Description: Even though the 2018 Tax Cut and Job Act significantly simplified the tax valuation methodology, taxation can impact the valuation outcomes and financial decisions. This presentation will start with an overview of the key taxation topics relating to valuation work, and then dive into more complex topics, such as the deferred tax asset/liability handling and reinsurance implications.

Description: Indexed universal life (IUL) continues to be the most popular universal life (UL) product with sales reaching $1B in Q4 2023, according to LIMRA. There is little long-term experience for IUL and many companies value and model IUL just like UL, but there are material potential differences that need to be considered for valuation and projection purposes.

Description: As the size of the life reinsurance market in Bermuda has grown to over half a trillion dollars at the end of 2021, more and more actuaries are getting involved with this 21 square mile North Atlantic island in one way or the other. Come explore a fundamental understanding of the Bermuda solvency framework and an overview of its upcoming changes.

Description: June 2024, AG54 will begin for new RILA sales. This guidance requires companies to determine an interim value that is more aligned with the market value of the position on a daily basis. This discussion will talk through companies adoption of AG54, lessons learned, approaches and integration with the administration system. Additionally this session will discuss how AG54 impacts new product design, reserving and capital implications.

Description: This newsletter article provides an update, as of December 2024, on Financial Reporting Section sponsored research projects in process and those recently completed.

Description: Actuaries can leverage cluster modeling to reduce model runtime and cloud compute costs, which can be a real concern as companies transition from an on-premise grid to a scalable cloud solution. We consider practical considerations associated with clustering, through both US statutory and US GAAP lenses. Lastly, the results from a variable annuity liability clustering case study are presented.

Description: The article discusses the continued popularity of indexed UL insurance and possible reasons why a company's actual indexed UL earnings may be below their original pricing expectations for the product. The article discusses several key items that may be the source of that underperformance (e.g., hedge ineffectiveness, policyholder behavior) and the need to monitor earnings and perform analyses to better understand those potential sources.

Description: Hot Topics in Setting Pension Return Assumptions is the third in a series, following Mathematics of Pension Return Assumption and Inflation, focusing on Effects, Forecasts, and Role in Pension Valuations. What time horizon is more appropriate for Capital Market Assumption (CMA) forecasts: mid-term or long-term time horizon, or a blend of both? How do we map the asset classes of a plan's own investment policy to the asset classes of investment forecasters' CMAs? If we use asset-smoothing for valuation assets, should we use market-driven expected returns or smoothed/average versions of them?

Description: This article outlines how Bermuda advanced in global tax compliance through the enactment of the Bermuda Corporate Income Tax (CIT) Act of 2023, which will take effect for tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2025. The Bermuda CIT rules incorporate key foundational definitions from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) Pillar Two GloBE model rules, while also exhibiting significant differences from Pillar Two. The article discusses the various elections available for taxpayers, key mechanics of the CIT, and the latest administrative guidance released by the Government of Bermuda.

Description: This paper is the first in the Transactions to address itself to the problem of general-purpose financial reporting for life insurance companies. The primary purpose of the paper is to demonstrate how a natural reserve approach may be utilized effectively to adjust life insurance earnings in a manner consistent with GAAP. A second purpose of the paper is to demonstrate earnings patterns obtained by several possible alternative approaches to earnings adjustments. From Society of Actuaries Financial Reporting Monograph, M-AS99-1.