Description: This paper provides a summary of the report, Back Testing of Investment Performance by Asset Class.

Description: This presentation is an open forum, session 68OF, from the 2004 Spring Meeting of the Society of Actuaries, held June 14-15 in San Antonio, TX. The panelists, investment professionals and an actuary, discuss strategies that life insurance companies use for their capital account [surplus] assets. From the Record of Society of Actuaries, Volume 30, No. 2.

Description: This article discusses the trend toward outsourcing of insurance assets to third party money managers which has grown steadily as insurers face increasing market challenges. Insurers are finding that a strategic approach to outsourcing investments is critical to enhancing value within both liability reserves and surplus portfolios.

Description: The goal of this paper is to examine similarities between value investing and enterprise risk management (ERM) methods.

Description: The goal of this paper is to examine similarities between value investing and enterprise risk management (ERM) methods.

Description: Volatility managed funds, which focus the measurement of an investor’s risk appetite on the volatility of the portfolio, have grown popular in the Asian markets recently, particularly in Japan. This article discusses a typical volatility managed strategy and presents performance comparisons between volatility managed funds and other comparable market strategies. The advantages of target volatility managed funds to investors and insurers are also included.

Description: Readers are given an introduction to a PBA Implementation Guide for Life Products.

Description: The investment risk taken by a pension fund comprises strategic risk and active risk. This paper discusses the relative merits of these two types of risk to the pension fund, possible rationales for the levels of strategic and active risk typically adopted mechanisms for capturing manager skill without taking on equity risk, and issues in setting liability-based benchmarks for investment managers

Description: Feature article discussing the PBGC’s asset reallocation plan.

Description: This panel discussion looked at investment philosophy and strategy for insurance companies. Discussion focused on criteria for choosing investments, the effect of an inflationary environment, and investment needs of various product lines.