Description: Discussion of solvency problems and the actuary's role in addressing them in the life insurance industry.

Description: From the 1986 Valuation Actuary Symposium, held in Washington DC in October 1986 Discussion of the process for setting assumptions for cash flow testing of interest sensitive products for reserve valuation analysis under statutory accounting in the USA and Canadian GAAP.

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: Survey of appointed actuaries about asset adequacy testing techniques currently being used in 2012.

Description: Excerpts from Yee's presentation on the S-Curve reserve for Universal life. The S-Curve represents a distribution of amount of assets needed under 550 scenarios which, together with future premiums, will fund all future policy benefits and expenses. The reserve is a specific point on the Curve.

Description: Since solvency assessment depends on a financial reporting framework, one needs risk metrics for use in financial reporting. The essay argues that conceptually, the cost of capital is the appropriate metric for reserves, while a probability level is the appropriate metric for capital. Then the essay advocates stress testing on specific scenarios as a better practical approach to ORSA.

Description: Under non-Aristotelian logic, there are multiple values, or shades of gray. Indeed, there may even be unexpected results from logical combinations, like “both” and “neither.” This article discusses how this insight should be applied to the current debate between formula-driven reserves with limited assumption flexibility and the reserve principles approach. For reserve standards, we do need both actuarial judgment grounded in reserving principles and restrictive formula methods or safe harbors.

Description: Institutional investors such as pension plans and insurance companies have enjoyed strong equity returns for a length of time with few historical precedents. Nearly a decade after the end of the financial crisis, strategies to provide downside protection remain expensive and the performance of traditional risk-managed funds has disappointed investors.

Description: 1992 SOA Regional Meeting, Anaheim. In this panel discussion of the evaluation of the adequacy of capital, the speakers addressed the NAIC risk-based capital proposal, rating agency techniques, and valuation actuary views.

Description: This article highlights features of the SOA's Regulatory Web Resource. The intent is to encourage greater use of the Resource among section members.