Description: Market consistent valuations require path-dependent discounting for scenarios. IFRS 17's requirement to discount best-estimate cashflows using locked-in rates could give non-sensical results in many instances. This article describes a technique for calibrating each of the scenario's cashflows so that they can be discounted with other discount factors or curves without distorting the value of underlying options and guarantees.

Description: What is a "super" model? How do we develop, maintain, and visualize them? What is the difference between models and assumptions? Most importantly, how can we use all of this to quantifiably improve risk management?

Description: The editors preview the articles in the February 2010 issue of Health Watch.

Description: “Many commentators have suggested that firms need to do stress tests to examine their vulnerability to adverse situations that are not within the data set used to parameterize their risk models. We suggest the adop¬tion of a terminology to describe stress tests and also a meth¬odology that can be adopted by any risk model user to test and communicate a test of the stability of model results.”

Description: David shares his thoughts on using Microsoft's High Performance Computing Server, or HPCS, to cluster computer resources, improve timely performance, and reduce actuarial modeling costs.

Description: This paper derives limited fluctuations credibility results for the Generalized Linear Model GLM and the extended case of generalized linear mixed model GLMM. It shows how credibility depends on the sample size, the distribution of covariates, and the link function. This provides a mechanism to obtain confidence intervals for the GLM and GLMM estimators.

Description: This article provides an overview of the commonly used structural credit risk modeling approach that is less familiar to the actuarial community.

Description: This article talks about the role that models played in the subprime meltdown and the subsequent crisis in the financial markets in general. The models failed to provide information about the magnitude of potential 'black swans'. Extreme Value Theory [EVT] is described as a potential solution to this error.

Description: The Delphi Method is discussed in detail. The method attempts to filter out the consensus bias that can result from societal forces by employing a technique whereby an anonymous collection of opinions is used, supplemented by feedback loops that can be used to influence outcomes.