Opportunities to Learn

• Get answers and build your understanding of the professional requirements for actuarial communications under actuarial standard of practice (ASOP) No. 41 in the next professionalism webinar! Join an interactive dialogue about actuarial communications with the experts. The Council on Professionalism’s June 26 webinar, “Disclosure in the Real World: ASOP No. 41 Case Studies,” will take place from noon to 1:30 p.m. ET. Participants will learn how current actuarial communications requirements apply in practical situations under ASOP No. 41, Actuarial Communications. Featured panelists Patricia Matson, chairperson of the Actuarial Standards Board (ASB), and Al Beer, former ASB chairperson, will present and discuss application of the ASOP and case studies addressing the broad application of ASOP No. 41 in various practice areas. Learn more and register now.
• Actuaries play a critical role in the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation’s (PBGC) activities aimed at protecting the retirement incomes of millions of American workers who participate in private-sector defined benefit pension plans. Learn more and get an update on “PBGC: Protecting Pensions & the Role of the Actuary” directly from two senior PBGC staff members in this month’s “Academy Capitol Forum: Meet the Experts” webinar. Senior Pension Fellow Donald Fuerst will moderate the webinar, scheduled for June 30 from noon to 1 p.m. ET. All members are invited to attend. Learn more and register now.
• Do you wish to qualify to sign the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) annual statements of actuarial opinion, but haven’t met the basic education requirements set forth in Section 3.1.1 of the U.S. Qualification Standards? Obtain the required basic and continuing education at the 2014 Life and Health Qualifications Seminar, which will take place Nov. 10-13 in Arlington, Va. Learn more and register now.

Alert

• Senate OKs Different Capital Requirements: On June 3, the U.S. Senate passed the bipartisan Insurance Capital Standards Clarification Act of 2014 (S. 2270), which clarifies that the Federal Reserve has the authority to differentiate between banks and insurers in capital requirements. To read the full alert, log in to the Academy membership page and visit “Cross-practice Alerts.”

Public Policy Activities

• The Risk Management and Financial Reporting Council’s Solvency Committee sent letters to members of the U.S. House of Representatives encouraging them to enact the capital requirements legislation passed by the Senate (S. 2270/H.R. 4510). “[W]e consider the clarification set forth in the Insurance Capital Standards Clarification Act of 2014 to be in the public interest and a necessary measure to preserve the ability of regulators to effectively oversee and regulate insurance to protect policyholders and maintain vibrant insurance markets,” the committee said.
• The Medical Professional Liability Insurance Committee released a fact sheet on medical professional liability (MPL) exposures as part of a series designed for actuaries and the general public. The fact sheet discusses the exposure to MPL claims faced by individual practitioners and small group practices, hospitals and nursing homes, mid-level and allied health care providers, and managed care organizations, and the tools typically used by each to manage their exposure to claims.
• The Life Reinsurance Work Group submitted a comment letter to the NAIC’s Emerging Actuarial Issues Working Group on the exposed reinsurance ceded interpretation question.
• The Separate Account Products Work Group submitted a comment letter to the NAIC Separate Account Risk Working Group on its revised recommendations for separate accounts that was exposed May 7.
• The Risk Management and Financial Reporting Council submitted comments to the National Conference of Insurance Legislators’ (NCOIL) International Issues Task Force with recommendations on three international issues that NCOIL should address in 2014.
• The Health Practice Council updated its issue brief providing an overview of the factors underlying general premium rate setting and highlighting the major drivers behind why 2015 premiums could differ from those in 2014 under the Affordable Care Act.
• The Solvency Committee submitted comments to the International Actuarial Association on the International Association of Insurance Supervisors’ memo on a proposed approach for a global insurance capital standard.

Academy in the News

• The Code of Professional Conduct was cited as an example of an ethical code developed by a profession in a Fortune magazine article arguing for the value of developing such codes. The code identifies the professional and ethical standards required of actuaries who belong to the Academy; sets forth what it means for an actuary to act as a professional; and identifies the responsibilities that actuaries have to the public, to their clients and employers, and to the actuarial profession.
• An Academy subgroup’s projection of the cost of claims from a hypothetical large-scale terrorist attack on New York was mentioned in a June 2 posting on The Hill’s Congress blog titled “Why we must reauthorize TRIA.” On June 3, the Senate Banking Committee approved legislation that would reauthorize the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) for seven years.
• Academy analysis of life expectancy was used to illustrate the risks of early claiming of Social Security retirement benefits in a Bankrate.com Retirement Blog posting. The Academy’s Social Security resources are available in the “Pensions” section under the “Public Policy” tab at www.actuary.org.
• The Pension Committee’s concerns over the quality of data used to produce the RP-2014 mortality table in the Society of Actuaries’ Retirement Plans Experience Committee’s RP-2014 and MP-2014 exposure drafts were highlighted in the BenefitsLink Retirement Plans Newsletter. The newsletter also highlighted an article from the current issue of Contingencies, “Drilling Down: Demographic and Geographic Differences in Retirement Plan Participation.”
• InsuranceNewsNet reprinted a Governing magazine article in which Fuerst explained that public-employee pension plans that are overly optimistic about investment returns are taking on excessive risk. “That means they’re targeting a pension funding level that’s lower than what most people might consider prudent,” Fuerst said.
• Fuerst provided pointers for understanding the required annual funding notices that pension plan participants receive in a column that ran in The Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader.

Newly Released

• May Actuarial Update: Read what state officials had to say about their state’s health care exchange open-enrollment results, a new issue brief on what’s driving differences between 2014 and 2015 health premiums, analysis of proposed changes to Social Security’s current defined benefit system, and much more.

Reminders

• Submit your Academy nominations for the Robert J. Myers Public Service Award and the Jarvis Farley Service Award. The Myers award recognizes actuaries in public service who have made an exceptional contribution to the common good. The Farley award is given to Academy members whose volunteer efforts on behalf of the Academy have made significant contributions to the advancement of the profession.

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