Description: Insurance company financial reporting and performance measurement are going through a significant transformation. Insurers are beginning to look at their business based on what many refer to as the “economic value framework.” Under this framework insurance companies determine the economic value of the capital invested in their business and the economic value of earnings to derive a risk-adjusted return on capital. Standard setters, primarily European insurance regulators through Solvency II and the International Accounting Standards Board through IFRS Phase II, propose adopting many of these concepts for solvency and performance reporting.

Description: This is a final report for a research project to create reference material that addresses the methods and techniques for quantifying margins for uncertainty in actuarial assumptions under a Principle-based statutory accounting framework.

Description: Insurance company financial reporting and performance measurement are going through a significant transformation. Insurers are beginning to look at their business based on what many refer to as the 'economic value framework.' This paper examines some of the recent changes in financial reporting for insurance contracts and then explores whether sufficient evidence exists to conclude whether a company has created value simply by the sale of an insurance contract [gain at issue], and also reviews the necessary disclosures needed to build market trust of 'next-generation' financial reporting. Specific issues related to the economic view of capital also are examined as well as some of the problems existing economic capital approaches present to the industry. This paper proposes a performance measurement approach that incorporates the market’s view of risk and the level of compensation the market demands to accept that risk.

Description: Editorial describing some of the tourist attractions of New York City in advance of the upcoming Society of Actuaries’ Annual Meeting.

Description: Political figures and journalists have tended to blame deregulation and greed for the credit crisis. However, we would like to suggest that these were not the primary cause of the credit crisis. The real cause of the crisis was faulty regulation and arrogance. Flawed regulation in the over-reliance on complicated capital models and arrogance in believing that the complex mathematical formula in risk models overcame the limitations on input availability and enabled companies to capture returns that were greater than the cost of capital, have led Wall Street by creating CDOs and similar instruments to repackage risks and take out the systematic excess risk charges as profits, and have also allowed companies to run “prudently” on leverage ratios that were in hindsight over the limit.

Description: Panelists identify the unique challenges and risks associated with asset/liability management for long-term care insurance and explore possible solutions to the challenges identified. From the Record of the Society of Actuaries, Volume 28, No. 3, Session 28pd.

Description: This article questions the validity of long term market return expectations using macroeconomics and analytical arguments.

Description: This session 75PD of the New Orleans Annual Meeting analyzes derivatives contained in various insurance products and techniques used to hedge the derivative exposure. From the Record of the Society of Actuaries, Volume 27, No. 3, Session 75PD.

Description: This article discusses how the industry as a whole is revisiting its risk management strategies in the wake of the financial crisis.

Description: 2004 SOA Spring Meeting, Anaheim, CA. The panel discussed how to analyze LTC flows from an asset perspective, recognize embedded derivatives in LTC and determine strategies for hedging fair value. The goal was for the attendees to learn to view LTC from an investment rather than a liability perspective, recognize embedded risks in today's LTC marketplace, and deal with investment risks in LTC.