Description: To remain relevant, life insurers need to understand changing consumer behavior and the shifting sands of buying triggers. The presenters will look at consumer studies, both U.S. and global, that reveal changing behaviors that influence the decision to buy or not buy life insurance. They will look at four demographic and economic categories including Millennials, Generation X, Boomers and the Silent Generation and how these generational groups do or don't differ in their feelings and behaviors around life and health. The presenters will address new growth opportunities for companies that align their value proposition to these changing attitudes. They will explore opportunities around health and wellness to increase policy holder engagement and share insight into generational attitudes around wearables and the sharing of personal data.

Description: Digital is the main reason over half of the companies on the Fortune 500 have disappeared since 2000." (CEO Accenture). We cannot be sure how global technology megatrends will disrupt the life insurance industry, but we can be certain that the future will not look like today. As large quantities of available data are no longer owned by insurance companies and statistical techniques become more accessible to non-statisticians, the pressure to keep up with technological advancement increases. Life actuaries must think critically about and be prepared for the coming changes and position themselves as leaders in an industry lagging behind in new technology adoption.

Description: This article was commissioned by the Society of Actuaries Pension Section Research Team to provide practitioners and researchers with a listing of Web sites containing information about defined benefit plans outside the United States. It also lists some non-Internet information sources. The research team’s primary motivation for the article was its belief that readily available comparative information on the pension environment in other countries, including current design and funding issues, would benefit practitioners and researchers dealing with similar issues.

Description: This article contains the statistics of the equity premium or market risk premium [MRP] uses in 2011 for 56 countries. The paper also contains the references used to justify the MRP and comments from persons that both use and do not use MRP.

Description: Overview of IASB Accounting for Insurance Contracts

Description: Feature article discussing the impact of the crisis that started in 2008 on pension plans and pension policies in a variety of countries.

Description: This article contains material excerpted from a speech given on June 17, 1997 by Tom Kelly, Senior Vice President and Managing Director of LIMRA International, at a LOMA/LIMRA Strategic Issues Conference in Singapore. The article includes demographic and economic data for various countries to illustrate the potential for growth in various Asian markets.

Description: The International Section Council is pleased to announce the winners of the Country Feature Award held for the Ambassadors by the section. First place went to the Ambassador in Vietnam.

Description: Deferred bonus policyholder dividend reserves arise because “the policyholders’ share of net income … that cannot be distributed to stockholders shall be excluded from stockholders’ equity” by establishing a reserve. This article provides background on local minimum policyholder participation practices in the US and Europe, presents relevant accounting issues and discuss the two different accounting interpretations and make a recommendation as to which the authors feel is most appropriate at this point in time.

Description: This newsletter contains several articles: The Institute of Actuaries of Japan thanks the SOA Malaysia updates on RBC An update on the SOA international experience survey regulations changing in Bermuda, and An update from the Swedish Actuarial Society Aktuarieforeningen.