Description: The global doubling of information content has been estimated to occur at a rate of every 12 hours, and conceivably faster. This ‘infowhelm’ is a double-edged sword for insurers. While maximization of the global knowledge base can fuel innovation, it can occur only in the context of reasonable cost for a higher benefit. The insurance industry – underwriters and actuaries in particular – are challenged to constantly examine new innovations that promise to raise confidence and protective value for insurability, within legal limits. This report aims to be the first of several to alert the SOA of promising innovations for the profession.

Description: Indexed Universal Life ('IUL') has commanded a substantial share of life insurance sales since it was first introduced nearly 25 years ago. Even today, despite rising interest rates, IUL remains popular. It was one of the only products whose sales grew in 2022. Today's IUL products bear only passing resemblance to those offered when the product was first introduced, with updates to product design driven by regulatory and economic changes.

Description: Stay current with the latest mortality trends and practices in this wide-ranging session, covering research performed by the SOA and their collaborators, including recent research from the SOA's Individual Life Experience Committee. Topics will include mortality improvement, mortality by socioeconomic category, cause of death analysis, and insurance company life experience quintile analysis.

Description: At the end of December 2020, Congress enacted the Consolidated Appropriates Act, 2021, which included revisions to Section 7702. Effective for policies issued after December 31, 2020, the fixed 4% and 6% minimum annual effective rates under these tests were changed to refer to a market-based rate called the “insurance interest rate”. For contracts issued in 2021, the insurance rate was set to 2% - defined as the lower of the Section 7702 applicable federal interest rate based on the 60-month period ending December 2019 (2%) and the Section 7702 valuation interest rate in effect for 2020 (3.5%). This reduction in the rates used for compliance testing required significant product, operational, and technology changes for companies to reach product compliance. After 2021, the insurance interest rate is redetermined annually with a minimum change floor.

Description: How do you go about designing a new product? Behavioral Science is an often overlooked tool in enhancing product design and using a Discrete Choice Experiment (DCE) can give you insights to customer preferences and their willingness to pay for features. The result of this work is a product explicitly designed with your customers and market in mind.

Description: Join us for a lively discussion on how accelerated underwriting (AU) practices have evolved over time and specifically because of COVID-19.

Description: The qualification of life insurance under Sections 7702 and 7702A can often be complex and result in inadvertent instance of noncompliance for life insurance companies. This session with explore the complexities of product tax compliance from a due diligence perspective as well as discuss other alternatives companies may have as they administer reductions in benefit under Section 7702A.

Description: This article looks at the public's difficulty in recognizing what they need to achieve financial security and how the insurance industry's products fulfill those needs.

Description: This article discusses the proper slope of mortality tables, especially at the high attained ages.

Description: Chairperson’s column describing activities the Product Development section has undertaken to date.