Description: Insight into National Strategic Plan for the Insurance Industry in Argentina (PlaNes 2012-2020), with details of a meeting in May 2012 that provided an excellent platform for the actuarial community to voice their perspective.

Description: The International Section Council in conjunction with the Actuaries without Borders section of the IAA and the Azerbaijan Actuarial Association recently sponsored a three-day seminar focused on retirement benefits in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Description: This essay examines several key factors that have contributed to China’s success in the economic reform spanning the past three decades and the double-edged nature of these factors going forward.

Description: Chairperson reviews the section's goals and mission.

Description: It's a given that actuaries have well-developed technical skills. Early career development for actuaries is focused on building a strong technical and industry foundation. However, once that development has occurred an actuary still has most of their career left. Many want to remain technical experts operating in an environment they love. Others, either by design or otherwise, end up in leadership and management roles. In fact, actuaries are typically very well positioned to become senior leaders within their organizations. However, while the technical development of actuaries is a well-defined path, leadership development is not. The competencies that make for good technical actuaries aren't necessarily the competencies that make good leaders. An actuary striving for a broad leadership role needs to build strong communication and influencing skills, as well as strategic and general business skills. They must be able to quickly adapt to being submerged in a fast-paced, results-oriented environment. This workshop is intended to educate mid-level actuaries on the key characteristics that define good leaders and how to focus on building the skills necessary to successfully transition into a leadership role. At the conclusion of the session, attendees will be able to: - Determine if a leadership path is right for them - Learn the key competencies that make good leaders - Understand how to build the skills necessary to move from technical expert to leader

Description: Article is about a new course developed in actuarial science taught at Columbia University. Course covers traditional health actuarial projects but is expanded to cover issues for a health insurance company executive (e.g., CEO, CFO, etc.). The course also includes studying of other international healthcare systems plus healthcare reform (PPACA). Students were involved in research projects, including healthcare reform and international health systems. Students also had to teach a course as part of their final exam.

Description: This article by Carlos Arocha explores the protection gap throughout Latin America for coverage against natural catastrophic events. As climate change has increased both the frequency and severity of these events, coverage gaps have weighed on both household and public sector economics. In the article, Carlos highlights different methods for evaluating the size of this protection gap, and discusses a number of different ideas for closing this gap, through private sector initiatives, public sector changes, or private-public partnerships.

Description: This article outlines and summarizes research from Swiss Re about the prevalence of the Health Protection Gap throughout Asia, with a particular focus on China. Authors Robert Burr and David Zhang share key statistics on the scope of the gap, which is more than 800Bn USD in China alone, and discuss the role that technology and private-public partnership can play in reducing this gap over time. Readers will come away with an understanding of the scale of the problem within the Asia region as well as new ideas on how to solve similar problems within their own region.

Description: International case study discussing an innovative distribution method in India.

Description: The SOA is committed to meeting member and candidate needs outside North America.