Description: In recent years, insurance companies have been introducing saving products whose returns are linked to equity market performance. Equity-indexed annuities [EIA's] are one of the products of this kind. This paper is a study on the recent introduction and popularity growth of equity-indexed annuities. An index is considered which provides a minimum interest guarantee and a participation in the increase in an index.

Description: 1994 SOA Spring Meeting, Orlando. In this session panelists discussed new investment options including an overview of traditional assets, an asset-allocation framework, specific markets' risk characteristics and some implications for risk-based capital for asset management. The discussion included derivatives, fixed income alternatives, and equity alternatives.

Description: Investment risk management has become a core competency of insurance companies, and much has been discussed on this topic. This session examines the current investment risk management practices such as product line specific hedging and macro hedging, with a focus on what still remains to be addressed—whether the tradeoff of addition risk management is worthwhile.

Description: Discussion of the March 1, 2013 Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) release of PLR 201309011, which addresses the application of the section 817(h) diversification requirements to variable contracts that have invested in illiquid investment vehicles (the “Funds”).

Description: This article delves into the challenges and opportunities of the Asian insurance market, focusing on insurance investment management.

Description: This article provides an analysis of Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities TIPS, examining the mechanics of these bonds, how they have performed to date and what may be expected for the future.

Description: Gold has been one of the worst performing investment assets of the last two decades due to the steady to low inflation. In the future, if the US economic environment takes a turn for the worst or inflation reemerges, gold will once again be a high performing investment.

Description: This article compares the best estimates of the Investment Section members those who submitted entries for the 3-month Treasury bill rate, 30-year Treasury bond rate and the Dow Jones Industrial Average index value and year-end 1999 with the actuals.

Description: This article examines trends of the stock market beginning with Dow theory - market prices tend to trend either upwards, a bull trend, or downwards, a bear trend. It discusses the many trading rules based on diverse patterns in the price series since the time of Dow including strictly filter rules.

Description: 1994 SOA Spring Meeting, San Francisco. This session discussed the work of an industry group that is in the process of developing total return benchmarks and universes for the measurement of insurance company investment performance.