Description: For over a decade, the low interest rate environment in the U.S. has shaped the life insurance industry. Challenges in finding reasonable yields on investment-grade assets have defined insurer decisions on product designs and business mix. Now, we see a material shift in the interest rate environment, with the 10-year U.S. Treasury rate increasing nearly 3% from 2020 lows. In this follow-up to ImpACT 2021's popular Interest Rates May Be Rising...Now What Do We Do?, join us as we investigate the industry's response to the shifting interest rate environment with respect to pricing and product design, inforce and capital management, and the M&A and reinsurance markets. Have insurers been altering product designs and management actions to take advantage of the increased investment yield on long-term assets? Or are we seeing business-as-usual? How have the changes in rates impacted policyholder behavior? What are the benefit and risk of the rising interest rate for life insurers? We will also discuss developments in the M&A and closed block reinsurance market as (re)insurers continue to navigate the evolving economy. Gain an understanding of the impact that the new interest rate environment has had on life insurance and annuity pricing and product design, inforce and capital management, and the M&A and reinsurance markets.

Description: The NAIC is attempting to transition to a new economic scenario generator. The process has been ongoing for several years and many interesting challenges have emerged along the way. Get an overview of where this transition is at and what comparatives have been established between the existing and proposed economic scenario generators through scenario releases and field testing. A significant amount of discussion and investigation has been done concerning acceptance testing for interest rates, equities and corporate bond returns.

Description: Cost is a key outcome metric used by actuaries and others to determine the value of a benefit or program in health insurance. However, typically, costs assessed include only the direct costs of the program, not any indirect costs or savings, such as those associated with reduced spending on other services.

Description: Recently, life insurers have seen a lot of change in their business model. Whether it be new accounting rules (e.g., long-duration targeted improvements [LDTI]) or new capital charges (e.g., structured equity tranche), companies are being forced to reconsider how they invest their assets. Today's session will help attendees understand how companies are using modelling software to help understand the impact of these changes on both their existing portfolio and potential changes that these new regulations may lead to. By attending, attendees will get a better understanding of: - How life insurers' asset allocation decisions are different than other financial companies (e.g., banks, pension funds, P&C companies) - How these changes may impact the risk vs. reward tradeoffs that life insurers' face - How these companies can use modelling software to help evaluate these potential impacts

Description: Attendees will learn how carriers and InsurTechs interact with private equity (PE), banks, and other investors who are increasingly interested in taking on traditional insurance risks. The introduction includes a review of recent large transactions, trends in InsurTech funding, and a primer on a typical transaction. There will also be a discussion amongst a panel of experts on the 'why' behind recent trends and future outlooks. Some specific questions we'll answer: Is this a good thing for the insurance industry? How are these trends impacted by interest rates? Where do actuaries fit in? How can a PE/bank investment be set up for success?

Description: Occasionally, in the financial reporting world the stars align, and insurers get the opportunity to leverage their financial results and cashflows across multiple reporting use cases. Such opportunity came about with implementation of the U.S. generally accepted accounting practices (GAAP) long-duration targeted improvements (LDTI) accounting standard, that required companies to move away from locked-in assumptions for traditional life and limited-pay products and produce best estimate liability cashflows for these business lines.

Description: The instructors in this boot camp session will highlight the SOA's work on an updated Medicaid underwriting margin model. This research project includes an excel model, a set of instructions and a paper describing the key components of underwriting margin, including cost of capital and risk margin.

Description: It goes without saying that the analysis of data is a key aspect of actuarial practice, but do traditional actuarial approaches allow us to see the whole picture? Effective data analysis is also key to the identification of health disparities and measuring progress on health equity. Actuaries and others analyzing data for health equity purposes find themselves looking at data differently.

Description: In this session, the panelists discuss several common cognitive biases that can adversely impact the capital allocation decision process, introducing the notions of time, accounting convention, positivity, hierarchy, and social proof in describing them. Historical case examples of sub-optimal capital allocation are then explored, identifying the contributing behavioral factors including the simultaneous confluence of multiple factors. The panelists will close the session with several suggestions for attendees to consider for incorporation into their decision-making processes. At the conclusion of the session, attendees will be able to: - Learn common cognitive biases that impact capital allocation decisions - Differentiate which biases impact different aspects of the capital allocation process - Build awareness of biases affecting capital allocation decision models - Mitigate cognitive biases present in decision making processes

Description: Climate equity will be achieved when the unequal burdens worsened by climate change on disadvantaged populations and the communities in which they live are recognized and addressed. These disadvantaged populations include lower-income groups, children, the disabled, and the elderly, and are they often rural.