Description: From a session at the Spring regional meeting of the Society of Actuaries held in Atlanta, Georgia, May 24-25, 1999 Panel examined the failure of three major life insurance companies in North America: Executive Life, Mutual Benefit, and Confederation Life, changes that have taken place in the aftermath of these failures, and the likelihood of future failures.

Description: This study examines reductions in retirement benefits from the decline in defined benefit plans and increases in defined contribution plans during the past 20 years and what effect this has on workforce management. In particular how this change is affecting older workers’ decisions to retire and what effect this could have on companies. An underlying assumption implicit in evaluating the benefit of retirement of older workers is that productivity declines in old age while pay does not, leading to a pay productivity gap that could have an adverse effect on the employer from delayed retirement. The validity of this assumption was also examined.

Description: This session provides attendees with an in-depth description of the process of terminating a defined benefit pension plan in the U.S. Discussion topics include required filings, selection of annuity provider and asset immunization prior to annuity purchase. From the Record of the Society of Actuaries, Volume 28, No. 2, Session 7pd.

Description: This session discusses two recent SOA research initiatives called FARM I and FARM II. From Record of Society of Actuaries, Vol. 30, No. 3.

Description: This paper is a follow-up to the papers in the January and April 2005 editions of the Pension Forum, which focused on the interest assumptions to be used in pension funding. This paper focuses on the other assumptions used to calculate pension liabilities—mortality, early retirement and expense. From Pension Section News, April 2006, No. 61.

Description: Presenters at session 115PD of the New York Annual Meeting provide an overview of structures used for credit enhancement of GICs as well as an understanding of how financial guarantees work in the GIC market. From the Record of the Society of Actuaries, Vol. 24, No. 3.

Description: This presentation, session number 55PD, took place at the 2000 Annual Meeting of the Society of Actuaries, held October 15-18 in Chicago. The panelist look at a variety of capital market structures used to replace maturing guaranteed investment, ‘GIC,’ contract liabilities from accounting, regulatory, rating agency, and investor viewpoints. Discussion from participants is included. From the Record of the Society of Actuaries, Volume 26, No. 1.

Description: This paper concludes that there are two index rates that could best replace the 30-year Treasury in the calculation of the Current Liability of a pension plan - either the 30 year swap rate or the benchmark 30-year FNMA bond.

Description: The article is a summary of Society of Actuaries report entitled “Annuity Market Pricing Approaches” sponsored by the Retirement Section Research Committee. The report examines the Canadian Institute of Actuaries (CIA) methodology of developing solvency valuation assumptions, compares it to methods used in the U.S., and considers if it could be used in other markets, such as U.S. group annuities or individual annuities

Description: The article is a summary of Session 9PD at the Society of Actuaries annual meeting in New Orleans in October 2001. Terminal funding the purchase of annuities by pension plans usually at plan termination and stable value GIC's became major product lines in the 1980's. This article describes the changes in the those products, the markets and regulatory environment.