Edition

Reinsurance Section Bulletin Board

Reinsurance News, September 2021

rsn-2021-09-soa-hero

From just about every perspective in our day-to-day work as actuaries, 2021 has been an incredibly busy year. As we near the fourth quarter, the Reinsurance Section Council (RSC) wanted to give our section members a quick recap of 2021 section activities. The summaries below include links to prior activities, in case there was anything you missed this year, as well as dates and details on content forthcoming.

Newsletters

According to our section member survey, the Reinsurance Section newsletter is the most important resource to our section members. The RSC's goal is to publish seven newsletters throughout the year with three articles per edition, with topics ranging from emerging industry practices to interviews with influencers in the industry.

  • February included an interview with Pacific Life Re's CEO David Howell, an overview of IFRS17 reinsurance considerations, as well as 2020's best of newsletter/podcast winners.
  • March featured “The Return of the Traveling Actuary,” a review of the 2020 Living to 100 Monograph, and a fascinating article titled “Rational Ignorance and Protection Gap: Is There a Cure?”
  • April edition reviewed cell and gene therapy for health reinsurers, “Mortality and Morbidity Trends During Economic Downturn,” and world travel chronicles during coronavirus from a co-editor.
  • June included interview with Dr. Andrew Johnson on InsurTech, a discussion on adaptive leadership with Tracy Choka, and an update on RAPA (Reinsurance Administration Professionals Association).
  • July shared the highly anticipated “Results of the 2020 SOA Life Reinsurance Survey,” an overview of balancing insurer/reinsurer partnerships,” and “Underwriting in China—A Digital Transformation.”
  • September (this edition!) in addition to this bulletin board, you’ll see “What is (re)Insurable?” by past SOA president Sam Gutterman, and Next-generation AI-powered Digital Risk Assessment: Transforming Customer Experience and Operational Efficiency,” by Lee Sarkin.
  • Forthcoming: October
  • Forthcoming: November

All published Reinsurance Section Newsletters dating back to 2014 are archived on the Reinsurance Section’s webpage: Newsletter

Education

Aligned with the Society of Actuaries, continuing education is a large part of the RSC’s focus every year. Our goal is to deliver high quality content, which includes collaborating with other SOA sections to expand the content to our members as well as foster reinsurance education across the industry. The RSC continuing education comes in multiple forms to ensure our members can access education the way most convenient to them. Additionally, the RSC’s education initiatives include the LEARN program, which provides valuable reinsurance education to state regulators and non-US jurisdiction regulatory bodies.

Webcasts: The RSC has committed to sponsor/co-sponsor seven webcasts to its members and the broader SOA community. The following topics were, or will be, covered:  

  • April: GAAP LTDI for Reinsurance
  • May: Emerging Reinsurance Capital Solutions
  • July: Creating Accelerated Underwriting Algorithms
  • July: Mortality Developments from COVID-19
  • July: Understanding Financial Impacts of Emerging Cancer Treatments
  • Forthcoming October: Pension Risk Transfer
  • Forthcoming November: Tail Risk Modelling

 

Seminars: Under ordinary circumstances, the largest reinsurance focused seminar is ReFocus. Unfortunately, due to COVID-19, the 2021 seminar was canceled and many topics were moved to various webcasts as noted above. However, the RSC is a strong contributor to bring reinsurance content to other seminars, as follows:  

  • Upcoming Reinsurance topics at the SOA Life Meeting:
    • Session 1C: Earnings Pressure Impact on Annuity Product Development and the Insurance Linked Securities Market
    • Session 3D: Universal Life with Secondary Guarantees: Emerging Issues and Hot Topics
    • Session 7F: A New Frontier for Reinsurance Accounting—LTDI vs. IFRS 17
    • Session 8E: Insurance M&A Valuation Methodologies and Considerations
  • Upcoming Reinsurance topics at the SOA ImpACT Meeting:
    • Session 033: Partnering to build an accelerated underwriting program
    • Session 037: PRT and Longevity Reinsurance around the World
    • Session 045: Re-thinking Earnings Volatility Management with Novel Reinsurance Solutions
    • Session 050: Structured Reinsurance Solutions for the Modern Age
    • Session 052: Taxation for M&A and Reinsurance

Podcasts: The RSC provides access to podcasts and prior session recordings to their members, including co-sponsored podcasts with other sections.

  • “Accelerations and major trends in reinsurance, leadership and workplace evolution” by Tracy Choka.
  • Prior podcasts can be found on the Reinsurance Section’s webpage.

LEARN: Established just over a decade ago, LEARN stands for Life Education and Reinsurance Navigation. The initiative was, and still is, purely focused on education for the actuaries, examiners, commissioners and/or deputies of regulators. LEARN has presented in-person to multiple regulators over the past 10 years. As most industry meetings, the current environment has forced sessions to be virtual, which actually allowed the scope to expand to international regulators, as well as provide flexibility in scheduling for U.S. state regulators.

  • Regulator LEARN sessions in first quarter 2021:
    • Brazil regulators,
    • Illinois Department of Insurance, and
    • Ohio Department of Insurance.
  • Forthcoming: Contacting the states in U.S. who have never met with LEARN, or have not had a LEARN session in the last five years to determine interest in a virtual session.

REAL: The Reinsurance Education and Learning Symposium was transitioned to a series of webcasts for both 2020 and 2021. As the RSC enters its planning phase for 2022, we will continue to evaluate the best form for delivering the REAL content to our members and the broader SOA.  

 

Research

Did you know each year the RSC allocates a significant amount of section revenue on research for its members? In fact, the RSC has assembled a dedicated group of volunteers to oversee the research process to ensure relevant and quality studies are produced to include areas of interest to section members. Please see below an update on RSC sponsored research including ideas under consideration, research projects in process, and links to research papers recently completed.

Topics being considered:

  • The impact of COVID-19 on company practices has been a theme in this year’s research planning. One study being considered examines “COVID-19 and Direct and Reinsurance Pricing” to identify methodologies and best practices when there is greater uncertainty in mortality experience. Additionally, a study examining the impact of COVID-19 on underwriting is being discussed.
  • “Drivers of Demand for Legacy Block Reinsurance.” This research would analyze a range of hypothetical legacy block reinsurance transactions to illustrate primary and secondary drivers of demand, feasibility, and the application of novel structures.
  • “Conversion Experience for Level Premium Term Plans.” This research project aims to update the 2016 conversion experience study and will summarize conversion rates, post conversion mortality and lapse experience of term to permanent converted policies.

 

Research in process:

  • “Mortality Improvement Trend Analysis.” Currently in the middle-stage with expected release early 2022. The focus of this project is better understanding the key drivers of mortality improvement and how they vary.
  • “Obesity Trends and the Morbidity and Longevity Impacts.” Expected to release by the end of this year. This research develops an estimate of the impact of obesity in mortality and morbidity costs in the U.S. and Canada.
  • “Cause of Death Mortality by Socioeconomic Category in the United States.” This project extends sponsored research from 2020 on U.S. population mortality by socioeconomic quintile and decile. This new study will explore potential factors for disparities and examine cause of death by socioeconomic segments. Work continues to progress and is in the middle-stage.

Recently completed research:

  • “Mortality by Socioeconomic Category in the United States.” This study constructed detailed U.S. life tables by socioeconomic category to allow year-over-year changes in mortality to be determined, giving insights into mortality improvement trends.
  • “2020 Living to 100 Symposium.” Over 20 research papers on such topics as aging measurement and mortality modeling, advanced age mortality patterns and mortality trends were presented at the January 2020 symposium and can be found in an online monograph.
  • “Life Reinsurance Treaty Recapture Provisions.” In this study, recapture provisions from reinsurance treaties are compiled and analyzed, highlighting why specific provisions are of particular importance to various stakeholders, and how practices have evolved. The researchers also identify underlying objectives of the parties, obstacles encountered, and solutions achieved.

Newly released research will be emailed to our members, and all past research can be found on the Reinsurance Section’s webpage.

Other RSC Activities

Sponsorships:

  • In 2021, the RSC sponsored the Actuarial Research Conference (ARC 2021), and supported the scholarship programs of the International Association of Black Actuaries (IABA), and Organization for Latino Actuaries (OLA).

Section elections:

  • The SOA section council elections will be occurring Sept. 13–24. Again this year, the Reinsurance Section has a strong group of candidates on the ballot. We encourage you to review their biographies and participate in the election. The newly elected council members will join in October following the conclusion of the SOA ImpACT Meeting.

Networking:

  • For those attending the SOA ImpACT Meeting in-person in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, Oct. 24–27, we cordially invite you to attend the RSC Breakfast on Tuesday, Oct. 26 (Session 029). Meet the RSC members and have interactive dialog about our 2022 initiatives.

Surveys:

The RSC gains valuable insight from surveying our members, as well as contributors to our Continuing Education and Research. These surveys help us narrow our scope to member desired content, optimize how we interact with our members, and ensure the processes we follow as the RSC are efficient and pleasant. Please be on the lookout for the RSC annual survey in the fourth quarter of 2021.