Description: Products that serve consumers are increasingly complex, creating a real need to help management understand risk exposure in real time. The root of the dilemma is that modeling the entire population, which is feasible with sophisticated computing technology, simply does not offer a practical response time. New modeling techniques such as replicated stratified sampling may help executives better understand risk.

Description: Summary of the health section council’s research project to assess the accuracy of commonly used IBNR estimation methods over a wide range of scenarios.

Description: Commentary on practical observations resulting from constructing and running Economic Capital models. Possible standardization of assumptions and result interpretation are morphing even though use of E.C. models has now been around for years.

Description: Interview with Ryan Krisac, director of model controls at Penn Mutual Life.

Description: Feature article discussing new approaches to actuarial modeling.

Description: A discussion of the limitations of the use of spreadsheets versus formal programs in actuarial processes. including limited documentation, inability to incorporate new features without significant coding and subtle bugs that may appear.

Description: Summary of the SOA research project on PBR Simplified Methods. Describes the multi-risk scenario generator, central estimate assumptions, assumption objectivity measures, and regulatory demonstrations per VM-20.

Description: This report summarizes the key findings and data points from the selected articles. Included for each article are the report’s abstract along with any empirical data available from the study that can help support an actuarial model that identifies the relationship between lifestyle behaviors, health risk conditions and health outcomes.

Description: The next evolution of actuarial systems in the U.S. will likely be a move toward a single system solution. This article defines a single system solution and illustrates how models can be shared across actuarial functions, the potential benefits of a single system solution, and describes potential mitigation strategies to address typical actuarial concerns.