Description: Reunite with members and non-members in the China actuarial community to discuss recent topics and related issues in areas such as macroeconomic sharing, IFRS 17, product strategy, cross-border communication and discussion, and more. Advance your career through learning and networking opportunities, and share your experiences in the finance and insurance industries, as well as other fields related to actuarial science.

Description: Are you interested in discovering key characteristics and the market landscape in the finance industry? Do you want to learn more about decentralized finance (DeFi) with its opportunities, challenges and alternatives? Join us for the Decentralized Finance - Emerging Risks and Opportunities webcast. DeFi is an emerging financial system and its alternatives are a rapidly expanding sector. DeFi alternatives are regarded as an integral part to the support of the this developing ecosystem. Come to this rebroadcast of a webinar completed in Asia back in September where panelists explore DeFi risks and listen to a proposal of the risk classification framework. There is also a live Q&A afterwards.

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 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: After more than a decade of a prolonged low interest rate environment, long-term Treasury rates have started to increase with higher volatility. While it is generally agreed that a modest increase in interest rates and inflation is beneficial to the life insurance industry, interest rate risk remains a significant challenge for life insurance industry to manage its long duration liabilities, especially under volatile interest rate environments. Learn how to proactively manage interest rate risk and improve capital efficiency through the cash flow based strategic asset allocation (SAA) framework. Discover practical examples of how to combine asset allocation with derivatives to manage tail risk and liability convexity.

Description: Come discuss how reinsurers can work side by side with insurer to better develop products, and lift in the areas that reinsurers have more experience, help matching products with distributions (or vice versa) and provide advanced technologies associated with tools and software. The speakers will also present Direct to Consumer plan from various points of view, i.e., distributors, carriers, and reinsurers. Some case studies will also be presented where traditional reinsurers and asset-intensive reinsurers helped insurers bring products to life.

Description: Join us for the Pandemics & Paradigm Shifts: ERM in an Intensely Dynamic World panel discussion, where industry and regulatory perspectives will help provide insight into a number of topics. Expect interactive dialogue opportunities based on the conversation between the panelists and the audience. Key topics that will be conversed about, but the panel is not limited to, include a brief review of historical paradigm shifts and subsequent insurer failures, best practices and an outlook on the ultra-dynamic world of today and consideration of a company's enterprise risk management framework as it affects ratings and insurance department examinations.

Description: Bringing together industry experts spanning investment management and property/casualty insurance, this panel discussion will take the audience beyond spelling ESG correctly and will share their insights about what Environmental Social Governance is. Following is a sampling of the questions the panel will address: How did we get to the current economic state of ESG? Why is ESG controversial, and how has it become controversial? Does integrating ESG into the investment process enhance returns?

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: Come discuss modeling costs and its governance, as well as introduce some platforms for more granular asset modeling.