Description: An interview with Weili Lu, the president of ARIA

Description: This article summarizes the second Simon Conference for young researchers in Actuarial Science, Risk Management, and Insurance, which took place at Michigan State University last November. The intent is to publicize the event and promote future participation in similar conferences of young researchers. The article will contribute to expanding the horizons of actuarial research performed by the academic community. Participation in the conference also gives professional development opportunity for practicing actuaries.

Description: Life and annuity markets around the world have seen increasingly complex investment-combined products, including universal life, fixed indexed annuities, variable annuities with a wide variety of guaranteed benefits, indexed variable annuities, etc. Insurance companies are facing unprecedented exposure to financial risks in addition to traditional mortality and longevity risks. The risk assessment and modeling for such complex designs by conventional methods often focus heavily on their market competitiveness and profitability. However, there seems to be a lack of quantifiable and systematic approach to assess investment risks associated with investment combined products. The objective of the proposed work is to develop a framework for quantifying and analyzing various forms of contractual designs and showcase different techniques to assess the trade-off between competitive contractual designs and their practical implications with regard to the difficulty of risk management.

Description: Read the April 2017 issue of Expanding Horizons published by the Education and Research Section. Newsletters provide practical information for the working actuary, articles on trends that impact sections and news about section activities.

Description: Discusses some common practices by actuaries and others in the insurance industry that are now undergoing closer regulatory scrutiny.

Description: Author advocates reconsidering the 2005 education syllabus to include the study of modern finance in the syllabus for all actuarial students, not just those specializing in finance, investments, or risk management.

Description: This article discusses the work of the Accreditation Implementation Task Force in developing accreditation standards for university actuarial programs.