Description: The embattled life insurance industry in Australia needs to come to terms with a new environment of heightened claims volumes, unprecedented losses, changing distribution models and even reduced benefits. Like the mythological phoenix that spectacularly regenerates from its ashes every century, Australia’s life insurance industry needs something special to rise from its ashes. Claims management innovation promises to give the necessary impetus for a market that is desperate for some good news, whilst laying the foundation for a claims revolution worldwide.

Description: This actually is a copy of an appendix of a research paper sponsored by the SOA Committee on Finance Research. You can read the entire research paper: “Lapse Modeling for the Post-Level Period—a Practical Application of Predictive Modeling” at the SOA site https://www.soa.org/Research/Research-Projects/Finance-Investment/lapse-2015-modeling-post-level/#sthash.W9lERSls.dpbs, but you can read this valuable appendix copied here in this issue to see how to build a PM step-by-step using your data and the R programming language. We thank Richard Xu, Dihui Lai, Minyu Cao, Scott Rushing, and Tim Rozar for their excellent paper and the Society of Actuaries, for the permission to reprint this portion of the paper.

Description: The article gives actuaries an introduction to Academy Health, the notable health policy research organization.

Description: This article discusses the use of mortality catastrophe bonds as a risk mitigation tool.

Description: Alternative sources of learning available for free or at low cost if you wish to round out your F&F education about machine learning, artificial neural networks, genetic algorithms and the millennia of biological advances we draw from when we use these techniques.

Description: Health Watch, Issue 79, December 2015, Health Watch

Description: This article explores trends and methodologies in the Secondary Insurance Market as well as associated opportunities and pitfalls for actuaries.

Description: This article addresses the issues of short-term volatility, the non-equivalency of traders and, how product development is being impacted by market consistency.

Description: This article discusses reserving issues for life insurance products with limited level premium guarantees or no-lapse guarantees, and capital markets solutions as an alternative to traditional reinsurance for relief from redundant reserve strain.

Description: description of theme of the 2017 Canadian Reinsurance Conference