Description: To understand the relationship between lifestyle behaviors and mortality, RGA investigated a national, health-related, mortality-linked data set provided by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). RGA Strategic Research Actuary Julianne Callaway discusses the company's findings.

Description: S&P reissued a second Request for Comment (RFC) in May 2023 that proposed changes to their insurer capital adequacy methodology and assumptions, and suggested these proposed changes may become effective at the end of 2023. This paper is to highlight the notable changes between the current capital model criteria and the proposed model. We also discuss major changes from the first RFC and the second RFC, as well as several key items that still require enhanced guidance and clarification. Our analysis is based on information gathered from S&P's public comments, conversations with industry participants, and publications released by S&P Global as of July 2023 when this paper was written. Most U.S. life insurers are rated by S&P using their U.S. Life Statutory Capital model, while other insurers use the GAAP/IFRS Capital Model. Statutory financials will remain the starting point for U.S. life insurers under the proposed model, however there will be additional adjustments made to these numbers in an effort to create consistency and comparability with other accounting and solvency regimes.

Description: Just as the U.S. is dealing with a new surge of COVID-19 hospitalizations and death, the pandemic’s impact on the nation’s mortality rate is generating heightened interest. Two new reports issued from the Society of Actuaries provide important insights.

Description: The Individual Life Experience Committee is holding a competition encouraging actuaries and other interested parties to predict 2017 industry mortality based on a data set containg 2009 - 2016 data. The competition is not only about predicting mortality, but also about explaining and presenting the results.

Description: Article describing the current plans to focus our attention on the mission and vision of the Actuary of the Future Section for 2019 and beyond.

Description: Farewell memo from outgoing section chairperson to section members.

Description: An application of GLM trees to mortality modeling using the Individual Life Experience Committee 2009-2015 dataset. GLM trees are a hybrid of GLMs and decision trees which are analogous to the way actuaries have analyzed data. The major benefits include speeding up actuarial analytic workflows, improving data understanding, and improving data visualization.

Description: The Life Meeting, is the result of combining the Life & Annuity Symposium (LAS) and the Valuation Actuarial Symposium (ValAct). The Life Meeting will offer sessions specific to pricing and valuation as well as sessions on emerging issues relevant to both groups. These common themes include InsurTech, diversity, accounting change and the current economic environment.

Description: This article presents the idea that a New Product Notebook, which contains all of the aspects of a product's development and is accessible to all involved, can make the product development process more efficient.

Description: This article discusses new tax reporting requirements for transfers for value under section 6050Y. It also discusses changes to the transfer for value rule of section 101(a)(2) and (3), including the definition of a reportable policy sale.