Description: This session will look into life insurers’ anticipated business impacts as a result of the implementation of the new accounting standard for insurance contracts, IFRS 17. What will be the financial impact as of day one as a result of transition? How will embedded value for common life insurance products change? How will costs of reinsurance be affected? Will products have to be re-designed and/or re-priced? IFRS 17 may have more ramifications into the way insurers are doing business than we have anticipated so far. While we are working on the implementation of this new standard, we should not lose sight of the business impacts that will follow. At the conclusion of the session, attendees will be able to: Understand key impacts of the transition to IFRS 17; See illustrative examples of the impact on embedded value; and Understand key impacts on product design and pricing Country Relevance: US and Canada

Description: IFRS 17 is causing insurers to rethink their investment management and ALM strategy. The presenters examine issues arising under IFRS 17 and IFRS 9 and the resulting challenges facing insurers, including the volatility and impact on financial statements. Solutions will be proposed including a discussion on how to deal with the disconnect between economic and accounting results. A case study will present the tradeoffs insurers must consider to optimize their portfolio under IFRS 17.

Description: Since the issuance of IFRS 17 in 2017, the global insurance accounting standard, insurers across the globe have been making huge investment in assessing the impact and implementing the new standard. In late 2018, FASB issued ASU 2018-12 that revises key elements of the U.S. GAAP measurement models and disclosure requirements for long-duration contracts issued by insurers (also called FASB Targeted Improvements). Both standards are becoming effective 1/1/2021 (though IFRS 17 may potentially be deferred by a year). U.S. insurers that have international parents or subsidiaries, and report under a multi-GAAP environment will likely have to adopt both standards. By now most insurers should have nearly completed impact assessment for IFRS 17, designed road map for or have started the implementation journey. With the new U.S. GAAP requirements becoming effective concurrently, it is important to embark on the implementation journey with both standards in mind, and maximize the synergy to achieve cost-saving and design efficiency. This session will briefly introduce the two standards with a conceptual comparison, along with a discussion on where efficiency and synergy can be achieved in a concurrent implementation.

Description: Risk management techniques such as stress testing and setting capital targets are fairly well established for life insurers; however, the implementation of these techniques can vary considerably. A fundamental question is how to manage multiple valuation perspectives, and the list of possibilities keeps growing. Companies can potentially consider some or all of the following: U.S. reporting measures (Stat, GAAP), internal measures (EV, VNB, economic capital), international reporting measures (IFRS), rating agency models or other developing standards (ICS, NAIC group capital). This session will begin with a quick overview of the defining characteristics of different valuation frameworks. We will then provide more focused and practical considerations for managing risk and capital under different frameworks, using specific examples to highlight key trade offs.

Description: 1997 Valuation Actuary Symposium, Session 17 discusses market value measures and its uses in asset liability management.

Description: Tomorrow’s risk landscape is shaped by macro trends and their interconnections, and those new, changing but not-yet envisioned risks will shape tomorrow's insurance needs. Karen would like to share Swiss Re's insights on new emerging risk themes and trends, climate change and its effects on the L&H business. Hopefully the session can provoke new ideas and enable us to build resilience together.

Description: Insurance is a technically demanding, risk-based, capital intensive business. It is therefore not surprising that the industry is fertile ground for the development of technical models used to measure and price risk and manage capital. This session presents the forces which have significantly influenced the evolution of risk and capital management techniques and organization in the insurance industry, including regulatory changes, financial market instability, enlightened self-interest and ultimately a focus on shareholder value creation. Combining over 20 years in the industry in risk and finance roles with a rigorous academic approach, the presenter will provide insights into the most important business questions which insurers face today and the technical tools and frameworks used to answer them.

Description: Model Risk Management continues to be an evolving area for insurers to be considering. This has grown from both internal and external forces and may require a different format to previous model risk frameworks held by insurers. Furthermore, there are a number of trends emerging that we believe will drive an increased focus on insurer’s model risk management frameworks such as technology automation, ever increasing data sources, and the use of predictive models. Risk management and the development of models is an area where insurance companies have performed well in the past. It is expected that frameworks currently exist within companies; the governance, documentation, validation and control of model risk are likely to be well established practices. The challenge that insurers must consider is how well these have been adopted throughout the company for all models used to make business decisions and if the same level of rigor has consistently been applied. Regulation in a high-velocity actuarial environment will to be a challenge that actuaries must spearhead and must be proactive in guiding rule making to ensure continued innovation while putting data security and risk management first.

Description: The management of the investments of an insurance enterprise has undergone a considerable evolution since the pioneering work of Redington in the mid 20th century. Best practices have evolved to incorporate ever more complex insurance liabilities, expanding investment asset classes and global market opportunities. Strategic asset allocation (SAA), liability driven investing, and other robust optimization approaches form the core of the professional management of insurance company investments.

Description: The speakers will discuss the replication of long-term options, including a discussion of issues such as liquidity, transaction costs, slippage, impact of policyholder behavior, and machine learning algorithms to improve hedge effectiveness.