Description: The American Academy of Actuaries will present on current initiatives that impact the U.S. statutory reserving methodology for non-variable annuity contracts. In particular, the development of a principle-based reserving framework on non-variable annuity contracts will be discussed, including framework elements, assumptions, and methodology. The session will provide an update on the status of regulatory discussions and the timeline for future changes to reserves. By the end of the session, attendees will understand what changes are being made to non-variable annuity reserves, details underlying existing proposals, and the anticipated timing of such emerging changes. This session is intended to the meet the needs of actuaries focused on annuity reserve calculations, financial reporting, and valuation.

Description: With many complex regulatory changes on the horizon as well as pressures to ensure model accuracy from auditors, regulatory requirements and new actuarial standards of practice, the importance of robust model validation is coming to the forefront of actuaries’ minds. What was previously a day-two task for many companies is becoming just as important as model development! In this session, you will hear from those that have been deeply involved in building model validation frameworks and tools in responses to regulatory changes GAAP Long Duration Targeted Improvements (“LDTI”) and Principles Based Reserves (“PBR”).

Description: Presentation from the 41st Actuarial Research Conference held on August 10-12, 2006 in Montreal, Canada. Fuzzy set theory is incorporated into times series analysis, giving fuzzy parameter estimates of models such as ARMA and GARCH. Examples are given, including returns on a stock and option valuation.

Description: Recently there have been several studies on the dividend payments prior to ruin in various risk models. By employing some new obtained results in the actuarial literature, this presentation analyzes the distribution of the total dividend payments in a risk model with multi-threshold dividend strategy, where the claim arrivals are modeled by a Markovian arrival process [MAP]. A piecewise integro-differential equation in matrix form is derived and solved analytically for the moments of present value of the total dividends prior to ruin. The presentation also discusses the differences between its method and other existing ones. An example with exponentially distributed claim amounts is illustrated numerically.

Description: Many insurers preparing market consistent financial statements encounter the issue of developing volatility assumptions for equity options and guarantees that are longer than any observable market data. This presentation develops a generalization of the classical Black Scholes option pricing model that is consistent with the European CRO Forum's framework for valuing non-hedgeable risk. The presentation argues that, with reasonable parameter choices, the model fits observed volatility surfaces well enough that it can be used to estimate implied volatilities where no market data exists.

Description: Most discussions of actuarial education focus on 'what actuaries need to know'– the knowledge content. This is akin to discussing say mortality by considering just one relevant factor [perhaps age]. Reflecting on more than a quarter of a century teaching thousands of actuarial students in eight countries across many cultures suggests that a curriculum is much more than a list of syllabus topics and that a realistic model of student learning needs to acknowledge many more factors than just the knowledge content and the 'ability' of the student. This paper summarises what the author has learned about learning. From that basis it identifies some challenges for actuarial educators, especially in the areas of the development of students’ skills, the assessment of students’ learning and the 'shape' of actuarial education. The relationship between universities and actuarial bodies is also discussed.

Description: This is a presentation from 45th Actuarial Research Conference, Vancouver, 7/26-28/2010. This presentation introduces the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia’s new methodology for predicting average premium levels. It discusses the premium forecasting using Principal Components Analysis PCA.

Description: Presented at August 2011 46th Actuarial Research Conference. Compression methods improve model run time. This talk discusses compression features, trade-offs, validation, and recommended practice.

Description: This paper proposes a combinatoric approach to express higher moments of the quadratic variation process in terms of higher order variations of the original process and autocorrelations of the original process.

Description: This presentation uses the value-based asset liability management framework to compare the risk-adjusted value of the benefits payable to each cohort.