News

Over 2,000 years after Aristotle argued that the earth is not flat, similar discussions are taking place (sort of!) for actuarial valuations. In a webinar on 30th June, organised by the UK Actuarial Profession, Hewitt's John Coulthard and Roger Moring will discuss the merits of using term-dependent assumptions for valuations from a corporate and trustee perspective respectively and will share some practical lessons learned.

The CEA, CRO Forum and CFO Forum have written to the European Commission to comment on the application of the illiquidity premium to liabilities in both the implementing measures for Solvency II and the fifth quantitative impact study (QIS 5). Welcoming the EC’s more granular approach to the application of the illiquidity premium, the paper sets out proposals for criteria to be tested in QIS 5.

Last month, the Financial Regulator issued a questionnaire to insurance undertakings that had expressed a wish to enter into the Solvency II internal model pre-application readiness assessment process.   

This month, the Financial Regulator held a number of workshops to discuss the questionnaire.

The Financial Regulator has now published a document that sets out the questionnaire together with the main questions raised in the workshops and the Financial Regulator's responses to these questions.

The Management Board of the UK Actuarial Profession has identified enterprise risk management (ERM) as an area of growth, particularly within the financial sector.

In this Newsletter, read about:

New Qualifiers' Reception

Professionalism Course

Practice Committee Updates

Guidelines for Presentations

Presenting your Paper to the Society

Economic Scenario Generators & Solvency II

Current Topics 2009

Report of the Life Assurance Valuation Regulations Working Party

Reminder - CPD Returns

Medically Underwritten Annuities

A Holistic Framework for Life Cycle Financial Planning

Back Page - Important Diary Dates, SAI Gold Update, On the Move 

The UK Actuarial Profession wishes to commission research in the area of modelling and understanding heterogeneity in mortality and morbidity risk which has an impact in areas of actuarial interest.

The Financial Regulator has published a consultation paper on "Corporate Governance Requirements for Credit Institutions and Insurance Undertakings".

The paper attempts to align corporate governance requirements with recent international regulatory initiatives in the governance field and proposes minimum standards that credit institutions and insurance undertakings will be expected to meet in this area.

The Financial Regulator has published a consultation paper on Investment Guarantees - Guidance on Reserving and Risk Governance
 

The International Actuarial Association has issued a “Request for Proposals to prepare an Educational Monograph on the Topic of Issues Associated with the Determination of Discount Rates for Financial Reporting Purposes”. 

The deadline for responding to the RFP is 15th July, 2010.

Request for Proposals

In an address to a Financial Regulator Solvency II Insurance Forum this week, Jonathan McMahon, Assistant Director General, Financial Institutions Supervision, urged companies to allocate significant resources to the implementation of Pillar 2 (risk management and governance) and Pillar 3 (supervisor reporting and disclosure) of the Solvency II framework.  He commented that the implementation of Basel II (The Capital Requirements Directive) led banks and regulators to place too much importance on models and their outputs.  He stressed that, while high quality models are important,

The Society has today issued a proposed Code of Professional Conduct for member consultation.  Members are invited to submit comments by Friday, 25th June, 2010.

 
Read the proposed Code and get details of the consultation process here (member log-in required). 

At a public hearing on Solvency II in Brussels this month, Michel Barnier, Member of the European Commission responsible for the Internal Market and Services, urged insurers to give their opinions on the calibration of Solvency II by taking part in Quantitative Impact Study (QIS5).  He also proposed deferral of the implementation of the Directive:  “As very few insurers end their financial year on 31 October, I wish to propose deferring the date of entry into force of the Directive from 31 October 2012 to 31 December 2012 to bring it into line with the date on which the accounts o