Description: Behavioral economics is the alternative to the traditional ways (surveys and focus groups) we've been using to try to understand the drivers of customer behavior in the insurance industry. It merges psychology with traditional economic theory, offering insights into individual decision making behavior that go beyond the purely rational model. Within the sphere of health insurance, there are countless behaviors, not just of customers, but of underwriters, medical professionals and claims specialists which may be better explained by behavioral economics. Applying concepts from behavioral economics in live trials it is possible to bring about benefits such as increasing sales and retention rates, improving claims processing and encouraging more accurate disclosure. Swiss Re's global research team partners with its reinsurance clients to incorporate behavioral economics concepts into their letters, websites, forms and scripts by running A/B tests to understand what is driving customer behavior. The team currently has over 100 tests in progress with more than 40 clients, including many in the United States. The partnerships are producing clear business benefits, increasing sales, renewals, health disclosure and turnaround speed for claims payments. These changes are driven by small, inexpensive changes in communications with customers, and we'd like to share some of our insights with you. We've increased upsell rates, disclosure and email open rates, and reduced lapses, turnaround times and appointment no-show rates, to name just a few examples. Behavioral economics is the topic on everyone's lips with insurers and reinsurers all beginning to talk about it in earnest. Our team has been working hard for nearly 4 years and in that time instead of talking, we've been doing, and now we can share with you what a difference behavioral economics can actually make for insurance.

Description: In September 2017, the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) issued the “C-ROSS Phase II project construction plan”, planned to be used across three years’ time, by perfecting the regulations, improving the operational mechanism and strengthening the regulatory cooperation.

Description: The key tasks of credit risk capital project under CROSS II mainly focus onL(1 )Adjustment of measurement framework; (2) Calibration of risk factors, including both credit spread risk and credit default risk;3)Introduction of concentration risk measurement; (4) Higher requirement on look-through rule.

Description: This is an Editorial describing the need for actuaries to upgrade skills or risk minimization from artificial intelligence.

Description: Feature article discussing the importance of face-to-face interaction and developing trust in working relationships between reinsurers and cedants.

Description: Crossword puzzle for the April issue of Risks & Rewards.

Description: Find out what roles reinsurance and reinsurance intermediaries play for ceding companies in need of capital and the providers of such capital.

Description: Email blast process and email preference setting description.

Description: The author encourages actuaries to pay attention to their “soft skills.”