Description: The medical scheme approach adopted by several African countries has failed to meet the needs of those in informal employment and rural communities. This is partly due to affordability amongst these individuals as well as a lack of awareness of how healthcare financing products work. Community based healthcare organisations have achieved greater levels of success in this regard by carefully incorporating the peculiarities of communities in benefit design and involving community members in the management of these healthcare solutions. There are lessons to be garnered from the countries where these have been implemented with some level of success. Even as countries aim towards universal health coverage, observing the unique needs of different communities within a country is essential to ensure resources are utilised efficiently and that healthcare needs are targeted effectively.

Description: Brief description of the actuarial profession in Switzerland, the success story of the Swiss Solvency Test (SST), and some features of the insurance market.

Description: Can immigration in Europe actually help to mitigate the looming pension crisis.

Description: The standard for measuring retirement income adequacy has been the final earnings replacement rate (usually targeted at 70%). But - does it work?

Description: Between the end of the 80’s and the 90´s, the annuity and universal life market started to develop in Argentina in an environment limited by the volatility of the financial market. As a consequence, plans with Fluctuation Funds were developed and proved to be successful. This paper provides a general overview of this experience and the innovations made in Argentina in this matter.

Description: The article considers how actuaries have responded to long term changes in the past and considers how to deal with two changes ion the future: pension provision when bond yields are low and long term care.

Description: How insurers can build trust with the customers, particularly in the context of micro-insurance.

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: In a world where pensions for new hires are predominantly provided with defined contribution plans, defined benefit plans have moved in many cases from being a strategic human resource management tool to being a source of volatile historic liabilities and costs that need to be managed downward. While the approaches for dealing with these liabilities broadly consist of risk transfer, settlement or funding, the precise options available will vary by country depending on the local pension framework and legal requirements. Any company with material global pension liabilities would be well advised to monitor these closely, in order to be able to take advantage of opportunities to de-risk, and to ensure that a global pension de-risking budget is allocated to the activities which are expected to yield the best returns for the group.

Description: The author discusses what influences the general insurance market.