Description: How adopting a risk champion model can help insurance companies, create a clear distinction between the first line and the second line of defense and ensure proactivity in identifying and addressing risk

Description: This article is part of a 2 part series on real options analysis (ROA). Before you can understand the limitations of ROA, you must first understand the difference between risk and uncertainty. This article goes into detail explaining the vast differences between the two phenomena.

Description: This is the second part of a 2 part series on Real options analysis (ROA). This article looks into the limitations of using financial option theory when doing real options analysis with projects that are long-dated and uncertain, such as: 1. First-degree homogeneity, 2. Uncertainty must derive from Brownian motion, and 3. Risk neutrality.

Description: Update of climate risk related governance and disclosure.

Description: The SOA is interested in understanding how companies are performing scenario analysis, thinking through how various stakeholders (regulators, general public, competitors) could be reacting to a large-scale large-impact event over a multi-year period.

Description: The article provides a summary of the Drake Risk & Opportunity Forum held on October 21, 2022. The forum was a hybrid conference that attracted more than 200 attendees from 17 states, two countries, 48 employers, and five universities. Following an introduction by the Zimpleman College of Business Dean, the forum held six sessions. First was an insurance company CRO panel followed by a panel of non-insurance company CROs. Gary Zhu shared his outlook for interest rates and capital markets. The fourth panel discussed insurance capital models. The fifth panel discussed environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria when building insurance company investment portfolios. The final session of the day was a discussion about the NAIC, how they operate, and their priorities for the coming year.

Description: Our goal in this article is to dive deeper into the role longevity swaps could play in the US PRT market by drawing comparisons to the UK and highlighting recent commercial developments that can jump start the US market’s need for longevity reinsurance.

Description: Both under favorable and stressed conditions, companies heavily rely on reinsurance and the market has seen a number of major transactions enacted in this space over recent months. Reinsurance offers a wider variety of opportunities in order to manage stressed balance sheets and enhance return on capital, upon which insurers must continually reflect in order to capture all the potential value. For example, captive reinsurance, which offers expense or cost reduction advantages in addition to risk management and control, is becoming more widespread as more U.S. jurisdictions allow parents companies to benefit from these captive formations. Upon enacting a transaction, ensuring the implementation of effective reinsurance operations is crucial in order to avoid operational inefficiencies and monitor the transaction's performance. Understanding the potential opportunities and common pitfalls in reinsurance processes is vital for capturing the full value of reinsurance. By attending the session, you will: Explore all the options available where reinsurance can be leveraged to improve capital and tax position, as well as achieving the optimal balance of risk appetite and underwriting profit. Furthermore, the presentation will provide real life case studies on how innovation and operational excellence can improve earnings by reducing costs related to inefficiencies, reducing process timing, improving controls, and reducing reinsurance leakage.

Description: The Federal funds rate increased by 4.25% in 2022 with further increases in 2023, which have already resulted in a liquidity crisis for a few banks. As the rapid increase of the interest rates pushed the new money rates above the yields of many life insurers’ investment portfolios, insurance companies are facing a dilemma between compressed margins from peer pressure and the concern with liquidity shortfalls and realized capital losses should mass surrenders happen. This paper discussed main emerging risks under rising interest rate environment, and several ways to mitigate these risks.

Description: The most recent U.S. population data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and from the U.S. Census at year-end 2021 includes the first ten months of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S. While we know the pandemic has had significant impacts on both the U.S. population and insured population mortality, we also see increased mortality due to many other non-COVID causes of death. Where are the biggest changes and what does this non-COVID excess mortality mean over the next few years? Take part as an expert panel hosts an interactive discussion to examine data from general population as well as from both individual life and group life experience studies to explore how these changes might spur innovation in underwriting, assumption setting and pricing.