Description: As companies implement PBR, this article outlines challenges regarding the treatment of accelerated underwriting under VM-20 and in light of future innovation.

Description: An overall analysis and attribution analysis of the impacts of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act for certain life insurance contracts.

Description: More Efficient Monte Carlo Simulations for Mortality Assumption Testing

Description: The author explores reasons why blocks of business may become legacy blocks and discusses ways to decrease the likelihood of legacy blocks in the future.

Description: This article describes how to apply the XXX Model Regulation in valuing life insurance policies and the proposed Actuarial Standard of Practice ASOP related the regulation.

Description: An update on the principle-based reserves (PBR) process and possible valuation manual adoption, with recommendations to actuaries on how to prepare.

Description: The article discusses recently-issued regulations under section 807 of the Internal Revenue Code, concerning the computation and reporting of reserves. The provisions addressed generally relate to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.

Description: In this article, we explore key insights from Oliver Wyman's 2020 Life PBR Emerging Practices Survey, which provides a broad industry perspective with more than 50 companies participating representing 95 percent of the individual life market (by written premium). Insights include the impact of PBR on reserves and profitability in addition to emerging practices related to product design, assumption development, and methodology decisions.

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: The purpose of this article is to discuss potential issues and considerations that may be encountered with the implementation of VM 20. Crucial considerations include the modeling software used, validation effort, assumptions used, complexity of the process, documentation, and run time. A key takeaway is that an integrated modeling platform with solid automation and asset-liability capabilities is imperative for addressing the issues and considerations encountered.