Description: Principle-based reserves for fixed annuities are coming. Hear the latest from industry experts on the current Valuation Manual (VM)-22 draft and field test, as well as when it will be effective. Participants will learn about principle-based reserving for fixed annuities and be better prepared to implement it.

Description: Is your development team or IT staff growing tired of last-minute requests to include additional functionality? Have you strained to explain challenging actuarial topics to non-actuarial staff for implementation? Do your teams find themselves revisiting deadlines & timelines when building solutions? During this interactive panel discussion, three technologists (two software engineering managers and one data scientist) along with three actuaries will discuss real world problems and approaches using experience from previous projects. Although the challenge of running efficient software teams is not unique to actuarial science, this webcast will discuss best practices on how to organize teams to reduce friction and context switching. Presenters will also explore unique actuarial challenges and concepts including how to address standards on data quality when building software, how to build intuitive software that meets actuarial standards and how test-driven development makes it easier to meet actuarial standards of practice.

Description: Data visualization is a hot topic within the industry. This session will showcase business use cases of data visualization models to build, for example, a claims trend story from outlier analysis to root cause in real time. There are many different ways to assemble pie, bar, or other types of charts, but critically understanding the business questions and following visualization best practices can accelerate the pace of identification to actionable result. Additionally, moving up the analysis continuum from busy Excel files with thousands of numbers to automated Tableau dashboards highlighting only the most impactful numbers with full drill-in capabilities improves both efficiency and communication to non-technical audiences.

Description: Planning for retirement is at the top of many minds. How do I save? When is the right time? What are my plans? But what are the impacts of your health on retirement? Learn more about the effects of a healthy lifestyle on retirement in order to maximize life span. Review more in-depth findings from a recent report sponsored by the SOA Research Institute’s Aging and Retirement Strategic Research Program and conducted by the Vitality Group, as well as other expert insights.

Description: Are you searching for an overview of the SOA Research Institute's Mortality & Longevity Strategic Research Program? Join us for an introduction into studies focusing on the historical U.S. population and insured mortality trends. Two research projects are observed in this webcast, one examining the impact of COVID-19 on mental illness and the impact of mental illness on U.S. Mortality & Longevity. The second study looks into the Group Life COVID-19 Mortality Survey and the high level view of U.S. group term life insurance mortality results during the pandemic. Come explore the research goals and the future for the Mortality & Longevity Strategic Program.

Description: This session will discuss essential theories and practical applications of deep learning for actuaries. Participants will gain insights on leveraging these cutting-edge techniques to enhance actuarial models and drive predictive accuracy.

Description: We will first present a few very practical use cases of GenAI tools that could help the daily life of an actuary. Then we will demonstrate the power of these tools in coding (e.g. Cursor, but also ChatGPT) - improv style. Taking a suggestion from the audience - a publicly available dataset - we will demonstrate how you can ask questions to a large language model, which will write code and provide the insight you are looking for.

Description: Actuarial Standards of Practice (ASOPs) are critical to an actuary's work, but staying abreast of changes to ASOPs could be challenging. Several ASOPs have been created or updated in the last few years while ValAct was on hiatus. Are you up to date? This session will focus on ASOPs 7, 11, 28, 41 and 57. Come ready to play, as we challenge your knowledge of these ASOPs in a fun game show format. By the end of this session, attendees will learn the major provisions included in ASOPs that have been recently updated or created and understand how their work may be impacted by these recent changes.

Description: Investigate the importance of collaboration with accounting, underwriting, sales, marketing and other professions as an actuary when you attend this webcast. Cross-functional positions can cause unique challenges to arise, like various experts attempting to balance growth and profitability. Discover an opportunity to learn about relevant ASOPs and dive deeper into contemporary examples that highlight specific professionalism issues that can develop.

Description: After years of discussion and debate, Principles Based Reserving (PBR) is finally a reality. Small insurance companies have a unique opportunity to decide between electing for the company-wide exemption or adopting the PBR methods. The benefits and challenges of the options available to small insurers under VM-20 will be shared throughout this webcast. Then, hear about some best practices that have been found along the way.