By Jared M. Mickall, FCIA, Chair of the Committee on Pension Plan Financial Reporting Pension plan sponsors are focusing on the safety of their people and the continuation – and, in some cases, survival – of their operations. Pension regulators across the country have implemented various measures in response to these events. Administrators and trustees of defined benefit plans are digesting the...
Mortality considerations in the time of COVID-19
By Steve Bocking, FCIA, and Marie-Andrée Boucher, FCIA, respective Vice-Chair and Chair of the Committee on Life Insurance Financial Reporting (CLIFR) The experience related to the impact of COVID-19 on insured mortality is very preliminary and is just starting to emerge. In the absence of more robust information and data, here are a few considerations related to mortality assumptions: Several...
Forecasting the future
By Steven W. Easson, FCIA, Chair of the SOA/CIA Project on Real-Time Delphi Study on Economic Variables Futures research forecasting methods In forecasting the future, for purposes such as valuations and capital projections, our typical actuarial toolkit includes items such as experience studies, historical market data, complex stochastic modelling, credibility theory, and I go could go on. Very...
COVID-19… An Existential Crisis?
By Keith Walter, FCIAResearch Council Chair“In a few short weeks, everything has changed.” You have probably heard that statement over and over recently. Unfortunately, for many in Canada that statement is true. Businesses are struggling to survive, and some will not be able to recover. Individuals approaching retirement have lost a portion of their retirement savings...
COVID-19 and the oil shock: the case for a black swan event
By Terence Narine, FCIA The content of this article should not be construed as an actuarial opinion or guidance on actuarial work. I do not have experience in some of the practice areas mentioned in this article, so my comments are made from the perspective of someone outside these areas. A black swan event can be viewed like the 1-in-200-year flood that we risk managers agonize over; a rare...
