by Alex Marcuson This question occurred to me at a seminar I attended recently. The speaker was arguing that cyber was a new category of insurance, distinct from traditional property and casualty insurance classes. On reflection, I felt unconvinced, but I thought it was worth setting out some of the arguments both ways. Why is… Continue reading>
Alex Marcuson presented on the work that his Peril-based reserving working party has been carrying out. This presentation was given at the annual GIRO Conference, this year held during September in Dublin. After providing a recap of some of the material delivered at previous GIRO Conferences, and the challenges that had been identified at that… Continue reading>
Alex Marcuson presented on machine learning at the annual GIRO Conference, this year held during September in Dublin. Speaking together with Alan Chalk, the popular workshop provided an introduction for actuarial newcomers to this field. The workshop provided a practical example of decision tree tools to analyse sample text. Using speeches given by US presidential… Continue reading>
There are a lot of uncertainties inherent in the valuation and capital modelling of Periodical Payment Order (“PPO”) liabilities. Not only is there no perfect hedge for the inflation indices applied to them, there is also very limited data upon which to base mortality models. While much has been written on the challenges presented by… Continue reading>
Solvency II: calculation of technical provisions and the use of internal models for general insurers This consultation paper was issued by the PRA in March 2014. It is a short, accessible read and contains several helpful pointers to firms as they prepare for Solvency II. The scope of the note is the set of general… Continue reading>
The recent high-profile announcement by QBE has prompted us to set down some thoughts on reserving and capital issues raised here. An open question, outside the scope of this article, is whether, it signals the first concrete sign of an approaching wave of soft-market bad news in the sector. Reserves are inherently uncertain The first… Continue reading>
This article is about whether audit and actuary rotation need to be items on a CRO’s agenda Most insurance organisations have had the same auditing firm for many years. Very few audits are actually put out to tender. As far as we can tell, in only 3 countries is there a mandatory requirement to change… Continue reading>
What do we do now? With Solvency II being put back for two, three, four or maybe more years, firms now have a chance to scale back their programmes and focus on the usual business objectives of making profits and looking after customers. We think it will prove a mistake for firms to pull the… Continue reading>