Description: Businesses across the board have been drastically impacted by the effects of COVID-19 over the course of 2020, and insurance was not immune. Perhaps most relevant to this industry’s current capital and liquidity concern is the prevailing low interest rate environment. This has been a global trend in the last decade, and treasury rates in much of the developed world are at or near zero. Reduced investment returns limit an insurer’s ability to achieve their desired return on equity, eliminating previously profitable strategies that depended on the leverage of life and annuity balance sheets. Focus and activity have instead shifted to other methods to counteract the low interest rate markets and accompanying capital strain. Examples include increased mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity within the insurance industry and an increasing focus by private equity firms in the insurance market for asset-intensive products, both of which reflect the goal of increasing yield rates on capital.

Description: This article is a response to an article on the same subject in the March 1968 issue of The Actuary. The author notes that the recommendations in the report in question regarding surplus levels are more appropriate for non-life companies.

Description: The Society's Task Force to Study Risk of Loss from Changes in the Interest Rate Environment C-3 Risk Task Force was formed in March 1981 with the charge to quantify C-3 risk. The Task Force made a preliminary report as part of a panel discussion on C-3 risk at the Society's October 1981 meeting in Atlanta. This presentation provides an update on the progress to date and its future plans.

Description: Panel discussion focused on the Effective Use of Capital. Topics included: 1. Definition of capital 2. Appropriate level of capital and surplus in a life insurance company 3. Alternatives for deploying capital 4. Returns a life company should demand on invested capital 5. How much a company should charge for lending its capital in reinsurance transactions

Description: In a recent Society of Actuaries' regional meeting, there was a discussion on an age-old actuarial problem. Within the same company, should the return on equity ROE target vary by profit center depending upon the risk of the profit center? For example, should company management demand a different ROE from the Group Health line than from the Ordinary Life line?

Description: The NAIC Life Risk-Based Capital Working Group has been working on modifications to the C-3 interest rate risk component of the statutory risk-based capital formula. Changes being considered may have a significant impact on the work of the valuation actuary. From the Record of the Society of Actuaries, Vol. 25, No. 3. San Francisco Annual Meeting CA, October 17–20, 1999, Session 33PD.

Description: This paper outlines a framework for managing life insurance company surplus. This framework can be used to assess capital investments, control the amount of capital used, monitor return on capital, and take actions when results deviate. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1986, Vol. 38.

Description: In session 38PD of the San Francisco Annual Meeting panelists discuss the pros and cons of the recent development of securitization in the U.K. life insurance industry, and the applicability of these issues to the North American life and health market. From the Record of the Society of Actuaries, Vol. 25, No. 3.

Description: This article focuses on the motivation and trends, rather than mechanics, in Life Insurance Securitization.

Description: Panel discussion focused on the Effective Use of Capital. Topics included: 1. Definition of capital 2. Appropriate level of capital and surplus in a life insurance company 3. Alternatives for deploying capital 4. Returns a life company should demand on invested capital 5. How much a company should charge for lending its capital in reinsurance transactions