Description: The author summarizes certain presentations at the ERM II Systemic Risk Workshop. The key objective of the workshop was to develop recommendations that could serve as input to regulators, legislators and other policy makers in designing and implementing systemic risk regulation that can prevent future financial crises.

Description: There will be no easy resolution to the current trade friction between the U.S. and China. If anything, the motivations for increasing protectionism are set to intensify. What are these motivations? Where is this trade war headed? And what impact could this have on economies and financial markets?

Description: There is widespread acknowledgement in the insurance industry that cyber risk remains an untamed and seemingly ever-growing beast. It is also unique in the family of risk exposures faced by insurers in that it is both an emerging risk and an emerged risk. What are companies doing to keep on top of this risk? What are actuaries doing to contribute to cyber risk management, and what can we learn from other industries and disciplines?

Description: Retirees will face the societal issue of inadequate savings with likely insufficient time to rectify the situation. They need immediate growth, but also the disciplines of risk management. They typically do not know how to engage with these two aspects in a harmonious manner on their own. Insurance companies are in the business of providing the solution but regulators have been clamping down in favor of simpler and more transparent products. In addition, the market reality over the last decade has been that insurers have stock betas at a multiple to the general markets with PE ratios well below. A panel of senior professionals from writers of retirement product business will present their vision of how the insurance industry can address the above dilemma, including the risks underlying the writing of the business, impact of financial markets, and regulations in the development of the business.

Description: Regulatory change and increased focus on internal risk management are driving a renewed interest in model efficiency. In this session, we will review several new and existing tools, that show significant promise for advanced modeling of equity linked products. These include: • Clustering • Use of unique--and potentially a different number of--scenarios for each policy • Semi Monte Carlo (SMC) – this is a proprietary technique that is similar to a combination of Monte Carlo and numeric integration • Using a neural network approach to optimize some of the more complex and manual aspects of clustering and improve the fit of the clustered model • Combining SMC with the use of unique scenarios per policy

Description: Risk management techniques such as stress testing and setting capital targets are fairly well established for life insurers; however, the implementation of these techniques can vary considerably. A fundamental question is how to manage multiple valuation perspectives, and the list of possibilities keeps growing. Companies can potentially consider some or all of the following: U.S. reporting measures (Stat, GAAP), internal measures (EV, VNB, economic capital), international reporting measures (IFRS), rating agency models or other developing standards (ICS, NAIC group capital). This session will begin with a quick overview of the defining characteristics of different valuation frameworks. We will then provide more focused and practical considerations for managing risk and capital under different frameworks, using specific examples to highlight key trade offs.

Description: The presenters will discuss the current interest rate market environment and what insurance companies can do to best protect themselves from interest rate risk. The presenters, industry leaders in financial risk management, will explore how different products and strategies—including swaps, options, and other derivatives—are being used in today’s market. The discussion will include how to model and measure interest rate risk, how to quantify hedge effectiveness, and how to improve hedging operations.

Description: The articles discusses how Principles-based approaches PBA to setting reserves and capital can be combined with Enterprise Risk Management to create a competitive advantage for an insurance company. Those companies can leverage these models by combining unique risks and strategies to measure and manage risk.

Description: Building from the Emerging Risk Survey categories, this article addresses ways that infrastructure can support economic growth from the viewpoint of environmental, financial, geopolitical, societal and technological factors.

Description: This article describes how insurers can expand the reach of their efforts with regard to Economic Capital EC into the broader enterprise risk management process. Some experts contend that can be done by shifting the focus towards value. EC has the potential to shed new light on valuable opportunities for insurers.