Description: Most actuaries deal with model development at some point in their career. However, very few of us have proper training in programming, software engineering or software shop operations. Explore topics, techniques, and practices from the FinTech and IT industries that can be applied to building robust, high-quality actuarial models. This session will be of particular interest to actuaries engaged in 'in-house' model development, managers of modeling teams, and actuaries interested in software development.

Description: Claims are insurers deepest and richest transactional data – yet we rarely unleash the full potential of this data. In this session, we will discuss potential sources and attributes of claims data, traditional approaches alongside new analytic techniques and how to integrate models into existing claims management processes. During this session, the presenters will discuss different areas of how machine learning can drive significant value unleashing the potential in claims data, these include data capture, claims management and workflow design as well as behaviour prediction. In addition, the audiences will also have opportunity to learn different use cases of how claims models taking advantage of machine learning, such as foreign death fraud detection and critical illness triage.

Description: Asset cash flow modeling and asset assumptions are growing in importance with PBR especially considering the low interest rate environment. The Academy’s Life Practice Council and Life Valuation Committee have formed a Low Interest Rate Asset Adequacy Testing Task Force which has conducted an industry survey to raise awareness and summarize the actuarial best practices for financial reporting actuaries practicing in today’s very low interest rate environment. As the scrutiny on the asset side ratchets up, actuaries must consider how best to develop the asset assumptions as well as model the reinvestment and disinvestment strategies. Coherent assumptions and modeling practices across modeling exercises are expected while respecting the purpose of each calculation.

Description: As the portion of inforce business valued under PBR grows, it becomes increasingly important to not only calculate reserves for point-in-time valuation but to also project reserves. This is especially critical for actuarial functions such as pricing, business strategy/forecasting, and asset adequacy testing. In this session, we will review PBR projection techniques based on work completed by the American Academy of Actuaries when developing the PBA Projection Practice Note. In addition, this session will examine specific challenges that can arise when actuaries use models to project reserves at future dates. Topics covered include mortality improvement, credibility, scenario generation, starting asset projections, and various other technical issues related to nested modeling requiring both inner and outer loop projections.

Description: Authored by a MIB Solutions team of Tom Rhodes, Stuart Klugman, Marianne Purushotham and Stacy Gill, the report summarizes the results of a study on the application and adoption of credibility theory within the life insurance and annuity industry. In addition to the report, numerical examples related to the application of credibility to company mortality and lapse data are provided in the four Excel files. This excel spreadsheet is a numerical example relating to the application of Credibility for lapses by policy for limited fluctuation. Please see the SOA website research section for the full report on Credibility Theory Practices.

Description: This report describes a simple way to construct a bivariate copula with specified marginals and partially specified dependence. For example, the method allows one to model tail behavior scenarios while holding the core of the joint distribution fixed. An Excel workbook named CopulaExample.xls is provided to illustrate the method, including its use in Monte Carlo simulation.

Description: This research report is a summary of an online survey and follow-up discussions with survey respondents on the current state of actuarial modeling controls within U. S. and Canadian life insurance and annuity companies. The current state was then compared to the results from the 2012 survey on this topic to examine the evolution in actuarial model controls and governance. The report also provides an industry assessment and proposes considerations for enhancing the current state towards a well-controlled governance framework.

Description: This risk bulletin, published by the Society of Actuaries, provides insights and expertise on critical business issues from industry leading enterprise risk management actuaries.

Description: 2011 SOA Enterprise Risk Management Symposium, Chicago. In this paper, a multivariate quasi-negative binomial distribution is proposed to model frequency dependence among different risk types. The operational risk diversification effect is illustrated through frequency dependency modeled by the bivariate quasi-negative binomial distribution under a framework of Monte Carlo simulation.

Description: The Product Development Section, the Financial Reporting Section, the Modeling Section and the Committee on Life Insurance Research are pleased to present new research on modeling and forecasting cause-of-death mortality. Authored by a Milliman team led by Alexandre Boumezoued, the report develops a framework for forecasting cause specific death rates. Included also is a Cause of Deaths Forecasting Tool and a user guide for the tool.