Description: Mergers and acquisitions 'M&A' are major forces driving change in the life insurance industry. This editorial discusses how the articles in this newsletter address the M&A phenomenon.

Description: Summary of the ReFocus 2018 Conference, jointly sponsored by the American Council of Life Insurers and the SOA.

Description: The article focuses on findings from EY's survey in 2017 of CROs at 40 insurers in North America. Changing roles in the age of disruption are investigated.

Description: Overview of market trends impacting the group benefits space in Canada and the implications for insures as they prepare for future evolving industry dynamics.

Description: Risk management and capital budgeting are two critical components of the corporate decision process. They often need to be considered jointly at the corporate level because of their natural interaction through the dependent risk exposures and other synergetic relationships within an intricate corporate structure in a dynamic business environment. . This paper develops an integrated framework that aligns these two important corporate strategies across business divisions to optimize the streamlined enterprise strategic goal in a multi-period setting. The proposed integrated framework can serve as a practical guideline for corporate executives to optimally coordinate capital budgeting and risk management at the enterprise level.

Description: The paper discusses the arguments supporting the need for risk culture to transition into ERM culture to be embedded across financial organizations. Creating and maintaining strong ERM culture is paramount to a lasting and meaningful ERM program. It is essential for organizations to understand what ERM culture is, how it gets established and in what way affects the process of ERM implementation. Often, the implications of financial enterprises not focusing on the significance of ERM culture manifested in severely compromised ability to generate sustainable value and market competitive advantage. This paper calls for rethinking the role of ERM culture in the context of managing risks.