Description: From a session at the 2000 Valuation Actuary Symposium held in Washington DC, September 14-15, 2000 The National Association of Insurance Commissioners NAIC Valuation of Life Insurance Policies Model Regulation XXX sets forth the valuation requirements for life insurance with nonlevel premiums or nonlevel benefits, including term insurance and universal life with certain underlying guarantees. Panelists discussed the issues around implementation of the requirements. The issues discussed include: • Determination of X factors when no credible company mortality exists • Proper treatment of secondary guarantees in universal life insurance • Preparation of the mortality assumption opinion requirements • Impacts on product development and design

Description: A review of 'Life Contingencies' by Alistair Neill, to be used as a textbook for the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries examinations.

Description: From the 1985 Valuation Actuary Symposium. A discussion of the principles that should be part of a life insurance valuation. Also discussion of emerging actuarial professional standards of practice and regulatory requirements with respect to methodology for assessing reserve adequacy.

Description: From the 1986 Valuation Actuary Symposium, held in Washington DC in October 1986 Discussion of emerging practice and regulations of the NAIC and New York Insurance Department with respect to requirements placed on the methods and assumptions used by the valuation actuary in producing the support for the Actuarial Opinion as to the adequacy of reserves for life insurance companies

Description: Summary of the health section council’s research project to assess the accuracy of commonly used IBNR estimation methods over a wide range of scenarios.

Description: The next evolution of actuarial systems in the U.S. will likely be a move toward a single system solution. This article defines a single system solution and illustrates how models can be shared across actuarial functions, the potential benefits of a single system solution, and describes potential mitigation strategies to address typical actuarial concerns.

Description: In physics and engineering education, Fermi problems require solutions based on good approximate calculations with little or no actual data, involving making justified guesses and deducing bounds without using sophisticated tools. The idea of Fermi problems are of particular relevance to today's actuaries, as pricing, reserving, and financial reporting involve more and more complex stochastic components. The paper discusses some approximate solutions developed in academia in the spirit of Fermi problems.

Description: 1987 Valuation Actuary Handbook: Chapter 1: Addresses life insurance company statutory reserve valuation.

Description: On October 30, 2015, the SOA Assumption Development and Governance Group, an informal discussion group consisting of nearly 200 interested actuaries with topics pertaining to actuarial assumption development and governance, organized an industry discussion call on end-to-end assumption documentation practices. The purpose of this call was to generate a large list of ideas for best-practice assumption documentation. More than thirty companies were represented in the call, including direct insurers, reinsurers and consulting firms. This article is the work product of the discussion written by Laurie Li and Alex Zaidlin.

Description: This newsletter column by the Modeling Section Chair reflects on his attendance at the 2015 Actuarial Research Conference in Toronto and the relationships between practicing actuaries in industry and those in academia, and specifically those involved in research. How can we help promote academics research that is effective and relevant for practical use? Hopefully the Modeling Section might facilitate that effort.