Description: There will be inflection points in the value of an instrument when interest rates change. These inflection points could materially impact the approximation of value change using ALM metrics. In this part of the seven-part series, I will highlight: • How to identify the inflection points; • the range of rate changes where ALM metrics may be relied upon i.e., the “validity” range, outside of which recalculation of the ALM metrics is required and the potential that one needs to rebalance the portfolio; • a technique to improve on the approximation of value change beyond the validity range; and • a technique to convert non-linear change on the yield curve to be used with duration and convexity.

Description: The 2024 Dangerous Risks survey shows respondents react to recent increases in "old favorite" risks as technology evolves and the environment moves away from the pandemic.

Description: This article is part of a 2 part series on real options analysis (ROA). Before you can understand the limitations of ROA, you must first understand the difference between risk and uncertainty. This article goes into detail explaining the vast differences between the two phenomena.

Description: The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) is working on changes to the health risk-based capital (RBC) formula. Will your RBC ratio improve or deteriorate under the new formula? And what can you do about it?

Description: While the higher general inflation in the broader U.S. economy hasn't emerged in the healthcare market (yet); there is expectations for it to have a lagged impact especially as the full impact of COVID on suppressed utilization emerges. As the healthcare system transitions past COVID, overall costs are expected to trend higher due to overall inflationary pressures as well as new treatments such as the highly anticipated new gene and cell therapies often with costs over millions of dollars.As costs rise, more companies are looking to self-insure their health insurance to control cost increases and are leveraging innovative stop loss programs including captives. Captive insurance markets have seen significant growth and diverse implementations allowing companies to self-fund while managing the risk of large claims and increasing costs. Payers are also looking to control costs and implement value based payment schemes to bend the trend curve and manage costs. Medicare has also adopted new value based payment programs (ACO Reach) which will impact commercial payers and are important to understand. Come gain an understanding of the historical and projected future medical cost drivers including the projected impact of new therapies and then impact on the stop loss markets. Additionally, you'll gain a deeper understanding on how recent innovations in the stop loss market such as the growth in the captive market, level funded and aggregate only products have helped employers manage their costs and overall risk profile.

Description: This article delves into general insurance questions raised by the recent CrowdStrike disruption on computer systems worldwide.

Description: The research provides a modeling framework for assessing the inundation risk of properties and their expected flood damages, thereby laying a foundation for flood insurance pricing. The researchers studied over 50 years of claims data from the National Flood Insurance Program with 2.5 million records and identify property characteristics that predict flood damages for inundated properties. The development of a private flood insurance market benefits from insurers’ ability to better understand and price flood risk. This research takes a closer look at flood risk modeling and flood insurance pricing.

Description: The SOA is interested in understanding how companies are performing scenario analysis, thinking through how various stakeholders (regulators, general public, competitors) could be reacting to a large-scale large-impact event over a multi-year period.

Description: Emerging risks are new or evolving, so require novel treatment by risk teams. The results from the 15th annual survey of emerging risks, sponsored by the Canadian Institute of Actuaries (CIA), Society of Actuaries (SOA) and Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS) will be shared. Long-term trends and highlights from open-ended questions will be shared, along with analysis of how the practitioner can use this information. While risk appetite statements profess a stable and consistent process, research shows that companies rotate through methodologies with management teams and that the most successful teams have the flexibility to adjust to current conditions.

Description: The presenters will discuss the current interest rate market environment and what insurance companies can do to best protect themselves from interest rate risk. The presenters, industry leaders in financial risk management, will explore how different products and strategies—including swaps, options, and other derivatives—are being used in today’s market. The discussion will include how to model and measure interest rate risk, how to quantify hedge effectiveness, and how to improve hedging operations.