Academy Hosts Successful Virtual PBR Boot Camp
Hemphill presents at Wednesday’s PBR Boot Camp
The Academy held a successful virtual PBR Boot Camp on Wednesday, a 90-minute mini-seminar covering key principle-based reserving (PBR) issues. Presenters—Elaine Lam, senior life actuary with the California Department of Insurance; Rachel Hemphill, chair of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ (NAIC) Life Actuarial Task Force (LATF) and PBR team lead at the Texas Department of Insurance; Seong-min Eom, Academy vice president of risk management and financial reporting, and chief life and health actuary with the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance; Vincent Tsang, with the Illinois Department of Insurance; and Academy Life Vice President Ben Slutsker, who is also director of life actuarial valuation at the Minnesota Department of Commerce. It was moderated by Thomas Reedy, a member of the PBR Implementation Work Group and chief systems actuary at the California Department of Insurance. Speakers covered a range of PBR issues, notably regulatory oversight and review of PBR, and gave an overview of issues related to governance, model validation, and materiality. Slides and audio of the session will be available soon for logged-in Academy members as a free member benefit on the archived webinars page.
COPLFR Releases Updated Risk Transfer Practice Note
 The Casualty Practice Council’s (CPC) Committee on Property and Liability Financial Reporting (COPLFR) released the updated Risk Transfer Practice Note, which was last updated in 2007. It includes definitions and relationships between regulatory treatments of risk transfer—e.g., U.S. statutory, U.S. GAAP, IFRS 4 and IFRS 17, and Solvency II; the process for determination of risk transfer; current techniques used in practice for determining risk transfer; and risk transfer documentation. Logged-in Academy members can also access an archived webinar held Oct. 25 that discussed the practice note.
ASU Comment Deadline Extended to Dec. 9; Webinar Later This Month
The deadline for comments on the Risk Management and Financial Reporting Council’s Long-Duration Contracts Work Group’s practice note exposure draft regarding Long-Duration Targeted Improvements (LDTI), Application of ASU 2018-12 to the Accounting for Long-Duration Contracts Under U.S. GAAP, has been extended. The draft practice note covers aspects of the application of Accounting Standards Update 2018-12, Targeted Improvements to the Accounting for Long-Duration Contracts, published in August 2018 by the Financial Accounting Standards Board. The new comment deadline is Dec. 9—please send comments to Samuel Owen, Academy risk management and financial reporting policy analyst, at owen@actuary.org.
Webinar Nov. 30—The Academy will host the third of three webinars offering insight on and discussion of the recently exposed LDTI practice note. Each of the webinars has covered different aspects of the practice note; the upcoming one will focus on its reinsurance sections. Continuing education (CE) credit is available for the webinar, which is on Wednesday, Nov. 30, from 12:30 to 2 p.m. EST. Register today.
Academy Representatives Attend CAS Annual Meeting
Academy representatives, including Executive Director Bill Michalisin and new President Ken Kent, attended this week’s Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS) Annual Meeting in Minneapolis. Roosevelt Mosley began his term, becoming the CAS’ first Black president. A longtime CAS volunteer, Mosley has also volunteered on a number of Academy committees, including the Data Science and Analytics Committee and the Automobile Insurance Committee, the latter of which he chaired.
The meeting drew about 800 attendees, saw recognition of newly credentialed CAS associates and fellows, and included sessions and presenters including author and data scientist Cathy O’Neil (who presented at the Academy’s 2021 Annual Meeting); a chief actuary roundtable discussion on diversity, equity & inclusion (DEI); a professionalism session on the Code of Professional Conduct; and a session on building the actuary of the future that featured Academy Rising Actuary Award Recipient Chelsea Adler, along with Domenic Lee, Josh Taub, and Rafael Costa.
IABA Names New Executive Director, Hosts Corporate Advisory Council Meeting
The International Association of Black Actuaries (IABA) announced that Tiffany Holmes has been selected as its new executive director. The IABA is a nonprofit professional and student member organization whose mission is to increase the number of successful Black actuaries through programs and partnerships that address their underrepresentation in the profession. Holmes’ strong background working with students and schools will further enhance the organization’s focus on growing the pipeline of Black actuarial professionals. Academy representatives, including Annette James, Academy Board member and chairperson of the Health Equity Committee; Director of Communications David J. Nolan; and Executive Director Bill Michalisin participated in IABA’s Corporate Advisory Council Meeting on Friday in Atlanta, during which IABA discussed its strategic plan and opportunities to continue supporting efforts to diversify the profession and pipeline.
Registration Open for December’s Capital Market Outlook Webinar
Registration is open for the December pension webinar “Capital Market Outlook—What to Expect After 2022’s Roller-Coaster Ride.” After a year that began with historically low interest rates and historically high capital market pricing, a narrative had developed to explain that perhaps this was the “new normal.” Then, an inflation spike changed that narrative. Join the Academy for a webinar intended to support pension actuaries with responsibility for setting and assessing economic assumptions. CE and Joint Board for the Enrollment of Actuaries (JBEA) continuing professional education (CPE) credit are available. The webinar is set for Tuesday, Dec. 6, from noon to 1:30 p.m. EST. Register today.
Next Week—Pension Webinar on Augmented Mortality
Join the Academy next week for the pension webinar, “Discussion Brief: Actuarial Considerations When Using Augmented Mortality Models.” Presenters will review the recently released discussion brief of the same name developed by the Academy’s Pension, Public Plans, and Multiemployer Plans committees. Examples will be provided of augmented mortality models, how they differ from traditional models, and keys to understanding the underlying data and testing for reasonableness. This webinar is next Tuesday, Nov. 15, from noon to 1:30 p.m. EST. Register now.
Register for Upcoming Cost-Sharing Health Webinar
In the Health Practice Council’s (HPC) upcoming webinar, “Considerations for Calculating Cost-Sharing Reduction Load Factors,” presenters will discuss cost-sharing reductions provided by the Affordable Care Act. Joyce Bohl, new Academy Board member and chairperson of the HPC’s Individual and Small Group Markets Committee, will moderate. Presenters will be Donna Novak, the committee’s vice chairperson, and Jason Karcher, chairperson of the committee’s Risk Sharing Subcommittee. The webinar is on Tuesday, Nov. 29, from noon to 1:30 p.m. EST. Register today.
Public Policy in Focus
In the News
Advisor Magazine reported on Ken Kent taking office as Academy president at last week’s Envision Tomorrow: 2022 Annual Meeting. An Insurance News Net story reported on an Annual Meeting health breakout session on how climate change is affecting health risks. Think Advisor reported on an Annual Meeting life breakout session on the emergence of private equity and life insurance. A Richmond Times-Dispatch story on the funded status of a public employee defined benefit plan used Academy research for context reporting on the plan’s financial health. Senior Pension Fellow Linda K. Stone provided comments and an illustrative example for an Investopedia article on the periodic recalculation of lump-sum values. The Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization cited the Actuaries Longevity Illustrator, developed jointly by the Academy and the Society of Actuaries. -
Portail de L’assurance (French language) cited the Actuaries Climate Index, which is jointly sponsored by the Academy with other North American actuarial associations.
A Security Boulevard blog post on cyber catastrophes cited the Academy’s definition of catastrophes.
Events Calendar
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