Description: This article discusses how small insurance companies can get into the complex equity indexed market by using alliances wherein there is one primary company and one or more secondary companies. The primary company would perform all of the functions for itself and some of the functions for the secondary companies. The companies pool assets to reach critical mass.

Description: 1994 SOA Meeting, San Francisco. This session is about joint ventures and private labeling for life, annuity and disability products. In a primary variation of private labeling, a manufacturer develops, underwrites, administers, and does the actuarial functions, but the client company markets the product. Other variations of joint ventures have different distributions of duties.

Description: 1994 SOA Spring Meeting, San Francisco. This session explored the product design, pricing, and investment management strategies to mitigate the risk of long term minimum interest rates in a low interest rate environment.

Description: 1993 SOA Annual Meeting, New York. This session is about product design and pricing of products with bonus features. Topics included: 1. The need for maximum long-term benefits. 2. Designs that maximize long-term benefits. 3. Reasons we should focus on benefits and not cash values. 4. Principles of equity behind bonus features. 5. A practical method to define equity. 6. A summary of current regulatory activity. 7. The definition of equity. 8. The need for cash values. 9. Reasons for considering maximum limits on non-guaranteed elements. 10. Disclosure of non-guaranteed elements. 11. Reserving practices.