Description: This 2001 article discusses the requirement to assess hedge effectiveness in the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s new statement on derivatives accounting, FAS 133, Accounting for Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities, as critical for qualifying for “special” hedge accounting. The article provides analysis of different approaches and the potential difficulties encountered. This article is reprinted with permission from Derivatives Week.

Description: This article speculates on the presence and magnitude of the benefits attributable to regular rebalancing of one's investment portfolio. It surveys the extant literature, discusses certain implications, and presents conclusions.

Description: This article presents new funding instruments for equity-indexed life insurance and annuity products.

Description: This article discusses how FHLB advances, i.e. low cost loans, can supply valuable risk management benefits. By carefully structuring an advance to mature coincident with the anticipated premium inflows generated by insurance products, a company can largely eliminate future net cash flows and consequently the need to invest them in uncertain capital markets.

Description: Discusses the current options and the benefits of outsourcing various corporate functions.

Description: This article describes the nature and features of collateralized mortgage obligations [CMO], identifies their key risk factors, and suggests steps that small insurers can take to effectively and economically model them.

Description: Recent passage of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act increased the access that insurers have to low-cost loans advances offered by the individual banks of the Federal Home Loan Bank FHLB system. This article describes the general features of how advance programs work, their potential benefits to insurers and key issues to consider.