Description: Mortality Table Slope and Future Improvements

Description: This article reviews some of the highlights of th 2010 SOA Annual meeting including the impact on pricing resulting from Solvency II, Market Consistent Valuation of New Business - MCVNB, the latest on mortality, Standards of Practice in product development, managing risk in product design and a regulation update.

Description: In this article, the authors give their overview of sessions that they attended at the June 2012 Life and Annuity Symposium. The sessions discussed are Life Insurance Illustration Regulation (15 years later), Advanced Mortality Topics, and Life and Annuity Product Development Strategies in the Wake of Low Interest Rates.

Description: This article contains a summary of some of the presentations given at the May 2013 SOA Life & Annuity Symposium. This article does not cover all sessions that are related to product development, but shares observations that have been made by various members of the SOA Product Development Section Council.

Description: This article delves into a new line of statistical thinking of the author, that may be useful for product development actuaries. The key concept is how product design can produce products that diversify quickly, meaning that the company can be confident of a profitable product line, based on fewer sales than might be true for other designs.

Description: The article provides a summary of the Taxation Session sponsored sessions at the Life and Annuity Symposium.

Description: In physics and engineering education, Fermi problems require solutions based on good approximate calculations with little or no actual data, involving making justified guesses and deducing bounds without using sophisticated tools. The idea of Fermi problems are of particular relevance to today's actuaries, as pricing, reserving, and financial reporting involve more and more complex stochastic components. The paper discusses some approximate solutions developed in academia in the spirit of Fermi problems.

Description: This report documents the “Constructing Occupational -Specific Life Tables for China” project under the “China Research Topics” proposal.

Description: Predictive models can improve the traditional actuarial assumption-setting process. Data science techniques can provide deeper insights into experience through their ability to identify key drivers, rank importance and account for interactions. The presenters will cover ways in which companies can utilize predictive analytics to set assumptions, including the various methods available and practical approaches for implementation. They will also discuss the advantages and challenges of using predictive models for setting assumptions for life, annuity and disability products.

Description: The presenters in this classic session will explore protection and accumulation products as well discuss the current state of the hybrid Life/LTC market. They will also examine the latest trends and the challenges to innovation and highlight key factors impacting the product actuary including the impact of technology, regulation and competitive environment.