Description: This article explains how one company, American Life of New York, is using innovative applications to improve and speed the underwriting process.

Description: Discussion of the findings of a survey conducted by Deloitte Consulting on the experience insurers were having with automated underwriting. This survey was solicited by the Society of Actuaries' Marketing and Distribution Section Council, the Product Development Section Council and the Committee on Life Insurance Research.

Description: This is an article that has excerpts from each of the four winning papers of a contest sponsored by the Society of Actuaries on the subject of visions of the life insurance industry in 2020.

Description: In North America, the proportion of elderly persons now in the population is about 13 percent and is expected to rise to 20 percent by the year 2030. Insurers face a new wave of insurance candidates over ages 65, 70 and 75 with risk assessment challenges in underwriting the health of old age risks.

Description: Feature article describing the events of the recent 2012 ReFocus meeting.

Description: The article looks back at the development of life protection product underwriting and pricing in UK. It describes the development in waves of change, looking at different drivers, e.g. consolidation of the life insurance industry, the role of technology as a driver for efficiency gains via electronic underwriting. Different levels of sophistication are being discussed and possible implications for the relationship between direct offices and reinsurers. This rather thought provoking article is based upon Munich research as well as market experience and ties in with a number of current topics as for example potential changes as a result of the Retail Distribution Review and the Gender Directive implementation.

Description: This article discusses jet issued life insurance, which marries the speed and simplicity of a simplified issue product with the higher face amounts and competitive premiums of a fully underwritten product.

Description: Feature article discussing how technology can speed up and improve the accuracy of the the underwriting process. The distinction between rules and guidelines is discussed.

Description: Discussion of the economics of a possible H5N1 pandemic, and its impact on Life, Health, and Property and Casualty insurers, in terms of areas of risk, especially underwritng risk, operations risk, and market risk.

Description: New digital data known as alternative data is everywhere. Our industry has seen the financial, and hi-tech industries leverage new digital data to expand their key offerings and core services. From the lens of the global life and health industry, new digital data is still searching to be further understood. Risk assessment is a current focus area for using alternative data. A key question is even though risk assessment has always been data-driven, can it now move to the next level with the arrival of this alternative data. Can we use alternative data to make the risk assessment process quicker, cheaper, or faster thereby driving more sales and better conversion rates. It is an exciting time! With the increased adoption of health and well-being apps, data such as physical activity, nutrition, sleep, and mental wellness is now readily available. Expanded data such as digital biomarkers, IoT data, electronic health records and many more can also be accessed. However, how to effectively implement alternative data remains a challenge across the industry. We firmly believe it is, and will continue to be, imperative to take a structured approach to alternative data through a set of key considerations and a framework of principles.