Description: The definition of simplified issue business developed by the Society of Actuaries and the Academy of Actuaries.

Description: The Society of Actuaries Research Institute (SOA) and LIMRA are soliciting surrender and lapse experience for individual Term and Whole Life policies for calendar years 2015 through 2022 to be used to complete a 2015-2022 Term and Whole Life Lapse and Surrender Experience Study (Study).

Description: As we step out of a historical pandemic that put words like life expectancy and mortality rate on everyone's vocabulary, we suffer some measure of intellectual PTSD. This dark period magnifies our cognitive bias as we try to understand future mortality, a key variable both for life insurance and pension plans. Does our propensity to quantify and the attractiveness of new predictive modeling tools cloud our judgment? Check out a reflection framework and insights on scientific discoveries that will allow you to develop plausible scenarios that will enrich your thought process. The panelist will start by presenting what is new when we think about future mortality. We will then facilitate the generation of plausible scenarios by the audience and explain how we evaluate them. There will be no answers, but the relevance of your mortality questions will definitely improve.

Description: Highlight the importance of assigning granular policyholder behavior assumptions to cohorts of a block that behave differently for universal life products. The case study assumption testing will focus on potential cash flow impacts of surrender, lapse and premium persistency behavior— individually and combined. The case study will be based on testing data related to typical demographics for a ULSG product and not on any specific company data.

Description: In the second quarter of 2022, publicly traded life insurers reported some of their best financial results since the pandemic began. COVID-19-related claims fell sharply in many product categories. Sales, which had taken a big hit, showed significant improvement as well, though not always to pre-pandemic levels. Sales activity was enough, however, for industry executives to report confidently in their quarterly conference calls that in this regard the worst consequences of the pandemic are over.

Description: This paper concerns policyholder dividends on traditional participating life insurance products in regulatory contexts similar to those in the United States and Canada. This paper also touches on annuity products. It was prepared for use in the educational curriculum of the Society of Actuaries. Dividend actuaries seeking references to writings on policyholder dividends to refresh their perspective may also find it useful.

Description: This report describes the main features of structured settlement annuities in North America and current actuarial practices and issues related to this product. It was prepared for use in the educational curriculum of the Society of Actuaries.

Description: A summary article about the SOA Research Institute's participation in the summer 2024 NAIC national meeting in Chicago.

Description: This article examines the changes in U.S. regulatory reserve and risk-based capital requirements that will significantly impact the insurance industry and practicing actuaries. It summarizes activity related to principles-based reserves and risk-based capital initiatives during 2005.

Description: The paper describes a cost-benefit analysis to determine the value of electronic health records (EHRs) in life insurance accelerated underwriting programs. Sample cases from a carrier were underwritten pre-EHR and post-EHR and the mortality savings estimates from risk class changes using EHRs was compared to procurement costs. Results were developed to cover a range of scenarios. Factors to consider for carriers evaluating the cost-effectiveness of using EHRs in their own accelerated underwriting programs are also described.