Description: The Observatoire actuariel de la crise du coronavirus (Actuarial Observatory of the Coronavirus Crisis) is a unique initiative of the Institut des actuaires (Institute of Actuaries) consisting of the establishment of a process of qualitative sociological surveying during the confinement and the two weeks following it. Implemented by a PhD sociologist, the Actuarial Observatory of the Coronavirus Crisis aimed to collect, in real time, the perceptions and analyses of actuaries, women and men of all generations and from all professional backgrounds, of this unprecedented crisis. Its first report reproduces the observations made with respect to operational matters: • How did the companies continue to operate? • What are the consequences for the sectors? • How will they manage the induced risks? • What are the expectations for the future?

Description: Risk adjustment is needed under IFRS 17 to reflect the compensation that a company requires for bearing the uncertainty about the amount and timing of the cash flows that arises from non-financial risk. Companies are also required to disclose the method and confidence level used for the calculation of the RA. However, IFRS 17 doesn’t specify a method and a confidence level, nor does it provide a list of specific risks that are considered to be non-financial risk. Companies need to define them based on their own preferences or existing practices. This article will introduce available approaches and discuss the confidence level approach with potential consideration stemming from industry preferences and illustrative examples.

Description: The article provides an update on the 2019 ERM Symposium with regard to date, location and content (General Sessions and Concurrent Sessions).

Description: A critical step in valuing a company for the purpose of financial reporting is the computation of the market value of economic surplus (MVES). This article provides a novel approach to the valuation of MVES that is stable and reasonably immune to “market noise.” Current approaches to the calculation of economic surplus of an insurance company generally define such surplus as the market value of the assets (MVA) supporting the liabilities less the market value of liabilities (MVL). While MVA is observable in the market, MVL is typically computed directly, without regard to the underlying supporting assets. Subtracting MVL from any value of assets that changes with market movements results in an unstable surplus. Consequently, a surplus that is not fully reflective of market sentiment has been rejected by many. This same approach is further used in the calculation of market consistent embedded value (MCEV) when a balance sheet approach is used .

Description: This article discusses that several ERM characteristics mitigate the effects of bad corporate culture, including: • The whole firm is considered the system in view holistic characteristic. • Peers are empowered to lead in positive ways intensive management characteristic. • Risk taking should be separated from risk management objective assessment characteristic. • Risk management is a key corporate value, second only to profit maximization postmodern characteristic.

Description: This Chairperson's Corner article discusses the SOA becoming the pre-eminent risk management profession. The Chairman's message is that actuaries have the inside track on risk management positions in the insurance industry and have a basis for competing for similar positions in the broader financial services industry.

Description: In this article the author discusses how ERM must be effectively applied to have the desired result. Stated another way, the banks that followed the basic precepts of ERM fared better in the crisis than those that didn't.

Description: The article provides an update on the 2019 ERM Symposium with regard to date, location and content (General Sessions and Concurrent Sessions).

Description: This is the first of a two-part article introducing and elaborating an “Adaptor” strategy for ERM. Such a strategy is intended to fulfil two purposes: first, switching among four styles of risk-coping strategies in order to track qualitative changes in a business’s risk environment; and, second, to support the business in navigating with resilience through all the seasons of a business-economic cycle, i.e., of boom, bust, moderate, uncertain. This latter requires careful study of the nature of resilience, the familiar idea of bounce back, and the less familiar idea of bounce forward. Part I of our article is underpinned therefore by a supplementary document (available from https://riskviews.wordpress.com/adaptor-exceptionalism/), which addresses the issue of structural change in a business or economy. It draws heavily on ideas taken from the discipline of control engineering, as well as some from ecology, social anthropology, and economics. The entire two-part article is thus an exercise in cross-disciplinary Systems Thinking.

Description: Update of climate risk related governance and disclosure.