Description: Businesses across the board have been drastically impacted by the effects of COVID-19 over the course of 2020, and insurance was not immune. Perhaps most relevant to this industry’s current capital and liquidity concern is the prevailing low interest rate environment. This has been a global trend in the last decade, and treasury rates in much of the developed world are at or near zero. Reduced investment returns limit an insurer’s ability to achieve their desired return on equity, eliminating previously profitable strategies that depended on the leverage of life and annuity balance sheets. Focus and activity have instead shifted to other methods to counteract the low interest rate markets and accompanying capital strain. Examples include increased mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity within the insurance industry and an increasing focus by private equity firms in the insurance market for asset-intensive products, both of which reflect the goal of increasing yield rates on capital.

Description: it discusses the framework and modeling of the market consistent valuation of fixed indexed annuity, against the backdrop of the convergence of accounting standards and internal risk management.

Description: Introduce basic concepts of the Health Risk-Based Capital and show case a few strategies around Risk-Based Capital.

Description: While the major market crash subsequent to the widespread contagion of the COVID-19 virus was readily predictable, the rapid recovery and ongoing growth subsequent to it was not. Market dynamics around the recovery resist characterization by most traditional analytical approaches. In examining the circumstances around the emergence of a large retail class of investors, one sees that ingrained human tendencies, particularly optimism bias, have fueled much investor behavior responsible for the recovery. Understanding this makes it possible to predict potential future crashes and develop behavioral interventions for subsequent market recoveries.

Description: Inspired by the Wall Street Bets / GameStop stock episode in January 2021, this article outlines the market mechanics and risk considerations that lead to market failure. The consequences of unfilled buy orders, unfilled short sell orders, and more short shares than long shares are all explained. Also, some steps to protect a financial institution that has been caught shorting a popular company are explored.

Description: The growing global recognition of the importance of climate-related risks (transition and physical) has triggered a significant demand for research on the interface between climate and actuarial sciences, for example on the impact of risks from climate change on insurance markets and their operations. Furthermore, the systemic nature of climate-related risks underpins actuaries’ need to engage and work with diverse groups of stakeholders, including clients, communities, governments, regulators, boards, and investors. Contributions are invited for a special issue of the Annals of Actuarial Science featuring research on the topic ‘Managing Climate-Related Risks’. This special issue aims to capture leading interdisciplinary thinking, with clear relevance to actuarial problems in pensions and insurance.

Description: This article summarizes key points from the recently published research paper “Deep Learning for Liability-Driven Investment,” which applies reinforcement learning and deep learning techniques to liability-driven investment (LDI).

Description: This is a notice is a call of papers reflecting actuarial and insurance related themes.

Description: Society of Actuaries (SOA) Research Institute’s Committee on Finance Research (CFR) and SOA Investment Section are interested in an exploration of the impact of Artificial Intelligence on investment professionals from a variety of perspectives. The result of this effort is intended to provide a useful resource for readers to become well-grounded on the issues surrounding the impact of these tools in an investment context and set the stage for future research.

Description: As AI becomes more pervasive, we must consider the potential repercussions and risks associated with its widespread use. The SOA seeks essays that delve into the multifaceted risks posed by (AI) over both the short and long term.