Having trouble viewing this email? View it in your browser.
Recent Academy Activity, August 17-21, 2015

Academy Presents at the NAIC Summer Meeting
Academy volunteers gave multiple presentations at the NAIC’s Summer 2015 National Meeting in Chicago, interacting with state regulators on a wide variety of specific insurance-related topics as well as overall professionalism aspects of actuarial practice.

Academy President Mary D. Miller, Tricia Matson, chairperson of the Actuarial Standards Board, and Nancy Behrens, a member of the Actuarial Board for Counseling and Discipline, spoke to the NAIC’s Casualty Actuarial and Statistical Task Force, where Miller provided an update on the development of the Academy’s online U.S. Qualification Standards Attestation Form, and demonstrated a prototype at the regulator-only professionalism breakfast the Academy hosted on Aug. 15.

Miller highlighted the progress on the attestation form, which will allow actuaries submitting statements of actuarial opinion to attest to their general and specific qualifications and continuing education.

Also:

  • The Solvency Committee provided a presentation to the ComFrame Development and Analysis (G) Working Group (CDAWG) on the practical implications of using a 99.5 percent Value at Risk over a one-year time horizon for valuation purposes.

  • During the CDAWG meeting, the Academy requested clarification regarding the absence of the cash flow approach based on the Solvency Committee’s comments to the working group on the NAIC’s revised group capital assessment proposal.

  • Nancy Bennett, senior life fellow, and Jerry Holman, co-chairperson of the C1 Work Group, presented the work group’s report, “Model Construction and Development of RBC Factors for Fixed Income Securities for the NAIC’s Life Risk-Based Capital Formula” to the NAIC’s Investment Risk-Based Capital Working Group on C1 factors for corporate bonds, and recommended a set of base Risk-Based Capital (RBC) and Asset Valuation Reserve factors for the Life RBC formula.

For more information on the Academy’s activities at the NAIC Summer National Meeting, read the Academy Alert reviewing the meeting here.

The Academy will host a post-NAIC webinar on Aug. 27 (details below). Watch for expanded NAIC coverage in the August Actuarial Update.

New Special Director Elected

  • Earlier this week, the Board of Directors elected former Ohio Department of Insurance Director (2007-11) Mary Jo Hudson to serve as a special director on the Board for a term ending in the fall of 2016. “I’ve had the pleasure of working with many actuaries as a regulator, and look forward to this new role supporting the important public policy and professionalism mission of the Academy,” said Hudson, a member of the law firm of Bailey Cavalieri LLC, Columbus, Ohio, a legal practice emphasizing multi-state insurance regulatory compliance issues. Read the news release here.

Online Election Update

  • The Academy’s Nominating Committee presented a slate of four excellent candidates for open regular director positions on the Academy Board of Directors. The nominees are: Elizabeth Brill, Alice Fontaine, Laurel Kastrup, and Allen Schmitz. Online voting for the regular director positions will open Aug. 31 at 9 a.m. EDT and end Sept. 21 at 11:59 p.m. EDT. A preliminary test message to members to assure that they will receive the Aug. 31 message opening voting was sent earlier this week from electionadmin@intelliscaninc.net; please check your junk mail folder if you did not receive it. For more information about the Nominating Committee Guidelines for how candidates are selected and other election details, please visit the Academy’s online Election Center.

Call for Papers

  • In light of the Academy’s ongoing focus on policy issues affecting an aging population—longevity risk, retirement security, long-term care, and public program sustainability—the Academy supports a new call for papers from the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA), the professional association for actuaries in the United Kingdom. The IFoA is soliciting research proposals related to a series of key policy questions focused on two actuarial themes: the aging of the population and the effect of the changing economic landscape on financial health. Given the global nature of these two major themes, proposals are being accepted from research-led organizations in the academic, not-for-profit, and public and private sectors within and outside of the U.K. The Academy encourages members to consider this call for papers to further the prominence of our independent and objective perspective on these critical actuarial and policy questions. The submissions deadline is Oct. 5.

Newly Released

  • The August ASB Boxscore, released this week, covers the ASB’s revision of ASOP No. 34, Actuarial Practice Concerning Retirement Plan Benefits in Domestic Relations Actions; its adoption of a pending draft ASOP on principle-based reserves for life products; and notes the ASB’s July 9 public hearing on public pensions, which was also covered in the July Actuarial Update.

Public Policy Activities

  • The Pension Practice Council and its Multiemployer Plans Subcommittee sent joint comments to the Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department on proposed regulations on suspensions of benefits under the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014.

  • The Social Security Committee released an issue brief, Social Security Disability Program: Shortfall Solutions and Consequences, which addresses the Disability Insurance Trust Fund shortfall and ways to improve its long-term financial viability.

Upcoming Events

  • Post-NAIC Webinar Set for Thursday: Join the Life Practice Council next Thursday, Aug. 27, for a webinar reviewing the NAIC’s summer national meeting, which wrapped up early this week in Chicago. Presenters will include Mary Bahna-Nolan, the Academy’s vice president for life issues; Philip Barlow, associate commissioner of the District of Columbia Department of Insurance Securities & Banking’s Insurance Bureau; and Michael Boerner, chairperson of the NAIC’s Life Actuarial Task Force and director of the Actuarial Office at the Texas Department of Insurance. Dave Neve, chairperson of the Academy’s Life Reserves Work Group, will moderate. Click here for more information.

  • Discount Registrations Available for 50th Anniversary Celebration at the Academy’s Annual Meeting: Discount registrations are available through Aug. 31 for the Academy’s Annual Meeting and Public Policy Forum, Nov. 12-13 in Washington. The Academy released new details about the breakout practice-area continuing education-rich sessions, which will offer public policy and professionalism content relevant to all actuarial areas of practice, and practice-specific content including professionalism issues. This will all take place in a festive and fascinating celebration of the Academy’s 50th anniversary this year.

  • VM-20 Seminar Coming Next Month: Learn all about VM-20 and PBR at “Vrmm, Vrmm, VM-20—Start Your Engines, The Race to the PBR Finish Line Is On!” This seminar will offer practical examples of how to implement new life principle-based reserve requirements. Sessions will outline the basics of performing a VM-20 calculation—ideal for those with little to no understanding of the VM-20 requirements—as well as complex VM-20 requirements and strategies to successfully implement VM-20. The seminar, to be held Sept. 2 in Boston, follows the 2015 Valuation Actuary Symposium, also in Boston.

  • International Health Care Cost Drivers Webinar: Health care cost growth is a global issue. Exploring comparative experience with health care cost trends and the drivers of cost increases worldwide is the objective of a 2015 webinar series jointly sponsored by the Academy’s Health Practice International Committee and the International Actuarial Association Health Section. Join us Sept. 2 for the third webinar in this series, which will provide a unique opportunity to learn about the successes and challenges Australia and Singapore have experienced as they have worked to identify and address cost drivers. A Nov. 4 series webinar will focus on Canada and Chile; stay tuned for further details.

  • Casualty Loss Reserve Seminar Set for September: The 2015 Casualty Loss Reserve Seminar (CLRS) and Workshops, jointly sponsored by the Academy and the Casualty Actuarial Society, will be held Sept. 9-11 at the Omni Hotel at CNN Center in Atlanta. Attend the 2015 CLRS to learn from expert analysis of innovation in reserving. For more information on attendee registration, please email arc@casact.org or visit the CLRS website.

  • The 2015 Life and Health Qualifications Seminar will be held Nov. 9-12 in Arlington, Va. (metropolitan Washington), just prior to the Academy’s Annual Meeting in Washington. Click here for registration information.

  • P/C Opinion Seminar Planned for Philadelphia: Actuaries who prepare or sign NAIC annual statement actuarial opinions on property/casualty loss reserves, or those who assist in preparing them, should plan to attend the Academy’s 2015 Seminar on P/C Effective Loss Reserve Opinions, Dec. 1-2 in Philadelphia. Click here for more information.

In the News

  • An Insurance & Financial Advisor story reported on the Academy’s widely cited issue brief, Drivers of 2016 Health Insurance Premium Changes.

  • The Academy’s pension issue brief on alternative expense methodologies, Alternatives for Pension Cost Recognition—Issues and Implications, was posted in BenefitsLink Retirement Plans Newsletter.

  • BenefitsLink also posted the Pension Practice Council’s and the Multiemployer Plans Subcommittee’s comments on proposed regulations on suspensions of benefits under the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014.

Note: Some links in this email go to external websites and may require registration. The Academy is not responsible for the content of these websites. Links may expire.