Description: Abstract of paper entitled 'The Financial Crisis and Lessons for Insurers' published by the SOA. The paper analyzes the causes of the recent crisis, insurance companies’ exposure levels, and potential strategies to reduce the likelihood of future risks

Description: Abstract: An introduction to the Goals-Progress-Strategy (GPS) strategic risk management framework: an original synthesis of scenario based ERM, the Logical Framework Approach, and new metrics and methods. GPS improves strategic planning and execution and enables practical management of the risks a company faces in pursuit of its business goals. The framework provides a portfolio view of a company’s strategic objectives, a return on risk-adjusted capital measure, risk-intelligent decision making, and risk-adjusted performance measurement/compensation.

Description: Abstract: A model for analyzing the probability and severity of default of sovereign entities and banks. The methodology analyzes the risks inherent in the investment of debt of sovereign governments and large financial institutions side-by-side, taking into consideration macroeconomic interactions among the sovereign fiscal and monetary authorities, the financial institutions, and the real economy. The signature aspect of the methodology is that it adapts a Merton-style default model to use explicit measures of sovereign assets and asset volatility.

Description: The abstract for the paper Pension Plan Life-Cycle Funding Approach.

Description: This is the abstract of a paper that considers the pricing of equity-indexed annuities using risk measures and presents dynamic hedging strategies underlying these valuations. Since these products involve mortality as well as financial risks, the authors combine the actuarial and financial approaches to protect insurance companies against the unhedgeable mortality risk.

Description: Using data from 12,571 publicly traded U.S. industrial firms spanning 1980 to 2004 for which quarterly firm specific financial variables and macroeconomic variables are available, this is the abstract of a paper that estimates the probability of bankruptcy/merger for each company and hence a prediction of bankruptcy/merger in the next quarter.

Description: Abstract: Interest rate changes and volatile equity returns have contributed to significant funding and expense volatility for defined benefit plans in recent years. This paper will describe the design of an option contract with payouts that are tied to the combined impact of interest rates and investment returns on the funding level of a defined benefit pension plan. Current derivatives used by plan sponsors can limit exposure to one of these risks; however, a derivative that combines these risks may provide more targeted protection to a plan sponsor at lower cost. This paper discusses several considerations in designing such a derivative. It will also briefly discuss pricing of the option. Finally, the difference in potential outcomes between plan funding with and without option ownership will be demonstrated. As an outcome of the design work, a new way to visualize pension risk that may be useful in sponsor accounting disclosures will be shown.

Description: Ways for management to measure, integrate and use Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) information to analyze, compare, discuss, and monitor risks such that appropriate risk management decisions can be made.