Description: The current coronavirus pandemic has caused a number of challenges for life insurers and this article summarizes the operational challenges, namely in two areas. First, the article will discuss the challenges companies are facing to collect traditional underwriting evidence and potential short-term solutions used to overcome these limitations. Second, the actions companies are taking to alleviate the financial difficulties customers may have paying premiums will be addressed.

Description: A paper demonstrating how to obviate the need for market timing strategies in variable annuity products by judicious use of product design. The paper presents the premise behind the product design, provides numerical examples, then explores possible extensions of the concept to produce more sophisticated variable annuity plans based on guarantees of investment outcomes.

Description: Understanding the volatility associated with audit samples, as well as breaking out the different contributors to estimated mortality impact are vital tools in helping actuaries and underwriters make informed decisions about less invasive underwriting programs. This article walks through a sample example demonstrating how to calculate these metrics.

Description: The article summarizes 2013 survey results of company assumptions for term products in the post-level period. The focus is on product design, shock lapse assumptions, and mortality deterioration assumptions. This article features highlights from the larger SOA-sponsored research project on this topic published in 2013 that compiled end-of-2012 assumption data from 41 companies. This content may prove useful to product development actuaries as they consider their current post-level term assumptions.

Description: Long-term guarantees place unanticipated burdens on companies because of the degree to which the environment can change. These risks are compounded when combined with estimation of policyholder behavior, especially when solid experience data is not available. When risks are properly reflected, long-term guarantees do not always provide value to the customer in excess of the manufacturing cost. The product development actuary is challenged to compare customer value to company cost and use that measurement to identify novel ways to design products to better serve customers.