Description: The article was written to address a concern that the author had that reinsurance considerations were being relegated to the back of the product development cycle. He was concerned that reinsurance input on benefit design, underwriting and pricing was not getting into the process. From Small Talk Newsletter, November 2005, Issue No. 25.

Description: Highlights of the Smaller Insurance Company Section's significant contributions at recent Society of Actuaries' events

Description: In this session, attendees will learn about the state of the developing reinsurance market for Pension Risk Transfer/Group Annuities in the United States. Discover fundamentals of the primary (group annuity) market and evaluate market forces influencing the lack of significant reinsurance volume of the same nature. This will include a compare and contrast to the PRT and PRT reinsurance markets in other regions that have seen material secondary market volume (such as the UK).

Description: There is a clear consumer need for long-term care (LTC) coverage. Combo life/LTC products sought to meet that need when stand-alone LTC coverages became more difficult and more expensive to get. Combo life/LTC are built to be more sustainable, allowing for more alignment of interests between the policyholder and insurer. However, combo life/LTC are typically on a universa life (UL) chassis with extensive secondary guarantees, and several were withdrawn from the market in the recent past because of very low interest rates. A couple of carriers have used the variable UL chassis which are still in market. Interest rates have also risen dramatically. The opportunity may be present for innovation in this area that leads to sustainable products. Join the conversation as experts in this area discuss the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in developing and marketing these products.

Description: Experts from both the direct and reinsurance side of the table will provide an overview of final expense products and their key features, as well as share experiences that have informed best practices when designing, selling, managing, monitoring and reinsuring these products. Trends in distribution, underwriting tools and other competitive factors will be considered through the lens of managing risk while remaining competitive in the market.

Description: Mortality improvement for the U.S. general population has stagnated in recent years and then further deteriorated with the COVID-19 pandemic. However, mortality improvement by socioeconomic factors such as education and income has varied widely during this time period. Explore with us cause-of-death mortality rate trends as well as overall mortality improvement trends by different socioeconomic factors. Join a discussion on approaches that companies can take to proxy the insured population by applying socioeconomic factors to the general population with the goal of better understanding future mortality trends for the insured population.

Description: ReFocus is an annual global conference for senior-level life insurance and reinsurance executives hosted jointly by ACLI and the Society of Actuaries (SOA). This event features top-notch speakers, thought-provoking sessions, and superior networking opportunities.

Description: This session will uncover the mystical findings that can be uncovered when leveraging a reinsurer. Insights discussed during this session include mortality at high face amounts, interactions between lapses and mortality, mortality improvement on low face amounts, fully underwritten mortality by Resident State and more. At the conclusion of this session, attendees will be able to identify where reinsurer data can help uncover insights, how mortality and lapse knowledge can improve product performance and what some mortality results can come from reinsurance research.

Description: This session will summarize the key National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) activities with a primary focus on updates to principle-based reserve valuations and appointed actuary topics. Hear insights into the current set of activities and initiatives being considered and/or adopted by the NAIC Life Actuarial Task Force (LATF) and the NAIC Risk Based Capital Working Group.

Description: "Asset-intensive reinsurance has become a focal point of actuarial, administrative and regulatory consideration in recent years. This session will walk through a real-world reinsurance case study of an illustrative transaction - from the initial actuarial due diligence process of the cedant's subject business through onboarding and integrating that business into the reinsurer's platform. Topics will include actuarial due diligence, experience studies and assumption setting, model validation, model development and onboarding of the subject business. The session aims to provide a variety of insights into this process across different business units and functions. By the end of the session, attendees will have a firm understanding of key transaction-related topics within the context of a real-world example."