Description: The roots of the crisis are understood on a simplified basis, by 3 Ls: a Lack of accountability b Leverage and c Liquidity. Historically, people requiring mortgages sought their mortgages from local institutions that would conduct the evaluation and hold the risk. Loan officers of these institutions were accountable for the outcomes of their decisions – defaults were a direct reflection on their judgment. Leverage was a second key factor. Institutions guaranteed mortgages against default. The third L, liquidity, because a problem. When property values eventually evidenced their inevitable fall, defaults occurred at historically high rates.

Description: The central question is that of viability. Specifically, is the configuration of life insurers’ products and balance sheets economically viable under current accounting and ongoing market conditions?

Description: The current financial crisis underscores the need for companies to take a sobering look at their approach to risk management. Among the many lessons to be learned, one is immediately clear: The subprime debacle represents a failure in risk management, rather than a failure of risk management.

Description: Property-liability insurers use reinsurance as a cost-efficient substitute for capital, but in a disruptive event, reinsurance prices and availability can change sharply.

Description: This Index covers all Society of Actuaries material published in 1992 and 1993.

Description: The following list indicates the Society of Actuaries publications covered by this Index, the abbreviations used in the citations, and the issues covered.

Description: This article presents some observations on inverted yield curves of U.S. Treasury securities and the correlation of volatility of Treasury security interest rates with their absolute level. The time covered by the study is December 1953 to December 1988. From Society of Actuaries Financial Reporting Monograph, M-AS99-1.

Description: This monograph discusses Present Value Profits PVP with respect to purchase accounting. From Financial Reporting Section Monograph, AS99-1.

Description: This article looks at the areas that affect financial reporting by insurance companies. From Society of Actuaries Financial Reporting Monograph, M-AS99-1.

Description: Chapter 3 of the Price, Waterhouse study contains an extensive collection of descriptive tables. From Study of Public Financial Guarantee Programs, M-FI96-2.