Description: July 2019 issue of Small Talk by the Smaller Insurance Company Section. Practical information for actuaries, trends that impact section, and section activities.

Description: This report studies the various benchmarks for analyzing the option-adjusted spreads of the major fixed income asset classes of life insurance companies. In addition, this report analyzes the historical benchmark performance against default rates for the asset class being benchmarked.

Description: Discusses mortality improvements over the last 20 years, the extent to which premiums on nonparticipating policies reflect the changes in mortality experience, the proposed new valuation table, should valuation tables be split by gender, and extra mortality on substandard lives at very long durations.

Description: This is a digest of of informal discussions recorded in the Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1958, Vol. 10, No. 27. Topics addressed: 1. Need for a new life valuation table. 2. Special policies such as Family Plans and Bank Loan and Split Dollar Plans. 3. Trends in agent compensation.

Description: Covers: 1. The current status of permissive legislation, monetary values, and new policies 2. Considerations in changing from CRVM to net level premium reserves 3. What are companies considering with regards to changes in cash value patterns 4. Consideration being given to changes in the mortality basis for substandard premiums as a result of recent experience and how is this affected by the adoption of the new CSO tables.

Description: Discusses the reasons for changing emphasis on reserve strengthening programs and looks at methods adopted to emphasize the reserve character of undistributed surplus.

Description: An interview with Sheryl Flum, chief, Branch 4, IRS Office of Associate Chief Counsel (Financial Institutions and Products) at the Internal Revenue Service, regarding her role at the IRS and current tax issues facing the life insurance industry.

Description: The presenters will cover the latest research undertaken by the Individual Life Experience Committee (ILEC). With several years of very robust individual life insurance experience data accumulated through the mandatory Statistical Agent data calls, this vast amount of data allows for various deeper dives into specific segments of business, such as large face amount, older age or juvenile. Speakers will cover studies the committee is currently involved in, future planned efforts, and results from a variety of sub-segments of business. Attendees will learn about emerging statistical techniques in scrubbing data, more refined quintile-grouped data segments, and interesting ways of conceptualizing how A/E results have changed from year to year. There will be something for everyone!

Description: This article is part of the Digest of Informal Discussion, which took place at the 1957 Society of Actuaries Eastern Spring Meeting, held March 21-22 in New York City. The article identifies the participants and summarizes each person’s comments. The participants discuss adoption of a new mortality table and the need for deficiency reserves, the impact of new tables on participating and nonparticipating companies, and dividend patterns, whether new tables should be expected to remain an appropriate standard for an extended period, and the question of changing reserve and nonforfeiture interest rates. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1957 Volume 9, Number 24.

Description: General discussion session which included the following topics: A. Non-medical limits B. Deficiency reserves for individual life insurance