Description: The introduction and effective application of US GAAP LDTI have increased the scrutiny of those reviewing the updated financial results. That is because LDTI has resulted in significant changes in actuarial reserving and deferred acquisition cost (DAC) models for long-duration contracts, including significant changes to data, assumptions and required disclosures. In light of the changes, greater reliance has been put on companies’ model risk management (MRM) teams and model validations to assess the conceptual soundness and accuracy of their companies’ actuarial models and to assess that the underlying data and process utilized are suitable and appropriate. This article covers a brief background on model validation, walk through a sample LDTI-focused model validation framework/test plan, then provide insights on common LDTI-related validation observations based on the authors' prior validation experience.

Description: This article focuses on the recent surge of digital medicine data being seen in the healthcare industry. While an increase in data can generally be perceived as good, it is important to remember that current privacy practices need to be maintained, if not strengthened, to continually protect healthcare members. The COVID-19 pandemic helped fuel digital medicine data, but it also created new avenues for privacy to potentially be compromised (i.e. healthcare employees using personal devices while working from home). Digital medicine data is a very powerful asset, but it is also a massive responsibility. If mishandled, this data can cause more harm than good.

Description: This article is the final installment of our three-part series on economic scenario generators (“ESGs”). Part I and II were published in the November 2019 and August 2020 issues of The Modeling Platform. Part III contextualizes the framework for selecting, building, and validating ESGs and focuses on the Academy Interest Rate Generator (“AIRG”), the most commonly used real-world ESG for US actuaries

Description: This article describes how insurers can expand the reach of their efforts with regard to Economic Capital EC into the broader enterprise risk management process. Some experts contend that can be done by shifting the focus towards value. EC has the potential to shed new light on valuable opportunities for insurers.

Description: The Society of Actuaries announced the six actuarial candidates named as SOA James C. Hickman Scholars. The Hickman Scholars Program provides stipends to doctoral candidates working on actuarial research and education, with this year being the first to include international candidates.

Description: Indexed universal life (IUL) continues to be the most popular universal life (UL) product with sales reaching $1B in Q4 2023, according to LIMRA. There is little long term experience for IUL and many companies value and model IUL just like UL, but there are material potential differences that need to be considered for valuation and projection purposes. Presenters will discuss key risks and differences between IUL and UL relating to policyholder behavior and how to value, project, monitor and manage those risks to avoid repeating misestimates of the past. Presenters will also discuss broader life assumption risks such as mortality and yearly renewable term (YRT) reinsurance risk. Attendees will learn about options on how to potentially address underperforming blocks of IUL and will obtain an improved perspective on the risks of IUL products and the differences versus UL and how to incorporate these differences into their valuation and projection exercises.

Description: The SOA’s Committee on Life Insurance Company Expenses (CLICE) has submitted its recommendation for the 2024 Generally Recognized Expense Table (GRET) for use with individual life insurance sales illustrations.

Description: An article giving a summary of the Asia Pacific Teaching Conference that took place in Bangkok in December 2022. This article will be disseminated via SOA News Weekly, which will link to the article on soa.org.

Description: Learn about the latest developments in hospital and payer price transparency data. Hear experiences working with the data and attempts to gain meaningful insights for actuarial and other purposes. Discover challenges and workarounds associated with this data, including file size, comparability of prices, duplication of prices, aggregating provider NPIs into meaningful groupings, and missing payer information.