizes Hubert Mueller's presentation at the SOA's Risk Management Seminar on the risk management of guarantees on equity-oriented products. It discusses 1 the market background, 2 the risk management process and 3 a case study on dynamic hedging.

Description: This article analyzes and confirms the circumstances where a change in the mortality assumption does and does not have a significant impact on pension valuations.

Description: Actuarial appraisal and role of the actuary with regards to Health Insurance Mergers and Acquisitions. Issue No. 40.

Description: Using the Internet as a Pricing Tool clinical background information, defining the change in coverage, collecting data, data quality and data limitations. Issue No. 39.

Description: A discussion of an alternative valuation methodology which addresses many of the shortcomings of the current valuation system for U.S. life and health insurers one of which is the proliferation of undesirable variations in state requirements. Issue No. 37

Description: The article discusses under which conditions it is appropriate to use the true probability distribution or the risk-neutral probability distribution for interest rate scenario generation. It addresses which should be used for valuation purposes and strategy development.

Description: The second part of a two-part Canadian Corner article on Segregated Fund Guarantees. Part I ran in the June 1998 issue of Product Development News.

Description: This article announces the release of a handbook written by the DFCA Task Force for assisting actuaries who are doing Dynamic Financial Condition Analysis.

Description: Summary of Part II of the survey of Appointed Actuaries, sponsored by the American Academy of Actuaries Committee on Life Insurance Financia1 Reporting and the Society of Actuaries Financial Reporting Section, which asked appointed actuary various questions on methodology and assumptions employed for asset adequacy testing.

Description: Review of Fifty-Second Annual Report of the Board of Actuaries of the Civil Service Retirement System. The authors found it to be a concise well written report discussing a number of issues facing all pensions in an inflationary economy. Both the title and the dull format in the usual Government Printing Office style would seem to insure this document's instantaneous consignment to dead storage. However, behind the cover of this small pamphlet is a concise, well written report discussing-a-number of the issues facing not only federal pension programs at the present time, but all pensions in an inflationary economy. For example, several of the 11 pages devoted to the main report discuss the implications of static assumptions ignoring inflation as opposed to dynamic assumptions including inflation.

Description: This is a record of a session at the October 1975 Annual Meeting of the SOA. It discusses what can be done with a corporate model and how it can be used to solve problems. 1975 Record Vol. 1, No 4.

Description: This is a summary of a presentation made at the 1975 SOA annual meeting regarding statutory reserves, contingency reserves and life insurance company surplus.

Description: This presentation was made at the 1975 Spring Cincinnati Joint Meeting of the Conference of Actuaries in Public Practice and Society of Actuaries. It discussed the following: how to choose the best pension assumptions and methods, how to arrive at interest assumptions, and the advantages of cost methods that reflect assumptions about new entrants and other changes in the group. 1975 Record Vol. 1, No. 3

Description: This article summarizes the speech by Lloyd A. Woolridge on pension vs. profit sharing, insured vs. uninsured and individual vs. group in regards to retirement income plans.