Description: As part of the SOA’s July 22, 2020, COVID-19 Virtual Symposium, Marketing and Distribution (MaD) Section Council members presented “Selling Insurance Six Feet Apart” with insight into emerging sales and marketing processes, challenges, and opportunities for the product spaces noted

Description: Read the July 2020 issue of NewsDirect published by the Marketing & Distribution Section. Newsletters provide practical information for the working actuary, articles on trends that impact sections and news about section activities.

Description: As technology continues to advance and consumers' preferences constantly change, the need for insurance to be sold at more competitive prices has become apparent, forcing the Broker channel to adjust its business model and also creating a new opportunity for the Direct-to-Consumer channel. The presenter will examine how various channels have co-existed in the past, and evaluate how they will evolve and co-exist in the future. The discussion will also include an analysis of a channel strategy to optimize results for the growth of a company. Presenters will include representative from the following distribution channels

Description: Innovation has become a buzz word for insurers in recent years, with boards demanding more innovation and a trend to establish innovation teams and chief innovation officers.

Description: This article is a summary of interviews that were conducted with independent life insurance agents earlier this summer that describes their thoughts on the changes, challenges, and outlooks on selling life insurance during the COVID pandemic.

Description: Hear an overview of InsurTech trends and challenges globally. Then, presenters will dive deeper to talk about InsurTech's application in insurance product distribution via smartphones and insurance company's risk selection, risk evaluation, risk control and the related challenges brought to actuaries. Specific applications and cases will be presented.

Description: Read the Quo Vadis Reinsurance.

Description: Building on our previous newsletter article (“Who Sells and Distributes”), we continue here in our attempt to define and clarify sales and distribution terms that may be confusing or misunderstood. In this article, we focus on seller and distributor compensation, which includes payments to customer-facing sales experts and separate allowances for the entities supporting those experts

Description: The presenters focus on traditional and non-traditional techniques for setting IBNR and assume some experience on the topic. Take in a brief overview of the basic development of IBNRs for financial reporting. Then explore general considerations and various methods used to estimate claim costs, plus understand variability in IBNR projections as well as challenges that arise in certain situations. There will be opportunities for the audience to share ideas and considerations based on past experiences.

Description: Several key market trends have encouraged the development and launch of direct to consumer business models over the last few years. The presenters will look at the impact this is having on traditional business models and the potential it has to open up growth paths to target markets. They will cover several new entrants coming to market aiming to solve specific industry gaps and/or create new opportunities in distribution, risk assessment, customer engagement and the consumer buying experience.