Description: Even though the 2018 Tax Cut and Job Act significantly simplified the tax valuation methodology, taxation can impact the valuation outcomes and financial decisions. This presentation will start with an overview of the key taxation topics relating to valuation work, and then dive into more complex topics, such as the deferred tax asset/liability handling and reinsurance implications.

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.

Description: Generally accepted accounting practices (GAAP) reporting frameworks are more involved than ever before. From disclosures to assumption changes, to interest rate movements, uncovering the drivers of income emergence can prove hard to do, and even trickier to communicate. This session will revisit how the updated standards create layers of complexity and offer ways to sidestep these obstacles to generate useful earnings analysis by various drivers.

Description: Appointed actuaries are facing a number of changes in the regulatory landscape. Some of these occurred in the past few years, such as Actuarial Guideline (AG) 51 (Asset Adequacy Testing for Long-term Care Insurance). Some were very recently put in effect and are evolving, such as AG53 (Modeling and Documentation of Complex Assets). Some are quickly approaching, such as the potential changes to asset adequacy testing requirements for reinsurance ceded by life insurers.

Description: Value of new business (VNB) is being used by many companies for various purposes including: internal and external financial reporting, incentive compensation, pricing, capital management, and comparing products, distribution channels or regions on a consistent basis. Presenters will discuss how and why value of new business is used within their companies including: the various methodologies considered, some of the benefits and challenges related to implementing VNB, integrating VNB within their business as usual processes, and managing to VNB.

Description: This session delves into Actuarial Fairness and compares it to other fairness concepts within the context of retirement savings, exploring how these ideas influence behaviors among retirees. We explore how immediate financial pressures and complex financial decisions impact people's willingness and capability to save for retirement. The session will also review traditional retirement solutions and innovative alternatives, assessing how each aligns with fairness principles. Drawing parallels from public discourse on resource distribution in sectors like healthcare, we discuss broader implications of fairness in financial regulations and impacts on policy and decision-making in retirement planning. Learning Outcomes: Attendees will be able to: - Understand the application of fairness concepts, including Actuarial Fairness, to retirement income products. - Explore how perceptions of fairness influence retirement saving behaviors, examining personal finance challenges and the regulatory environment. - Assess innovative retirement solutions' roles in promoting fairness while upholding actuarial integrity. - Analyze the influence of legislation and public policy on the conceptualization, communication, and implementation of fairness in retirement products.

Description: The life insurance industry is facing a rapidly changing landscape, with several emerging risks demanding the attention of actuaries and industry professionals. While actuaries commonly examine historical experience to guide our estimates of future outcomes, we are often faced with evidence that some of the forces that dictated past performance no longer persist and in some instances may even turn into contrary forces. This session aims to explore the key challenges and opportunities presented by risks with limited historical context, and discuss strategies to effectively manage them. We will delve into critical emerging risk areas, such as interest rate and asset risk, the rise of AI, climate change, predictive analytics in underwriting, and more. The session will feature speakers who are experts in managing risk, as well as results from interviews with top corporate risk professionals, such as CROs and ERM leads from major insurance and reinsurance companies. Attendees will gain valuable insights into emerging risks and practical strategies to navigate the evolving life insurance landscape.

Description: In this session, we will explore the innovative use of artificial intelligence in developing narrative scenarios to enhance life insurance investment strategy discussions. Participants will discover how developing comprehensive and imaginative scenarios can help identify potential future risks and opportunities, leading to more informed investment strategy planning. The session will cover practical approaches to creating and utilizing narrative scenarios, emphasizing their role in improving decision-making processes. Join us to learn how to craft compelling scenarios that provide a broader understanding of drivers of emerging trends and uncertainties, ultimately transforming traditional investment strategies in the life insurance sector. Learning Outcomes: - Understanding the role of AI in Scenario Development - Enhancing Investment Strategy Decision-Making - Writing comprehensive scenarios and using them for specific investment strategy decisions

Description: Life insurance products have evolved over time from the early mutual aid societies paying benefits when members died to comprehensive products covering a range of financial needs over an individual’s lifecycle. While some life insurance benefit riders have been offered for decades and are well-established, recent years have seen a number of accelerated benefit riders being introduced by carriers for a growing range of covered triggers. Join us as we discuss these acceleration and extended benefit riders, trends and innovations in the space, and discuss challenges and actuarial considerations in designing, pricing, and modelling them. We will also explore issues carriers have experienced, how to consider the interactions between these benefits and the underlying mortality coverage, reinsurance considerations, and more!

Description: Global trends in both technology and regulation are causing US insurers to reflect deeper on their model risk management frameworks. The world has seen a rapid proliferation of AI-based tools accompanied with an overall increased usage of machine learning models, exacerbating model risk and reducing transparency in an unprecedented manner. This rising tide of AI means that it is imperative for US-based insurers to address these emerging risks within their Model Risk Management (MRM) frameworks. Regulation also continues to evolve in this space: in Canada, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) revised Guideline E-23 to instill more detailed model risk management standards; in Bermuda, the Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA) has published CP2 to add increased scrutiny on the data and models used by insurers. Insurers must react: MRM frameworks require prudent revisions to reflect these ever-changing landscapes of risk. Reassessing the core pillars of MRM frameworks - risk measurement, model development, validation, monitoring, and governance – is key to understanding the consequences of these evolving market changes on insurers’ risk profile. Overall, the inclusion of these new tools into the world of insurance necessitates a thorough examination of insurers’ MRM frameworks in order to align these new risks with core MRM principles. In this session we will: - Reflect on recent drivers of change and how they should be considered in the context of MRM - Explore best practices as it relates to MRM frameworks in the context of current global trends - Describe challenges, success stories, and lessons learned relating to recalibrating and embedding MRM frameworks