Overview
The Society of Actuaries (SOA) ImpACT conference is the premier gathering of industry experts, employers, actuarial professionals, and thought-leaders. Presentations of the most innovative solutions to the actuarial industry’s most complex challenges will be discussed at the conference in National Harbor, Maryland, October 27—30, 2024. This year, the SOA is celebrating its 75th anniversary.
This year, as SOA celebrates its 75th anniversary, we are proud to be an exhibitor at the event and have many of our actuaries leading important discussion on topics affecting our profession.
Register here to attend the event.
Sessions
October 28, 11:00 a.m. — 12:00 p.m. EDT
Session 1E: Negotiating Your VBC — A Drama
Oliver Wyman Actuarial Principal, James Lucas, will join in a mock negotiation of a typical value-based contract, taking on the role of either provider or payer and addressing various negotiation challenges, objections, risk mitigations, data requirements, and other issues from either party.
Attendees will learn best practices and ideal tools and workflows to use when supporting value-based contract (VBC) negotiations and gain insights into the typical challenges to equitable and agreeable terms.
Speaker: James Gerald Lucas, FSA, FCA, MAAA, senior principal, Oliver Wyman
October 28, 11:00 a.m. — 12:00 p.m. EDT
Session 1M: Benefits Of A First-Principles, Path-Dependent UL/LTC Hybrid Model
Rachel Kudler will join a panel to explore the options available to model a universal life/long-term (UL/LTC) hybrid product and demonstrate the benefits of developing a path-dependent model for product risk assessment and sensitivity testing. The panelists will review a case study where a product is modeled under various modeling options, and results are analyzed and compared. Attendees will learn considerations and pros and cons of UL/LTC hybrid product modeling options, and will be able to review an example for each.
Speaker: Rachel Kudler ASA, MAAA, manager, Oliver Wyman
October 28, 11:00 a.m. — 12:00 p.m. EDT
Session 1O: VM-22 And GOES Field Test Lessons Learned
Simon Gervais will provide an overview of key considerations and takeaways from the economic scenario generator (GOES) and fixed/indexed annuity reserving (VM-22) field tests. Stylized facts from the new proposed scenario generator will be discussed and a comparison with the existing academy's scenario generator will be presented. The main guidelines from VM-22 will be contrasted and compared with CARVM and VM-21, and preliminary model results will be analyzed to understand impacts on pricing, reserving, income volatility, and reinsurance.
Speaker: Simon Gervais, FSA, senior manager, Oliver Wyman
October 28, 1:45 p.m. — 2:45 p.m. EDT
Session 2L: Private capital and ‘sidecars’: A new approach to risk transfer
The past several years have seen a significant increase in the number of insurers and investment managers partnering to establish new reinsurance vehicles. These entities, frequently domiciled in Bermuda and the Cayman Islands, are funded in part or all by third-party investors. This session will explore the mechanics of these innovative structures and the benefits they offer to all stakeholders — from policyholders to sponsoring insurers to investors. Hear actuaries and investment professionals provide insights on the what and why of private capital in the insurance industry: how it is effectively utilized, why it has taken shape, and how conflicts of interest are appropriately managed within these complex ventures.
At the conclusion of the session, attendees will understand the market drivers and economics of “sidecar” reinsurers, and how alignment of interest is maintained between policyholders, insurers, asset managers, and third-party investors.
Moderator: David Nathaniel Jones FSA,MAAA, manager, Oliver Wyman
October 28, 1:45 p.m. — 2:45 p.m. EDT
Session 2M: Current Practices In FIA / RILA GAAP Valuation
Join Tyler Keenan and Rob Forte as they delve into hot topics pertaining to post-long duration targeted improvements generally accepted accounting principles (LDTI GAAP) valuation for fixed indexed annuity (FIA) and registered index-linked annuity (RILA) products including FAS 133, market risk benefits, intangibles, and ceded GAAP. At the conclusion of this session, attendees will have a clear understanding of how the industry views GAAP approaches to indexed annuity products in a post-LDTI framework. In addition, attendees will learn about ongoing pain points in GAAP valuation for indexed annuities and areas of post-LDTI GAAP where the industry still has broad variation in methodology and application.
Moderator: Tyler Keenan, FSA, CERA, MAAA, manager, Oliver Wyman
Speaker: Robert J Forte FSA, MAAA, principal, Oliver Wyman
October 28, 3:15 p.m. — 4:30 p.m. EDT
Session 3B: Annuity Product Update
Andy King shares why 2023 was a year of continued change for the annuity market as interest rates stayed high. The rapid growth of RILA products stalled as FIA and multi-year guaranteed annuity (MYGA) products saw a significant increase in market share, with bonus products being extremely popular. The impact of actuarial standard of practice (ASOP) 2 and the higher rate environment are continuing to be realized in experience, in-force management, product design, and more.
Learn about the retail annuity market with a focus on the impacts of the current interest rate environment. Session materials will draw on experience studies, sales results, product changes, and more, which will examine how higher interest rates have altered the annuity market.
At the conclusion of this session, you will understand recent trends in the annuity market, including emerging experience, new product designs, regulatory changes, and the impact of high interest rates.
Presenter: Andy Samuel King, FSA, CERA, senior manager, Oliver Wyman
October 28, 3:15 p.m. — 4:30 p.m. EDT
Session 3P: Navigating Emerging Risks In Life Insurance — A Corporate Perspective
Angela Marie Cobble and Rebecca Scotchie share insights on how the life insurance industry is facing a rapidly changing landscape, with several emerging risks demanding the attention of actuaries and industry professionals. While actuaries commonly examine historical experience to guide our estimates of future outcomes, we are often faced with evidence that some of the forces that dictated past performance no longer persist and, in some instances, may even turn into contrary forces. This session aims to explore the key challenges and opportunities presented by risks with limited historical context, and discuss strategies to effectively manage them. We will delve into critical emerging risk areas, such as interest rate and asset risk, the rise of AI, climate change, predictive analytics in underwriting, and more. The session will feature speakers who are experts in managing risk, as well as results from interviews with top corporate risk professionals, such as chiefd risk officers (CROs) and enterprise risk managers (ERM) leads from major insurance and reinsurance companies. Attendees will gain valuable insights into emerging risks and practical strategies to navigate the evolving life insurance landscape.
Moderator: Angela Marie Cobble, FSA, MAAA, senior manager, Oliver Wyman
Presenter: Rebecca B. Scotchie, FSA, MAAA, partner, Oliver Wyman
October 29, 9:30 a.m. — 10:30 a.m. EDT
Session 4B: ASOPs And Beyond — Best Practices For Setting Assumptions in 2024
Setting credible and reliable assumptions and margins has always been crucial for ensuring the integrity and reliability of actuarial projections. Decades of collective industry experience alongside the ASOPs gives actuaries substantial guidance around assumption-setting; however, the ever-evolving landscape of the insurance industry necessitates the revision of our understanding on what it means to follow “best practices”. Erzhe Zhang, moderates a panel on traditional best practices outlined by the ASOPs as well as their application in the context of emerging trends and risks in 2024, such as predictive analytics and AI. The session will also cover evolving trends in assumption governance, as corporate ERM areas become increasingly involved in the assumption setting process. Learning objectives include refreshing and enhancing knowledge of existing ASOPs, as well as understanding strategies for emerging risks that the ASOPs do not yet cover.
Moderator: Erzhe Zhang, FSA, MAAA, senior principal, Oliver Wyman
Presenter: Alexander Tall, FSA, MAAA, senior manager, Oliver Wyman
October 29, 9:30 a.m. — 10:30 a.m. EDT
Session 4D: Prescription Drug Market Update — IRA, 340b, DTC... OMG!
Brooks Conway will discuss how prescription drug markets are undergoing rapid change — significant policy changes implemented through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), Congressional interest in long-awaited 340b reform, and a growing direct-to-consumer market have already changed the landscape significantly. The ongoing effects of these changes will continue to evolve for many years. Brooks, other prescription drug actuaries, and pharmacy policy experts explain what these changes mean for prescription drug markets and US healthcare more broadly.
Presenter: Brooks Conway, FSA, MAAA, principal, Oliver Wyman
October 29, 9:30 a.m. — 10:30 a.m. EDT
Session 4J: Implications Of Rising Interest Rates On FA And FIA Assumptions And Experience
Given the rise in interest rates during 2023, Jeffrey Roscoe will explore the implication of increasing rates on FA and FIA business by looking at industry experience for FA and FIA products for 2023 and earlier years. Additionally, the session will walk through partial withdrawals, guaranteed lifetime withdrawal benefit (GLWB) utilization, mortality and what to expect as interest rates volatile continues. The session will also discuss how direct writers and reinsurers are handing the in-force management aspects of these products in the uncertain and volatile economic periods.
Presenter: Jeffrey Joseph Roscoe FSA, CERA, MAAA, manager, Oliver Wyman
October 29, 9:30 a.m. — 10:30 a.m. EDT
Session 4K: Industry Insight Into Recent Mortality Trends And Policyholder Behavior
Chris Halloran will present recent industry-wide studies focusing on mortality and policyholder behavior patterns across both life and LTC lines of business.
The life study analyzes extensive data collected over 2018-2022, providing a unique perspective on trends heading into, during, and emerging from the pandemic. The study covers 2.5 million deaths and over 5 million voluntary surrenders and fund lapses across term and permanent life products.
The LTC analysis will focus on the components of policyholder termination, with an additional perspective of total termination patterns prior to, during and post-pandemic periods. The analysis will examine cohorts of policyholders to identify the area of largest deviations from expectation and how that translated into short term results as well as where we are today.
The aggregation of experience across participating companies provides insights into areas where a particular insurer’s data is not credible on its own, including older ages, preferred/standard classes and more. At the conclusion, attendees will leave with an understanding of how experience emerged and considerations for setting assumptions going forward.
Presenter: Christopher Halloran, FSA, principal, Oliver Wyman
Tuesday, October 29, 11:00 a.m. — 12:00 p.m. EDT
5O: RILA Market Update
Over the past year, the life industry has seen the continued expansion of the Registered Index Linked Annuity (RILA) market. Ilya Kagan and her co-presenters take a deep dive into registered index linked products. They will explore common product features and mechanics, key risks, pricing, regulatory, and reserving considerations, and reasons why RILAs have been successful. They will also consider the potential impacts of the rising interest rate environment on product sales and design.
Presenters: Ilya Kagan FSA, MAAA, CERA, Senior Manager, Oliver Wyman
October 29, 3:45 p.m. — 5:00 p.m. EDT
Session 7B: Life Product Update
Simon Gervais summarizes what is going on in the life insurance market. Join this session to make sure you are up to date on sales, distribution, product innovations, regulations, in-force management and changes happening in the life insurance space. At the end of the session, attendees will be able to identify what's happened in the life insurance market, explore where the market is heading and identify areas of risk that are opening up due to changes occurring the life insurance space.
Presenters: Simon Gervais, FSA, Senior Manager, Oliver Wyman
October 29, 3:45 p.m. — 5:00 p.m. EDT
Session 7M: Managing Long-Duration Liability Risks Through Asset-Liability Management
According to our 2023 Asset-Liability Management (ALM) survey, long-term care (LTC), universal life, and whole life insurance products have among the longest liability duration profiles, often with material asset-liability duration mismatches. Deploying an optimal strategic asset allocation (SAA) framework for these products is particularly challenging due to their:
- Long-tail profile: Liability cashflows for long-duration insurance products often extend beyond the investment horizon of currently available assets (for example, 30-year US Treasuries).
- Liquidity needs: Depending on the type and age of the insurance product, achieving your desired levels of projected liquidity becomes instrumental.
Join Ian Wong to view the solution: A robust liability-driven SAA framework with an emphasis on minimizing cashflow mismatch while considering a company's risk appetite and investment guidelines aims to reduce interest rate and liquidity risks.
Case studies: LTC and life-focused case studies will provide insights into hypothetical SAA frameworks, including ways companies optimize their fixed-income assets. We will also explore techniques used to extend asset duration beyond a typical fixed-income portfolio, using derivatives and alternative assets.
Presenter: Ian Wong, ASA, manager, Oliver Wyman
October 29, 3:45 p.m. —5:00 p.m. EDT
Session 7P: NAIC Economic Scenario Generator Transition — Status Update And Remaining Challenges
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) continues to advance the GOES (generator of economic scenarios) project for transitioning to a new real-world economic scenario generator (ESG) prescribed for principle-based reserve and capital calculations. Dylan Strother and his fellow presenters will provide a detailed project update from both the regulator and practitioner perspectives. They will discuss the model details and methods that have been decided, what remains to be determined, and the projected timeline for implementation.
Recent developments, such as the industry field test and NAIC model office testing to assess the potential impact on reserves and capital, will be reviewed, along with the implementation of the stochastic exclusion ratio test (SERT). The session will also cover the components of the ESG model and the associated scenario sets the NAIC has exposed with respect to target and acceptance criteria.
At the conclusion of this session, attendees will understand the current status of the NAIC GOES project and its projected timeline. They will be able to describe the components of the model and how it has been calibrated and validated. Attendees will also appreciate the remaining challenges in bringing the model to full implementation.
Presenter: Dylan Strother, FSA, MAAA, senior principal, Oliver Wyman
Meet The Team
