Description: When companies engage in risk management activities, they can be seen as modifying their distributions of future outcomes. Often, this takes the form of trading off a sure cost for a decrease in some potential risk of loss. Companies may carry out these activities with several goals in mind, such as reduction in earnings volatility or preservation of capital. This paper will demonstrate a method for evaluating possible strategies by dividing the effects on costs and risks into three tranches: earnings, impact and estate. The tranches can be associated with different interests of the various stakeholders. This trifurcation analysis can help to explain the risk-reward trade-offs of different risk treatment alternatives and can aid in risk-related decisionmaking.

Description: Recently there have been several studies on the dividend payments prior to ruin in various risk models. By employing some new obtained results in the actuarial literature, this presentation analyzes the distribution of the total dividend payments in a risk model with multi-threshold dividend strategy, where the claim arrivals are modeled by a Markovian arrival process [MAP]. A piecewise integro-differential equation in matrix form is derived and solved analytically for the moments of present value of the total dividends prior to ruin. The presentation also discusses the differences between its method and other existing ones. An example with exponentially distributed claim amounts is illustrated numerically.

Description: This is the second article in a two-part series examining the potential value to companies of implementing a company profitability and risk dashboard.

Description: Risk management and capital budgeting are two critical components of the corporate decision process. They often need to be considered jointly at the corporate level because of their natural interaction through the dependent risk exposures and other synergetic relationships within an intricate corporate structure in a dynamic business environment. . This paper develops an integrated framework that aligns these two important corporate strategies across business divisions to optimize the streamlined enterprise strategic goal in a multi-period setting. The proposed integrated framework can serve as a practical guideline for corporate executives to optimally coordinate capital budgeting and risk management at the enterprise level.

Description: An insurance company selling LTCI today would do far better to address some important financial needs by taking the aspirin of improving modeling and pricing, and not the morphine of shutting down the business line entirely. The aspirin can consist of two strategies: First, integrate the projections of the asset portfolio and the claims liabilities when testing the sensitivity of assumptions or stochastically modeling the product. Second, establish a separate asset portfolio for LTCI products, and make sure it has a strong, well-defined, well-documented Investment Policy Statement. An Investment Policy Statement will enable pricing actuaries and investment departments to work together with the same goals and objectives.

Description: State regulators' review of predominant LTC Risks after review of year-end AG51 reports.

Description: Many top-performing businesses aren’t just risk aware, but rather risk intelligent. Such a posture helps prepare companies for a major event and can demonstrate to a regulator or auditor that an appropriately strong control framework is in place. Better still, companies gain real strategic value from a “risk adjusted” understanding not only of their threats and vulnerabilities, but also the upside opportunities associated with various risks. It starts with having both qualitative and quantitative information to identify, assess and manage risks. Strategic risk management, at its core, is about creating value by increasing transparency and accountability, and quality of information. More than a mere compliance exercise, effective risk management enables more informed strategic decision making, increased accountability and transparency, a greater likelihood of organizational success, and – ultimately – competitive advantage, as borne out by many studies that correlate risk management and financial results.

Description: A discussion of the need to connect the interrelated requirements of reserve requirements, capital requirements, risk management, IASB requirements and so forth.

Description: This article presents an FAQ on protected cell companies. From Reinsurance Section News, November 2007, Issue No. 61.