Newly Released

• PBA Perspectives is a new Academy newsletter that provides quarterly updates on activities surrounding the implementation of the principle-based approach (PBA) for life insurance. The newsletter reports on recent legislative, regulatory, and Academy activity relating to PBA. PBA Perspectives will also provide updates on state legislative adoption of the new principle-based methodology. Read the first issue, which was published today.

Opportunities to Learn

• TIME is running out—Get answers and build your understanding of the professionalism requirements for actuarial communications under ASOP No. 41, the Code of Professional Conduct and related requirements 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. 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, the Code, and ethical case studies addressing the broad application of the applicable standards of practice in various practice areas. If you are an enrolled actuary, the Academy believes in good faith that your attendance at this live webinar may earn you 1.8 CPE core ethics credits under the Joint Board for the Enrollment of Actuaries’ rules. Learn more and register now.
• Actuaries at the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) help secure pensions for American workers. Get an overview of the PBGC in this month’s “Academy Capitol Forum: Meet the Experts” webinar, scheduled for June 30 from noon to 1 p.m. ET. Christopher Bone, director of PBGC’s Policy, Research and Analysis Department, and Neela K. Ranade, Chief Negotiating Actuary of its Corporate Finance and Restructuring Department, will present “PBGC: Protecting Pensions & the Role of the Actuary.” Other topics in the webinar will include:

• The actuarial data PBGC requires plan sponsors to provide in its review of corporate and plan transactions;
• Tips for practicing actuaries to help their clients achieve more efficient interactions with PBGC; and
• An update on late-breaking news and regulations related to the PBGC.

All members are invited to attend. Learn more and register now.

• Do you wish to qualify to sign the NAIC annual statement actuarial opinions, 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.

Public Policy Activities

• Academy Senior Health Fellow Cori Uccello provided an objective actuarial assessment of the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) “3Rs”—risk adjustment, reinsurance, and risk corridors—in testimony before the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform’s Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Job Creation, and Regulatory Affairs on June 18. Read her written testimony and watch a video of the hearing.
• Academy Senior Life Fellow Nancy Bennett gave a presentation on regulatory capital requirements for U.S. life insurers to the Financial Stability Oversight Council’s Insurance Industry Work Group on June 17.
• The Stress Testing Work Group sent a comment letter to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ (NAIC) Life Risk-Based Capital Working Group on its recent stress testing proposal.
• The Joint Economic Scenario Generator Project Oversight Group released the newest version of its Economic Scenario Generator and its accompanying FAQ.
• The Health Practice Financial Reporting Committee sent a comment letter to the NAIC’s Statutory Accounting Principles Working Group regarding the working group’s proposed new accounting proposal for the risk-sharing provisions of the ACA.
  

Alert

• Terrorism Risk & Financial Stability Legislation: The U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee passed a bill to extend the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) for five years and make other significant changes to the terrorism risk insurance program. The committee also passed legislation relating to the Financial Stability Oversight Council, including a one-year moratorium on the authority of FSOC to make financial stability determinations. To read the full alert, log in to the membership page and click on “Casualty Alerts.”
  

Academy in the News

• Uccello’s congressional testimony on the ACA’s risk-sharing mechanisms helped describe the programs to members of Congress “in plain English,” according to a LifeHealthPro story. A second LifeHealthPro story cited Uccello’s response to a question about the performance of the risk corridor program. Other outlets that covered the testimony included The Daily Signal, InsuranceNewsNet, and the BenefitsLink Health & Welfare Plans Newsletter.
• A JDSupra article about the value of developing ethical and professional conduct codes pointed to the Code of Professional Conduct as an example. 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.
• The Academy’s warning that an 80 percent funded ratio does not provide a sufficient measure of the financial health of a pension plan continues to resonate. It was highlighted in a (subscriber-only) Modern Healthcare story on healthcare system pension funds. The Academy’s issue brief, The 80% Pension Funding Standard Myth, offers fuller criteria for judging the actuarial soundness of a pension plan.
• Academy Senior Pension Fellow Donald Fuerst provided pointers for understanding the required annual funding notices that pension plan participants receive in a column that ran in The Tampa Bay Times.
• A Forbes column cited Academy statistics on cost savings from consumer-directed plans. The statistics are from the report, The Emerging Data on Consumer-Driven Health Plans.

Reminder

• 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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