Description: Artificial intelligence (AI) presents numerous opportunities in the insurance and financial industries. It also comes with heightened model, operational, legal and compliance, financial, and data risk. In this session, we will discuss speculation that emerging AI capabilities have sparked the fourth industrial revolution, examine what is different about this most recent round of capabilities, and examine why industry experts warn about the heightened risks the use of AI presents. We will review a framework - which includes AI ethical principles, standards, and best practices - to govern the use of AI. This will include a cross-reference of relevant Actuarial Standards of Practice as well as industry guidance like the NAIC Model Bulletin on the Use of AI Systems by Insurers. This framework will help actuaries and insurance professionals gain confidence that - if governed appropriately - we can reap the vast rewards of using AI systems in our industry.

Description: Behavioral Science is a powerful tool to enhance customer experience and improve outcomes across the life insurance value chain. This session will cover the foundations of behavioral concepts in a life insurance context and discuss practical areas that can benefit from behavioral science including customer engagement, disclosure, and retention. The session will leverage recent SOA research and specific experience in communication campaigns and call center best practices to translate theory to quantified results. Attendees will leave with an appreciation for potential challenges and practical steps to measure and demonstrate the value of implementing behavioral science.

Description: This is the first of a two-part article introducing and elaborating an “Adaptor” strategy for ERM. Such a strategy is intended to fulfil two purposes: first, switching among four styles of risk-coping strategies in order to track qualitative changes in a business’s risk environment; and, second, to support the business in navigating with resilience through all the seasons of a business-economic cycle, i.e., of boom, bust, moderate, uncertain. This latter requires careful study of the nature of resilience, the familiar idea of bounce back, and the less familiar idea of bounce forward. Part I of our article is underpinned therefore by a supplementary document (available from https://riskviews.wordpress.com/adaptor-exceptionalism/), which addresses the issue of structural change in a business or economy. It draws heavily on ideas taken from the discipline of control engineering, as well as some from ecology, social anthropology, and economics. The entire two-part article is thus an exercise in cross-disciplinary Systems Thinking.

Description: The second part of a panel discussion on the changes ERM is creating in the actuarial and business worlds. This first part of this discussion appeared in the December/January issue of The Actuary. Topics covered included: the difference between ERM now and risk management of the past, the transformation of the CRO role due to ERM and more. You can find the first part of this series on the SOA Web site at: www. soa.org, Research & Publications, The Actuary Magazine, December 2005, ERM's Wave of Change: Part I.

Description: In this talk, we look at two behavioral aspects: from end customers perspective and through the lens of underwriters. We will examine simple rules to improve the insurance underwriting decision to judge whether a risk is insurable and whether they have impact on increasing underwriting decision quality.

Description: Discover the latest insights on emerging risks in the Indian market with our comprehensive survey report. Uncover key findings on financial volatility, disruptive technology, and climate change, and learn how AI is reshaping risk management. Compare these results with North American trends and explore the optimistic economic outlook for the India market in 2025.

Description: To provide high level information on a book selected and discussed during the December book club session, The Ten Commandments of Risk Leadership. In addition, this article serves as a promotion of the SOA book club as well as the upcoming sessions.

Description: An update on the activities of the JRMS Council.

Description: Discover investing trends across the life and health industry as insurers seek to navigate rapidly changing rate and market environments. BlackRock will present results from its Peer Risk Study, which models industry holdings based on statutory filings at the CUSIP level. Through the Aladdin risk modeling software, expect a production of deep insights into insurer portfolio risk and return characteristics, as well as exploring how they have evolved. Keep an eye out for a partner to present on the evolution from their perspective. Start learning about what is happening on the asset side of the balance sheet across the industry.

Description: Deciding where to spend that next dollar of capital is at the heart of financial management. Executive teams regularly grapple with decisions on whether to purchase a new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, invest in growing a distribution channel, expand into a new geographic area, or develop a new product, among many. The great news is there is no shortage of sound financial theory and logical rationale for making these transformational decisions. Yet business literature is filled with examples of decisions that did not meet expectations, sometimes materially missing the mark when comparing experience to assumptions. This is particularly the case with mergers and acquisitions, where multiple studies have shown that a sizable majority of such transactions do not achieve their intended outcomes. While some of the disappointing returns are attributable to random chance and unfortunate circumstances, a material number of them can be traced back to cognitive issues that arose during the decision-making process. Mental shortcuts or heuristics taken by individual decision-makers in evaluating information, as well as organizational dynamics such as groupthink both contribute to sub-optimal choices involving significant outlays of money. Being aware of these and having established protocols to mitigate against them can substantially improve decision-making around capital allocation and reduce misallocation of funds. In this session, the panelists discuss several common cognitive biases that can adversely impact the capital allocation decision process, introducing the notions of time, accounting convention, positivity, hierarchy, and social proof in describing them. Historical case examples of sub-optimal capital allocation are then explored, identifying the contributing behavioral factors including the simultaneous confluence of multiple factors. The panelists will close the session with several suggestions for attendees to consider for incorporation into their decision-making processes. At the conclusion of the session, attendees will be able to: - Learn common cognitive biases that impact capital allocation decisions - Differentiate which biases impact different aspects of the capital allocation process - Build awareness of biases affecting capital allocation decision models - Mitigate cognitive biases present in decision making processes