Description: This article shows a different form of the Black-Scholes formula for European calls and puts under risk-neutral assumptions, that permits a comfortable verbal interpretation. The derivation of this alternative form appears at the end of the article.

Description: From a session at the Spring meeting of the Society of Actuaries held in San Antonio, Texas, June 14-15, 2004 The panelists discuss the benefits of hedging variable annuity guarantees, the challenges they face and how they keep score.

Description: From a session at a meeting of the Society of Actuaries held in San Diego, CA, June 22-23, 2000 The panel discussion covered: · The basic concepts underlying fuzzy logic · Current applications to risk classification and pricing · Possible future uses of fuzzy logic · The basic concepts underlying neural networks · Current applications of neural networks in life insurance · Possible future uses of neural networks

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: By necessity, attributions of financial processes require approximations. Tools used for approximations include Aumann-Shapley, time step, step-through, average step-through, partial derivative, and average partial derivative. Significantly non-linear paths can cause problems during attribution. Time (theta) and market factors must be handled concurrently. Typically contractual factors can be handled separately. Average Step-Through, Aumann-Shapley and Aumann-Shapley-3 points perform the best given the same time period. Attribution should be done with fairly small time steps as opposed to using a lot of points in the Aumann-Shapley calculation, but using Aumann-Shapley-3 points as a last step has some advantages.

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.