Description: In "Are You Leading Your Actuarial Organization with the Right Mind?" by Tim Hebert, the author explores leading with emotional intelligence amid challenges. Distinguishing between reactive and thoughtful responses, the article underscores the importance of intentional leadership and urges actuarial leaders to develop mindfulness skills. The "right mind" is introduced as a state of emotional intelligence, advocating for leaders to choose thoughtful responses over impulsive reactions. The article delves into the dual nature of the human mind, highlighting the cluttered and reactive "thinking mind" and the neutral "observing mind" that provides a broader perspective. Actuarial leaders are encouraged to leverage their observing minds for intentional and thoughtful decision-making. Emphasizing the balance between leadership and management, the article urges leaders to increase their consciousness levels for objective responses in times of change. Overall, Tim Hebert promotes the mastery of the mind as essential for effective leadership in the actuarial realm, inviting readers to cultivate intentional and mindful approaches even during crises.

Description: What would happen when the use of computerized two-digit date fields used through all of the latter half of the 1900s encountered the date 01/01/2000? No one knew. As Jan. 1, 2000, drew closer, self-preservation forces, competition, liability shifts, and disclaimers heated up essentially across all commercial sectors. The contemporaneous documents of those pressures tell a story about those who did not know the outcome of the Y2K issue, primarily as related to liability, risk and insurance. In this exciting article, Nancy P. James, Licensed Insurance Adviser and Y2K expert, shares the untold story of risk and insurance at the dawn of the Millenium.

Description: Overview of regulations and best practices for governance of PBR valuation processes, including standards, oversight, controls and review related to the PBR analysis

Description: Actuaries can leverage cluster modeling to reduce model runtime and cloud compute costs, which can be a real concern as companies transition from an on-premise grid to a scalable cloud solution. We consider practical considerations associated with clustering, through both US statutory and US GAAP lenses. Lastly, the results from a variable annuity liability clustering case study are presented.

Description: Adjusting GAAP reinsurance reserves to account for reinsurance protection against the events that trigger direct reserve constraints (such as NPR capping or LFPB flooring) can be a challenge any time. Ceding a block of business that is already in force increases the challenge—especially if one of those constraints was already present at inception of the reinsurance. This article builds on previous work (published in the July 2022 and June 2023 issues) to show how to measure initial reinsurance reserves in a way that complies with AICPA guidance and prepares for effective measurement of subsequent changes in the effects of the constraints.

Description: This newsletter article provides an update, as of December 2024, on Financial Reporting Section sponsored research projects in process and those recently completed.

Description: Savings from biosimilars have accelerated significantly in the past few years. There has been a number of relatively recent biosimilar launches that can help to shape our expectations of the financial impact that could result from this year’s big event. Savings from biosimilars have accelerated significantly in the past few years. There has been a number of relatively recent biosimilar launches that can help to shape our expectations of the financial impact that could result from this year’s big event.

Description: This article provides an overview of critical illness insurance: history, product description, and the three primary ways to offer critical illness coverage in the United States. This article also contains an illustration of an issue age premium rate calculation, as well as product features and rating applications specific to the various types of critical illness coverage.

Description: The article documents the efficacy of infra-low frequency neurofeedback regarding how it improves patient no show rates, decreases mental health symptoms by 40% or more, and self-harm and suicidal ideations.

Description: This Q&A article discusses the use of machine learning to analyze unstructured data. Supriya Ramachandra, a data scientist at SIKKA, explains how her team uses natural language processing techniques, technical aspects of neural networks, LSTM modeling, and natural language processing. Machine learning allows for the classification of large amounts of unorganized data, providing actionable information for actuaries.