Description: The rapid economic development of Asia has ushered in profound lifestyle changes, particularly in urban centers. Increased disposable income, urbanization, and the proliferation of convenient food services have contributed to dietary habits associated with elevated health risks. Among these, insulin resistance (IR)—a metabolic condition linked to diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular diseases—has emerged as a critical yet underrecognized threat. IR is also strongly associated with an increased risk of dementia, particularly Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia. For life and health insurers operating in markets such as Greater China and Southeast Asia, traditional underwriting methods face significant challenges in accurately assessing these evolving risks. This article investigates the limitations of conventional approaches and explores the potential of continuous underwriting methodologies to better align risk assessment with dynamic lifestyle factors.

Description: This report provides an educational background on the process of building predictive models, as well as a detailed presentation of the model results. Predictive models provide a method to capture variation by multiple variables and understand the relationship between these variables. This allows for a deeper understanding of key variables than is possible under a traditional approach.

Description: Most insurers operate in a multi-GAAP world: Many U.S. insurers are regulated on a statutory/risk-basec capital (RBC) basis, report to markets under U.S. GAAP, pay taxes on a tax basis of accounting, and manage their business internally on an economic or other basis. In addition, many have overseas entities exposed to even more reporting bases. Reporting requirements are ever increasing and convergence of frameworks is not a reality in most parts of the world.Learn about a multi-GAAP framework to gain a bottom-up understanding of the differences in reserves and other balance sheet and income statement line items across reporting bases, both now and for future projections/plans. Using such an approach enhances insight into the valuation of the business, removes inconsistencies and results in operational efficiencies in the valuation process. At the conclusion of the session, you will learn technical concepts behind the Multi-GAAP framework and some practical ways to design and implement it.

Description: Statutory and GAAP metrics are useful for regulators, investors, and other external parties who require a consistent basis for viewing snapshots of companies at a point in time, however, their uses are more limited for managers who are tasked with making strategic decisions. Many insurers are turning to internally developed metrics such as value of new business (VNB) for better profitability insights at the point of sale and to understand how new business profitability changes over time. By leveraging existing models and reporting processes, insurers can reduce the additional effort involved, applying VNB toward applications such as pricing, capital allocation, and risk management. Discuss key considerations for developing and using VNB. Begin with a brief overview of VNB, including how VNB addresses specific shortcomings of Stat and GAAP. Next, discuss applications of VNB for life and annuity business and conclude with some implementation case studies.

Description: There is a clear consumer need for long-term care (LTC) coverage. Combo life/LTC products sought to meet that need when stand-alone LTC coverages became more difficult and more expensive to get. Combo life/LTC are built to be more sustainable, allowing for more alignment of interests between the policyholder and insurer. However, combo life/LTC are typically on a universa life (UL) chassis with extensive secondary guarantees, and several were withdrawn from the market in the recent past because of very low interest rates. A couple of carriers have used the variable UL chassis which are still in market. Interest rates have also risen dramatically. The opportunity may be present for innovation in this area that leads to sustainable products. Join the conversation as experts in this area discuss the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in developing and marketing these products.

Description: Come prepared for an engaging workshop where you will have the opportunity to share thoughts on and work through a variety of questions concerning how actuaries must adapt to account for newer underwriting and distribution practices. Seating will be limited for this workshop focused on life actuaries who price and set assumptions for products impacted by new underwriting tools and processes such as accelerated underwriting (AU) or direct-to-consumer (DTC) distribution.

Description: While a rising sea helps all ships, the insurance industry is a ship that hasn't seen much water in the past decade. Examine valuation and product management considerations in a high interest rate environment

Description: The life insurance industry has been dealing with low interest rate environment for many years. As a result, investment incomes have been low but many have found ways to embrace and deal with it. Recently, the interest rates have started to increase and at times are moving rather rapidly. While a rise in interest rates is perceived as a good thing, a rapidly rising interest rate environment can be problematic. Additionally, is 'lower for longer' no longer the norm? Learn more about the recent trend of rising interest rates and what can actuaries do about it in consideration to pricing and risk management.

Description: The Mortality Improvement subgroup of the American Academy of Actuaries’ Life Experience Committee and the Society of Actuaries’ Preferred Mortality Oversight Group Valuation Basic Table Team has released a recommendation for the methodology to use to develop the set of improvement factors to be used in conjunction with the 2008 Valuation Basic table or the 2015 Valuation Basic table for AG-38 purposes for year-end 2020.

Description: Discuss a comparison of the U.S. general and insured population mortality experience and how COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 excess deaths impacted the populations differently. Discover the population mortality experience in the UK with a focus on the recent emergence of excess deaths for non-COVID causes. The long-term implications on the insured population will also be explored. Wrap up with a discussion of different conditions of long COVID, including organ impairments.