Life Practice Council

Life Practice Council Highlights

• Played an integral role in the development of the exposure draft for Valuation Manual-20: Requirements for Principle-based Reserves for Life Products. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ (NAIC) Life and Health Actuarial Task Force adopted the exposure draft on Aug. 12; it is undergoing field testing with a report due March 31, 2011. The Academy plans to help promote understanding of the principle-based approach (PBA) at both the regulator and company/actuary level throughout the field-testing process.
• Participated in a panel discussion about the future of solvency regulation with respect to regulatory capital requirements and overarching accounting/valuation issues at a meeting of the NAIC’s Solvency Modernization Initiative (SMI) Task Force in March.
• Testified on stranger-originated annuity transactions at an NAIC Life and Annuities Committee hearing on May 20.
• Testified, jointly with the Pension Practice Council, at a Sept. 15 public hearing sponsored by the Treasury and Labor departments on lifetime income options for retirement plans.
• Worked to complete development of an approach to life and annuity product nonforfeiture reform that could build on an earlier reform framework.
• Presented webinar following the spring, summer, and fall NAIC meetings that provided updates on NAIC activities and reviewed progress of the PBA project, mortality issues, and risk-based capital.
• Issued a practice note on scenario and cell model reduction for purposes of principle-based approaches to reserves and capital on Sept. 22.
• Co-sponsored two seminars with the Society of Actuaries (SOA). How will PBA Rock Your World? was held in Tampa, Fla., on May 19. PBA Implementation: Getting a Rock Solid Start was held in conjunction with the Valuation Actuary Symposium in Chicago on Sept. 22.
• Reviewed current required disclosures for life settlements and how they benefit both potential sellers and potential investors, with the objective of determining if an Academy position statement would be appropriate.
• Developed an educational paper about the effect of government mandates; the paper will be geared toward both the public and policymakers.