Overview

• Date:
• October 27–28, 2008
•  
• Location:
• The Westin Boston Waterfront
• Boston, MA

Equity–based guarantee products (Variable Annuities, Equity Indexed Annuities etc.) in the U.S. currently exceed a trillion dollars in deposits. Policyholders' investment knowledge continues to increase and has led to a record level of innovative and complex investment–related products and it is not showing any signs of slowing down. To remain competitive in this ever–changing investment product landscape and retain their market share, insurance companies need to keep abreast of evolving tax regulations and policyholders' risk appetites to develop a new form of guarantees. Given how inter–mingled the risks underlying these products are, many direct writers end up taking significant financial market–related risks without fully realizing the long–term impact of these risks on their balance sheet and shareholder value. As a consequence, the solutions implemented by underwriters to manage these risks ranged from doing nothing to reinsuring (if they can find one at a price they can afford) depending on a myriad of influencing factors including:

• Size of business,
• Required infrastructure/resources,
• Nature of guarantees,
• Compensation of senior management,
• How shareholders, analysts, rating agencies and regulators correlate the soundness of a company to its risk–management practice;

Which are fueled by:

• Equity market volatility in the last few years,
• An absence of complete reinsurance for these products and,
• Reported losses by some of the market players for either running a poor or no hedging program at all.

Given the sell–out attendance and rave reviews from the previous Equity– Based Insurance Guarantees Conferences, it is obvious that a forum where practicing professionals can freely exchange ideas and discuss common issues facing the industry is continually needed. With that backdrop, we invite you to attend the Equity–Based Insurance Guarantees Conference to participate in and engaging learning environment and exchange of ideas as they relate to the development of risk-measurement/risk-management/risk-monitoring ideas and tools.

What can participants expect?

This conference is designed to give professionals with limited–to–moderate experience an understanding of to how to better quantify, monitor and manage the risks underlying VA and EIA products. For professionals who feel that they are already well–versed in the intricacies associated with managing such risks, the conference provides an overview on what is being done by other experts in the field via case studies, the current state of affairs in the industry and how the market is expected to change in the future. Examples of tentative topics that will be discussed in this two–day seminar include:

• Risk metrics used to manage and monitor long term market risks;
• Quantifying and modeling policyholder behavior;
• Operational risk exposed to when running a risk–management program;
• Sorting out conflicts between hedging economic risks vs. volatility in required capital vs. volatility in financial statements

In addition to the above topics, participants will also have the unique opportunity to network with fellow practitioners including experts in this area and walk away from the conference with tangible solutions to their day–to–day risk–management challenges.

Who Should Attend:

Risk managers, risk officers, corporate actuaries, appointed actuaries, investment actuaries, product development actuaries, software vendors, consultants, investment bankers, derivatives professionals, analysts and regulators.

What Past Participants Have Said:

"Very good networking opportunities and a wide range of knowledgeable speakers."–2008 Participant

"Very good topic selection. Very informative speakers."–2007 Participant

"I thought this was a highly valuable conference. The content was interesting; the debating of different methods and the networking opportunities were great."–2006 Participant

"Program chairman did excellent job. Very effective program."–2005 Participant