Description: The growing aging population presents unique challenges and opportunities, especially for the financial services industry. Presenters will explore the issues with particular focus on demographic challenges, such as age dependency ratios and implications for sovereign debt and public policy. They will also compare and contrast private sector offerings across the globe. In particular, as an example of a super-aging society, presenters will describe how Japanese insurers and pension funds tackle longevity risk.

Description: Regulatory change and increased focus on internal risk management are driving a renewed interest in model efficiency. In this session, we will review several new and existing tools, that show significant promise for advanced modeling of equity linked products. These include: • Clustering • Use of unique--and potentially a different number of--scenarios for each policy • Semi Monte Carlo (SMC) – this is a proprietary technique that is similar to a combination of Monte Carlo and numeric integration • Using a neural network approach to optimize some of the more complex and manual aspects of clustering and improve the fit of the clustered model • Combining SMC with the use of unique scenarios per policy

Description: An exploration of drivers, cohorts and dynamics for policyholder behavior for VA and FIA based on industry experience data, including changes in recent years and the emergence of long-term data in key areas. We will also discuss critical elements to developing a sustainable and coherent framework to translate this complex experience data into assumption models.

Description: Through much of the Baby Boomer generation's working lifetime, retirement planning focused on asset accumulation. Strategies like Dollar-Cost Averaging and Asset Diversification became well understood by nearly everyone in the retirement industry. As those assets move into the payout phase (post retirement), the appropriateness of those strategies becomes less clear. Presenters will aim to exhibit and explain how and why adding a Single Premium Immediate Annuity (SPIA) or Deferred Income Annuity (DIA) to a retirement portfolio can help to minimize a retiree's chance of outliving his or her income, and why sellers of annuities should focus more heavily on these product offerings. At the conclusion of the session, attendees will be able to - Identify the reasons why effective asset accumulation strategies may be ineffective in the decumulation phase of retirement - Evaluate the benefit of using at least a portion of accumulated retirement assets to purchase a fixed income stream that the annuitant is guaranteed not to outlive - Explain the benefits of a SPIA/DIA focus to other industry practitioners

Description: The academy generator is now a staple for actuarial practice. Initially confined to regulatory reserving, increasingly companies are using the AAA/SoA generator for a wider and wider range of applications which in some cases may be at the limits of what it was designed for. How is the AAA/SoA generator being applied in reserving, risk management and variable annuity lines of business? What are some of the challenges actuaries face in using this framework and what are the options for addressing them.

Description: The Required Minimum Distribution RMD working group of the Taxation Section has completed research in determining the actuarial present value of additional benefits for computing RMD under deferred annuity contracts. This is Appendix G spreadsheet for the Determining the Actuarial Present Value of Certain Additional Benefits for a two tiered fixed annuity benefit Under Treas. Reg. Section 1.401a9–6, Q&A–12 research project. Please see the SOA website research section for the full report and other appendices spreadsheets.

Description: The Required Minimum Distribution RMD working group of the Taxation Section has completed research in determining the actuarial present value of additional benefits for computing RMD under deferrred annuity contracts. This is Appendix B Example 2 spreadsheet for GMDB for this research project. Please see the SOA website research section for the full report and excel spreadsheet for the other appendices.

Description: "This session is for liability-side actuaries seeking a summary of asset valuation principles. Topics to be discussed include: Why it's important in today's world to understand both sides of the balance sheet. Yield curves, including spot rates, forward rates, coupon rates and bootstrapping. Duration calculations, including an explanation of modified duration for contracts with embedded options and key rate durations. A summary of today's regulatory environment in the context of embedded options, including MRB, VM-21 and VM-22. Next, we will dive into duration profiles of different asset classes, including CLOs (floating rate), RMBS (negative convexity), traditional bonds and swaps. Lastly, we will discuss risk-neutral scenarios, martingale tests, and applications in hedging MRBs."

Description: In recent years, there has been a significant increase in life and annuity business transactions transferring blocks of business across jurisdictions. These transactions raise important questions for stakeholders-including policyholders, regulators, rating agencies, investors, and companies themselves-about the drivers of financial results under different regulatory and accounting regimes.As financial reporting frameworks grow more complex-whether US Statutory, IFRS 17, US GAAP, or Solvency II-stakeholders are demanding deeper insights into how results are determined and how they compare across jurisdictions. Understanding these differences is critical for assessing financial performance, capital strength, and risk exposures, particularly in a cross-border context.To address this need, many companies are developing and applying bridging analyses-such as waterfall analyses, step-by-step reconciliations, and other frameworks-to explain how and why results differ between reporting bases. These approaches help clarify key drivers and provide transparency to stakeholders.In this session, representatives from leading companies will share practical approaches they use to bridge these gaps, offering insights into the methodologies and analyses that have proven most effective in navigating cross-jurisdiction financial reporting challenges. Attendees will gain a clearer understanding of cross-jurisdiction reporting differences and take away ideas for applying effective bridging techniques within their own organizations.

Description: As sales registered index-linked annuity (RILA) sales continue to exhibit strong growth, insurers may be faced with challenges and opportunities to best manage the hedging requirements of the product. In this session we will explore the potential benefits of dynamically vs. static hedging and how insurers could recognize synergies in hedging RILA alongside traditional variable annuities. We will also dive into how hedging overlaps with strategy and modeling as companies need to simulate future index crediting strategies and monitor the risks of emerging guaranteed lifetime withdrawal benefit (GLWB) riders. Coming out of this session, attendees will gain key insights on hedging strategies and considerations for RILA products, with considerations around interaction with existing VA business, as well as the potential challenges of RILA hedging in an evolving market.