Description: With many complex regulatory changes on the horizon as well as pressures to ensure model accuracy from auditors, regulatory requirements and new actuarial standards of practice, the importance of robust model validation is coming to the forefront of actuaries’ minds. What was previously a day-two task for many companies is becoming just as important as model development! In this session, you will hear from those that have been deeply involved in building model validation frameworks and tools in responses to regulatory changes GAAP Long Duration Targeted Improvements (“LDTI”) and Principles Based Reserves (“PBR”).

Description: Many insurers preparing market consistent financial statements encounter the issue of developing volatility assumptions for equity options and guarantees that are longer than any observable market data. This presentation develops a generalization of the classical Black Scholes option pricing model that is consistent with the European CRO Forum's framework for valuing non-hedgeable risk. The presentation argues that, with reasonable parameter choices, the model fits observed volatility surfaces well enough that it can be used to estimate implied volatilities where no market data exists.

Description: The cloud inspires awe and fear in equal parts these days. There is a need to learn more, but there’s much information to learn and it may be difficult to know what to learn next. In this session, we’ll carve off a small corner of the cloud and make it your own. Setting up a Data Science Virtual Machine on Digital Ocean will be demonstrated. It’s the fastest way to get a data science development environment setup for your own use. Many of the topics and ideas covered will apply to almost all other cloud offerings. What use cases Digital Ocean is good for, and what use cases you should look elsewhere for, will also be discussed.

Description: Most actuaries deal with model development at some point in their career. However, very few of us have proper training in programming, software engineering or software shop operations. Explore topics, techniques, and practices from the FinTech and IT industries that can be applied to building robust, high-quality actuarial models. This session will be of particular interest to actuaries engaged in 'in-house' model development, managers of modeling teams, and actuaries interested in software development.

Description: The focus of the webcast on Modeling Long–Term Medical Trends for Valuation Purposes was a discussion of the underlying methodology of the model, a walk through of the actual model, and a review of the considerations for its practical usage by actuaries. The running time of this video is 1 hour and 3 minutes. It is a presentation of slides without audio.

Description: Asset cash flow modeling and asset assumptions are growing in importance with PBR especially considering the low interest rate environment. The Academy’s Life Practice Council and Life Valuation Committee have formed a Low Interest Rate Asset Adequacy Testing Task Force which has conducted an industry survey to raise awareness and summarize the actuarial best practices for financial reporting actuaries practicing in today’s very low interest rate environment. As the scrutiny on the asset side ratchets up, actuaries must consider how best to develop the asset assumptions as well as model the reinvestment and disinvestment strategies. Coherent assumptions and modeling practices across modeling exercises are expected while respecting the purpose of each calculation.

Description: As the portion of inforce business valued under PBR grows, it becomes increasingly important to not only calculate reserves for point-in-time valuation but to also project reserves. This is especially critical for actuarial functions such as pricing, business strategy/forecasting, and asset adequacy testing. In this session, we will review PBR projection techniques based on work completed by the American Academy of Actuaries when developing the PBA Projection Practice Note. In addition, this session will examine specific challenges that can arise when actuaries use models to project reserves at future dates. Topics covered include mortality improvement, credibility, scenario generation, starting asset projections, and various other technical issues related to nested modeling requiring both inner and outer loop projections.

Description: Claims are insurers deepest and richest transactional data – yet we rarely unleash the full potential of this data. In this session, we will discuss potential sources and attributes of claims data, traditional approaches alongside new analytic techniques and how to integrate models into existing claims management processes. During this session, the presenters will discuss different areas of how machine learning can drive significant value unleashing the potential in claims data, these include data capture, claims management and workflow design as well as behaviour prediction. In addition, the audiences will also have opportunity to learn different use cases of how claims models taking advantage of machine learning, such as foreign death fraud detection and critical illness triage.

Description: This session is a primer on how to apply Gestalt psychology to display quantitative information to improve neural receptiveness. While much of brain functioning is still a mystery to psychologists and neuroscientists, we do understand a great deal about which parts of the brain engage or disengage given visual cues. Actuaries are often tasked with presenting very technical information and are prone to focus more on the substance of numerical data rather than a pictorial presentation based on neural preferences. This presentation will discuss how to display quantitative information more effectively tailored to these preferences.

Description: As the Valuation Manual continues to evolve and PBR standards for additional products are drafted and incorporated, it will become increasingly important for companies to understand where the requirements are consistent across products, as well as how they differ. This session will scan the life (VM-20) and annuity (VM-21, VM-22) PBR standards across the Valuation Manual to compare and contrast key requirements. Attendees will understand where common methods and techniques can be used across products and platforms. Attendees will also be better positioned to consider assumption and margin setting, asset and derivative modeling, and model efficiency techniques for all types of principles-based valuations. Additionally, this session will profile specific challenges that can arise when actuaries use models to project PBR reserves at future dates for internal planning, pricing, and projections across life and annuity businesses.