The Academy’s Big Data Task Force released a new monograph, Big Data and the Role of the Actuary. Immediate Past President and task force Chairperson Bob Beuerlein introduced the monograph Tuesday at the 31st International Congress of Actuaries (ICA) in Berlin, Germany.
“Big Data is already breaking the mold of the traditional property/casualty insurance pricing box, and will more deeply transform how insurance in all lines and retirement system risk drivers are analyzed by actuaries,” Beuerlein said. “Powerful new data analytics methods have been and will continue to be a business disruptor for insurers and systems that manage and mitigate financial risk. Actuaries are well-positioned through their skill sets and professionalism standards to work with Big Data.” Read the Academy’s news release.
Bykerk Discusses Self-Regulation and Service to the Public at ICA Meeting
Also at the ICA this week, Academy Past President Cecil Bykerk gave a major address on the self-regulation of the U.S. actuarial profession. In his Thursday presentation, “Serving the Public through Self-Regulation in the United States,” Bykerk described the historical development and current status of the Code of Professional Conduct, U.S. Qualification Standards, actuarial standards of practice, and the professional counseling and discipline process that constitute “the building blocks of self-regulation” in the United States. “The actuarial profession in other countries may benefit by considering the U.S. model of self-regulation as a means of serving the public,” he said.
Annual Meeting to Feature Professionalism Game Show Plenary Session
Put your knowledge of actuarial professionalism to the test during the Academy’s Nov. 1–2 Annual Meeting and Public Policy Forum in Washington, D.C., which will feature a game show developed by the Academy’s Committee on Professional Responsibility at a professionalism plenary session. Participate or watch the game unfold under the direction of a panel of experts and earn valuable professionalism continuing education credit.
In this interactive plenary session, contestants and audience members will have fun and take away valuable professionalism lessons, but only one contestant will survive to win it all. Could that be you?
Extra-early registration for the Nov. 1–2 event ends today, June 8. Register now and save.
June 25 Webinar to Look at Retained P/C Insurance-Related Risk
The Academy’s upcoming webinar, “Retained P/C Insurance-Related Risk: Interaction of Actuarial Analysis and Accounting,” will cover the Academy’s new public policy practice note, Retained Property Casualty Insurance-Related Risk: Interaction of Actuarial Analysis and Accounting, which examines the interaction between the non-insurance business entity, the accountants, and the actuaries. The webinar will be held on Monday, June 25, from noon to 1:30 p.m. EDT. Register today.
Applicability Guidelines Updated
The health tab of the Applicability Guidelines for Actuarial Standards of Practice (ASOPs) has been updated for the revised ASOP No. 42, Health and Disability Actuarial Assets and Liabilities Other Than Liabilities for Incurred Claims, which takes effect Aug. 1. These Applicability Guidelines provide actuaries with a non-authoritative reference to standards that usually apply to various actuarial assignments. The guidelines are published by the Academy’s Council on Professionalism.
Public Employment Opportunity
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has a public employment opportunity for a senior actuary with a property and casualty/general insurance specialty. The Washington, D.C.-based position is within GAO’s office of Applied Research and Methods (ARM), which provides technical and specialist expertise to support and extend the work that GAO supplies to Congress and federal agencies. ARM actuaries serve as consultants to other GAO teams in a variety of areas of interest to Congress. Position information is available via USAJOBS by clicking here (general public) or here (qualified federal employees, veterans, or individuals with disabilities). The application deadline is next Tuesday, June 12.
The Social Security and Medicare Boards of Trustees issued their annual reports on the financial status of the Social Security and Medicare programs on Tuesday. The reports show that the Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust Fund will have sufficient funds to cover its obligations through 2026, three years sooner than reported in 2017, and that the combined retirement and disability programs of Social Security have sufficient resources to fully cover benefits until 2034.
In a filing issued Thursday to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Fort Worth Division, and in separate correspondence to congressional leaders, the U.S. Department of Justice announced the federal government will not defend the Affordable Care Act (ACA) against a lawsuit claiming that the ACA is no longer constitutional and should be repealed.
Public Policy Activity
The Multiemployer Plans Committeeresponded to questions for the record from the Joint Select Committee on Solvency of Multiemployer Pension Plans’ April 18 hearing on “The History and Structure of the Multiemployer Pension System.”
The RBC Tax Reform Work Group submitted its third comment letter to the NAIC Risk-Based Capital Working Group on the impact of tax reform on life RBC calculations.
The Life Operational Risk Work Group submitted a comment letter to the NAIC Operational Risk (E) Subgroup on potentially incorporating an operational risk growth charge into the life risk-based capital formula.
The Life Reserves Work Group submitted an amendment proposal form that seeks to revise the approach in VM-20 to determine the credited rate for index accounts in the calculation of the deterministic reserve.
The Joint P&C/Health Bond Factor Analysis Work Group released “On Risk Charges for Speculative Grade Bonds,” a draft for discussion purposes, to the NAIC’s Joint Health Risk-Based Capital (RBC) and P/C RBC Drafting Group.
A subscriber-only Bloomberg Law story on the annual Medicare Trustees’ Report quoted Senior Health Fellow Cori Uccello, who cited the pressure that Medicare spending is putting on the federal budget. “Consistently, the trustees have been emphasizing Medicare’s financial challenges, and that hasn’t changed,” Uccello said.
A subscriber-only CQ Roll Call story cited comments from Barb Klever, chairperson of the Risk Sharing Subcommittee, on changes to the ACA’s risk adjustment program.
The Ohio Society of Association Executives featured an article on the Academy’s “2018: Making Issues Count” voter guides.
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