Description: Inflation can impact retirement and retirees in a variety of ways. With inflation as a reality in the current economic environment, the Society of Actuaries Research Institute's Aging and Retirement Strategic Research Program has explored this issue in recently published research and essays. This webcast will present results of that work, sharing different aspects of inflation's impact on retirement including savings, investment choices and the impact on retirees themselves.

Description: The NAIC continues to move ahead with the GOES (generator of economic scenarios) project for the transition to a new real-world economic scenario generator (ESG) prescribed for principle-based reserve and capital calculations. This session will provide a detailed project update from the regulator and practitioner perspective. An overview of model details and methods that have been decided, what remains to be determined, and the projected timeline for implementation will be discussed. Recent developments such as the industry field test and NAIC model office testing to assess the potential impact on reserves and capital will be discussed as will a review of the implementation of the stochastic exclusion ratio test (SERT). We will also discuss the components of the ESG model and the associated scenario sets the NAIC has exposed with respect to target and acceptance criteria. At the conclusion of this session, attendees will understand the current status of the NAIC GOES project and its projected timeline and will be able to describe the components of the model and how the model has been calibrated and validated. Attendees will also appreciate the remaining challenges in bringing the model to full implementation.

Description: The Special Financial Assistance (SFA) program included in the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) will provide grants to some of the more troubled multiemployer plans. While this is a welcomed relief for many multiemployer plans facing insolvency, plenty of challenges remain in the implementation of the funds and ability to maintain solvency after the SFA funds are fully utilized. Explore the challenges and opportunities from the pension relief provisions.

Description: Discover investing trends across the life and health industry as insurers seek to navigate rapidly changing rate and market environments. BlackRock will present results from its Peer Risk Study, which models industry holdings based on statutory filings at the CUSIP level. Through the Aladdin risk modeling software, expect a production of deep insights into insurer portfolio risk and return characteristics, as well as exploring how they have evolved. Keep an eye out for a partner to present on the evolution from their perspective. Start learning about what is happening on the asset side of the balance sheet across the industry.

Description: Come discuss modeling costs and its governance, as well as introduce some platforms for more granular asset modeling.

Description: In honor of Bob Barker's 100th birthday (December 12, 2023), we will examine the emerging development in the opaque world of health care prices. 'Referenced Based Pricing' has been a cost-cutting strategy applied by some self-insured employers, but administration, employee dissatisfaction with balance billing, and litigation have been barriers to growth. The new transparency data has yielded research indicating that 'cash prices' are lower than commercially negotiated rates in some areas. Dive in with industry experts as they discuss emerging trends of how consumers, employers, and health insurers will pay for health care services.

Description: Financial planning and analysis (FP&A) has become increasingly important to the life insurance industry in recent years. Insurance companies must navigate complex changes in financial reporting and capital requirements to manage risk effectively. Furthermore, technological growth has changed the landscape of the theoretical capabilities of FP&A; however, many FP&A areas struggle to implement the sophisticated modeling techniques required to manage the long-term liabilities associated with life and annuity products.

Description: This session will consider how catastrophic gaps in risk management practices contributed to the failure of regional banks in the first half of 2023. Panelists will explore ERM practices and potential corrective actions, based on insurance industry and pension plan best practices, that could have mitigated against the failures.

Description: The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) project for the transition to a new real-world economic scenario generator (ESG) prescribed for principle-based reserve and capital calculations selected a vendor in the fall of 2020. The American Academy of Actuaries and other interested parties have been assisting the NAIC in this transition. Over the past four years, extensive analysis, model validation, and comparison work has been done. There have been many updates on the project but few opportunities to obtain an in-depth understanding of the new features of the new ESG and its impact on reserves and capital. Practitioners are very interested in the questions: - How different are the scenarios from the Academy/Society of Actuaries ESG and the new NAIC ESG? - How different are the models and techniques used to create the scenarios in both generators? - Is there a significant difference in capital and reserve requirements for model office tests between the two ESGs? - Are there concerns with the new NAIC ESG? The session addresses each of these questions in detail. At the conclusion of the session attendees will appreciate the key differences between the model structure and scenario performance of the two ESGs and will understand the differences in capital and reserve requirements for model office tests across the two ESGs. Attendees will also learn how the initial yield curve fitting differs between the models, about fund mapping considerations, and the interpretability of parameters in the new NAIC model.

Description: This session will provide an analysis of the latest activities and trends in asset-intensive reinsurance (AIR), including life, annuity, long-term care (LTC), and pension risk transfer (PRT) transactions, and their anticipated impact on the industry in the coming years. Speakers will delve into the strategic considerations of reinsurers, the concerns and preferences of insurers, and the perspectives of rating agencies. Through a case study, the session will demonstrate how asset-intensive reinsurance can serve as a capital lever and profitability enhancer within the evolving regulatory landscape. The discussion will highlight how these strategies support insurers' strategic initiatives, enhance internal rates of return (IRR) and other key performance indicators (KPI), facilitate sales growth and product launches, and improve the financial strength of the company. Additionally, as many of these transactions utilize alternative asset classes to enhance yields, the speakers will examine the differences among these asset classes and the key considerations when incorporating or modeling them in actuarial work.