Description: The report discusses using behavioral science in redesigning life insurance underwriting questionnaires to improve disclosure rates. It includes an experimental study, industry survey insights, and discussions on application forms, behavioral science application, and organizational engagement with behavioral science in the insurance industry.

Description: Businesses across the board have been drastically impacted by the effects of COVID-19 over the course of 2020, and insurance was not immune. Perhaps most relevant to this industry’s current capital and liquidity concern is the prevailing low interest rate environment. This has been a global trend in the last decade, and treasury rates in much of the developed world are at or near zero. Reduced investment returns limit an insurer’s ability to achieve their desired return on equity, eliminating previously profitable strategies that depended on the leverage of life and annuity balance sheets. Focus and activity have instead shifted to other methods to counteract the low interest rate markets and accompanying capital strain. Examples include increased mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity within the insurance industry and an increasing focus by private equity firms in the insurance market for asset-intensive products, both of which reflect the goal of increasing yield rates on capital.

Description: Recently the interest rates have been slowly trending up from the lowest point in August 2020. The focus of this article is on current market trends for long-duration products —including life insurance, annuities, and long-term care insurance —following an extended period of low interest rates, and lessons carriers can learn from similar historical periods of rising interest rates. Innovative and flexible product features will continue to be essential, as the current interest trend may not substantially increase insurers’ portfolio rates. When designing or modifying product features, insurers should consider profitability in a wide breadth of interest rate scenarios and be particularly mindful of the impact that crediting rates and asset durations will have on earnings.

Description: Learn how modernization of data, models, and technology are influencing workflows. This webcast will address how workflows are changing in response to new regulatory requirements and the impacts the changes have on modeling and end-to-end future state operating models. Industry leading actuaries will discuss: How team collaboration can increase quality and speed of reporting to internal and external stakeholders How to strengthen controls and compliance frameworks across finance and actuarial departments How to modernize actuarial input/output for strategic analysis and insights How to attract and retain top talent by improving opportunities for actuaries There will also be dedicated time to ask questions of those who have made the transition.

Description: The Individual Life Experience Committee is holding a competition encouraging actuaries and other interested parties to predict 2017 industry mortality based on a data set containg 2009 - 2016 data. The competition is not only about predicting mortality, but also about explaining and presenting the results.

Description: To understand the relationship between lifestyle behaviors and mortality, RGA investigated a national, health-related, mortality-linked data set provided by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). RGA Strategic Research Actuary Julianne Callaway discusses the company's findings.

Description: Update on IFRS 17 including news, how IFRS 17 is impacting companies financials, comparisons to LDTI, and KPIs.

Description: Presenters will discuss difficulties within the new NAIC ESG, such as how the model deals with interest rate flooring and its treatment of the linkage between equity and treasury bond returns. They will also discuss the documentation and governance process surrounding the new NAIC ESG.

Description: This session will cover the treatment of various forms of reinsurance under Valuation Manual-20 (VM-20). Speakers will discuss the implications of various types of reinsurance agreements on the calculation of principle-based reserves (PBR). This will include coinsurance and modified coinsurance, guaranteed and non-guaranteed yearly renewable term (YRT), as well as financial reinsurance. Additionally, practical considerations for PBR in 2024+ will be discussed including adopted and active APF's, their content, and emerging issues.

Description: The SOA Reinsurance Research Section is seeking proposals on Mortality Improvement Independ – Independent Analysis. Mortality improvement is an important assumption for projecting future liability cashflows and has a material financial impact on a company. Mortality improvement is a hot topic in the industry and companies show significant interest in understanding the key factors that differentiate mortality improvement. The focus of this research is to gain a better understanding of the main drivers of mortality improvement: