Program
Monday, September 21
11:00–12:00: Joint plenary
Session 1: Insurance M&A landscape under COVID-19
Interest: All
Moderator: Dane Grand-Maison (ACIA), Consulting Actuary, Eckler
Speaker: Israel Olman Martinez Magana*, Executive Director, J.P. Morgan
Learn how COVID-19 might impact the insurance mergers and acquisitions landscape in North America and internationally. What are the latest trends and what is expected for the future?
12:15–13:15:Concurrent sessions
Session 2: Facility Association market update
Interest: P&C
Moderator: Cynthia Potts (FCIA), Principal, Eckler
Speaker: Saskia Matheson*, President and CEO, Facility Association
This session provides an in-depth look at the Facility Association (FA), its history, legislation, and regulatory structure, including its mechanisms (FARM, RSP, UAF, UIP).
The FA will also share updates on its strategic priorities as well as discussions on the role of industry in guaranteeing access to insurance, market stabilization, improved underwriting, and rating information.
Session 3: Insights into the impact of COVID-19 on population excess deaths and insurance claims in Canada
Interest: Life
Moderator: Keith Walter (FICA), Senior Vice-President, RGA
Speakers: Terence Narine (FCIA), Trading and Signing Officer, F&G (Cayman) Re
Keith Walter (FCIA)
Although it is too early to understand the full impact of COVID-19 on general population excess deaths and insurance claims, actuaries can gain important high-level insights from aggregate data and from assumptions and models based on that data. This session will provide an update on data collection, models, and other CIA research activities related to COVID-19.
Wednesday, September 23
12:15–13:30 Concurrent sessions
Session 4: PCFRC update and LRC under IFRS 17
Interest: P&C
Moderator: Sarah Ashley Chevalier (FCIA),Patricia Hladun (FCIA), Actuarial Expert, IFRS 17, The Co-operators
Matthieu Jasmin (FCIA), Director, Corporate Actuarial, IFRS 17, Financial Planning and Investments, Desjardins
The P&C Financial Reporting Committee (PCFRC) will provide an update on recent activities. The session will focus on sharing insights from the upcoming educational note on the Liability for Remaining Coverage (LRC) under IFRS 17.
Session 5: Unravelling the death toll of COVID-19Interest: Life
Moderator: Xin Qing (Maria) Zou (FCIA), IFRS Implementation Actuary, Swiss Reinsurance
Speakers:
Dr. Adam Strange*, Assistant Vice-President, Swiss Re
How accurate are the death counts of COVID-19? Who and where are the people at greater risk? How deadly is it really? What should life insurers keep an eye on? These and other topics relating to the cost of the pandemic and lives that current research informs us will be addressed in this session.
13:45–14:45 Joint plenary
Session 6: Applying brain rules for effective presentation
Interest: All
Moderator: Dane Grand-Maison (ACIA), Consulting Actuary, Eckler
Speaker: Stephanie Gould Rabin*, Founder and Managing Partner, Viridian NYC
Got PowerPoint? Got numbers? Got cool charts? Check! Check! Check! Ready to give an effective presentation? …maybe not. More and more resources are available for us to put our numbers into more effectively designed graphs and charts. The next step is to put all of this information into effective presentations. Applying adult learning theory, specifically "Brain Rules," this interactive session will explore specific rules that apply to presentations and collaboratively diagnose enhancements to a number of sample slides. Problem slides? Send your slide to the CIA in advance of the session and they may be used in the session. Email nancy.jenkinson@cia-ica.ca.
15:00–16:00 Plenary session
Session 7: The impact of IFRS 17 on the role of the actuary
Interest: All
Moderator: Lesley Thomson (FCIA), Vice-President, Actuarial Policy, Sun Life
Speakers:
Claudette Cantin (FCIA), Senior Vice-President, Chief Actuary and CRO, Munich Re
Trevor Howes (FCIA), Vice-President and Actuary, Moody’s Analytics
Work continues to understand and prepare for financial reporting under IFRS 17. Appointed Actuaries and valuation actuaries in Canada will need to think about how these fundamental changes in the approach to the valuation and presentation of insurance contract liabilities may affect their overall responsibilities as defined in the regulatory framework and related professional standards. This session will summarize the work to-date of the Designated Group on the Impact of IFRS 17 on the Role of the Appointed/Valuation Actuary and the DG’s current plans regarding needed changes in ASOPs.
Thursday, September 24
11:00–12:00: Joint plenary
Session 8: IFRS 17 – Implementation challenges
Interest: All
Moderator: Hélène Pouliot (FCIA), Senior Director, Willis Towers Watson
Speakers: Hélène Pouliot (FCIA), Senior Director, Willis Towers Watson
Nathalie Bégin (FCIA), Director, Willis Towers Watson
This session will discuss the challenges Life and P&C companies are encountering with their implementation programs and provide strategies to address them.
12:15–13:30: Concurrent sessions
Session 9: The role of P&C actuaries facing climate change
Interest: P&C
Moderator: Frédéric Matte (FCIA), Senior Director, Corporate Actuarial and Investments, Promutuel Insurance
Speakers: Mei-Hsuan Chao (FCIA), Director, Planning, Corporate Actuarial, Economical Insurance Group
Frédéric Matte (FCIA)
In the 2020 edition of the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Perception Survey, and for the first time in its history, environmental concerns dominate the top long-term risks by both likelihood and impacts. In this webinar, the speakers will have a close look at how the P&C insurance industry is experiencing such impacts and the CIA’s efforts made to address the risks of climate change. The speakers will also explore what P&C actuaries could do in their day-to-day work to incorporate risks brought forth by climate change.
Session 10: IFRS 17 Standard releaseInterest: Life
Moderator: Les Rehbeli (FCIA), Partner, Oliver Wyman
Speakers:Amal Rajwani (ACIA), Senior Principal, Oliver Wyman
Bobby Thomson*, Senior Manager, Assurance Services, EY
Amendments to the IFRS 17 Standard were issued by the International Accounting Standards Board in June 2020. As a result, the new IFRS 17 Standard is now final, with an effective date of January 1, 2023. This session will give an overview of the June amendments, highlighting where these may have been different than what we expected, and implications for insurers.
13:45–14:30 Plenary session
Session 11: Networking (trivia)
Tuesday, September 29
11:00–12:00: Joint plenary
Session 12: CRMCR update
Interest: All
Moderator: Marc-André Harvey (FCIA), Director, Reinsurance Optimization Solutions, RGA
Speakers: Bruce Langstroth (FCIA), Canadian Life Actuarial Leader, EY
Valerio Valenti (FCIA), Vice-President, Corporate Actuarial, Sun Life
This session will provide an overview of the Committee on Risk Management and Capital Requirements (CRMCR) annual educational note for 2020 that provides guidance on regulatory capital and stress testing, as well as an overview of the final FCT educational note, incorporating feedback from the membership. There will also be a preview of planned updates to notes for IFRS 17 as well as a presentation on the FCT survey.
12:15–13:30 Concurrent sessions
Session 13: Reinsurance update
Interest: P&C
Speaker: Jason Machtinger (FCIA), Senior Vice- President, Aon
This session will provide an update on developments in the reinsurance market over the past year including claims activity, wording issues, and other emerging trends impacting the January 1, 2021 renewals. As well, there will be a discussion on the impact of IFRS 17 on reinsurance, including the most recent developments which may impact reinsurance structure decisions in the upcoming renewals.
Session 14: Negative interest rates and the insurance industry
Interest: Life
Moderator: Ben Marshall (FCIA), Staff Fellow, Canadian Membership, SOA
Speakers: Mark E. Alberts*, President and Consulting Actuary, Alberts Actuarial Consulting
Abid Kazmi (FCIA), Senior Director, Investments Strategy, RBC Insurance
How prepared is your company for the possibility of negative interest rates? This session will provide a review of the recent research report “Negative Interest Rates and the Insurance Industry” by the Joint Risk Management Section of the CIA, SOA, and CAS. The report includes an empirical review of negative interest rates, a survey of literature related to negative interest rates, and a survey of practicing actuaries regarding modeling capability and enterprise risk management practices related to negative interest rates. Presenters will discuss the research findings and provide a Canadian practitioner’s perspective.
13:45–14:45: Session
Session 15: PCFRC risk adjustmentInterest: P&C
Moderator: Houston Cheng (FCIA), Consulting Actuary and Senior Manager, KPMG
Speakers: Blair Manktelow (FCIA), Principal, Eckler
Veronika Molnar (ACIA), Aviva Canada
Two members of the P&C Financial Reporting Committee (PCFRC) working group on risk adjustment will present highlights from the published educational note, IFRS 17 Risk Adjustment for Non-Financial Risk for P&C Insurance Contracts, and will share and discuss implementation challenges and practitioners’ perspectives.
Wednesday, September 30
10:45–12:00: Session
Session 16: AI in reserving (live and pre-recorded content) Interest: P&C
Moderator: Jacqueline Friedland (FCIA), President, J. Friedland Actuarial Consulting Inc.
Speakers:
Jacqueline Friedland (FCIA)
Kevin Kuo*, Director, Insurance Practice, RStudio
Sarah MacDonnell*, Lane Clark and Peacock LLP
Gráinne McGuire *, Director, Taylor Fry
We will share the substantial work of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA) on Machine Learning in Reserving Working Party (MLR WP). While machine learning (ML) techniques are widespread in pricing, they are not being adopted widely in reserving. In 2019, the IFoA formed the MLR WP, which includes more than 50 actuaries from around the world, to identify barriers, communicate benefits, and develop research techniques in pragmatic ways. The scope includes the following:
- Find out where the market is on progressing ML.
- Identify relevant papers.
- Undertake research, identify gaps, and carry out research.
- Look at specific questions around techniques, such as:
- what techniques should be reviewed;
- which techniques work best for incorporating actuarial judgement;
- measuring/spotting trends;
- quantifying uncertainty;
- IBNER vs. IBNYR;
- using case estimates;
- using operational time/claims process; and
- trust/ethics related to ML in reserving.
- Identify data sources for testing.
As the work is ongoing, the session will provide an update on the latest progress.
11:00–12:00: Session
Session 17: Developments in the life capital tests from OSFI and AMFInterest: Life
Moderator: Sylvain St-Georges (FCIA), Actuarial Standard-setting Analyst, AMF
Speakers: Daniel Mayost*, Capital Specialist, OSFI
Sylvain St-Georges (FCIA)
OSFI and AMF discuss the key developments for LICAT (OSFI)/CARLI (AMF). The changes being made to incorporate IFRS 17 into the capital tests and the Fall 2020 Consultation and Quantitative Impact Study will be covered.
12:15–13:15: Concurrent sessions
Session 18: Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions – IFRS 17 Quantitative Impact Study
Interest: P&C
Moderator: Paul Van Walleghem (FCIA), Senior Analyst, OSFI
Speakers: Tara-Lea Herkert*, Director, Property, Casualty and Mortgage Insurance Capital, OSFI
Paul Van Walleghem (FCIA)
Ping Xu (FCIA), Senior Actuary, OSFI
The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) is revising its Minimum Capital Test (MCT) guideline to align it with the implementation of IFRS 17. OSFI is continuing to work with P&C insurers and other stakeholders through an iterative consultative process to assess insurers’ MCT ratios under the new accounting standard. This session will provide an overview of OSFI’s IFRS 17 project timeline, a summary of the Quantitative Impact Study 1 (QIS1) from 2019, an update on the 2020 directed consultation on the draft MCT 2023 guideline and the Quantitative Impact Study 2 (QIS2). This session will provide practical guidance for P&C insurers on how to get the most out of this process.
Session 19: Post-level term lapse and mortality phase II
Interest: Life
Moderator: Annie Girard (FCIA), Assistant Vice-President and Actuary, Research, RGA
Speakers: Travis Agne*, Senior Assistant Actuary, RGA
Steve Schumacher*, Vice-President and Actuary, RGA
Qichun Richard Xu*, Vice-President and Actuary, Head of Data Science, RGA
The post-level term study is the first for the Institute, which examines the lapse and mortality experience of term insurance policies once they reach their first renewal, using both a traditional experience study and predictive analytics. Attend the session to hear highlights of the results.
13:30–14:30: Concurrent sessions
Session 20: PCFRC discounting
Interest: P&C
Moderator: Cynthia Potts (FCIA), Principal, Eckler
Speakers: Cynthia Potts (FCIA)
Simon Séguin (FCIA), Director, Corporate Actuarial and Appointed Actuary, Property and Casualty Insurance, Desjardins
Two members of the P&C Financial Reporting Committee (PCFRC) IFRS 17 working group will present highlights from the educational note on IFRS 17 discount rates and cash flow considerations for P&C insurance contracts, and will share and discuss implementation challenges and practitioners’ perspectives.
Session 21: CLIFR updateInterest: Life
Moderator: Marie-Andrée Boucher (FCIA), Principal, Eckler
Speakers: Steve Bocking (FCIA), Vice-President, Individual Customer Financial Management, Canada Life Marie-Andrée Boucher (FCIA), Stéphanie Fadous (FICA), Head of IFRS 17 Iimplementation, Manulife, Walter Fransen (FCIA), Senior Vice-President and& Chief Actuary, Liberty Mutual Canada
In this session, the Committee on Life Insurance Financial Reporting (CLIFR) provides an update on the committee’s activities, including updates on their recently published and upcoming IFRS 17 guidance.
Thursday, October 1
11:00–12:00: Joint plenary – Professionalism
Session 22: Professionalism – IFoA video panel discussion
Interest: All
Moderator: Michel Simard, Executive Director, Canadian Institute of Actuaries
Speakers: Sati MacLean (FCIA), VP Corporate Actuarial, Munich Re
Josephine Marks (FICA), Consulting Actuary, Eckler
Walter Fransen (FCIA), Senior Vice-President and Chief Actuary, Liberty Mutual Canada
Back by popular demand, this interactive session features professionalism case study videos courtesy of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA) and commentary by a panel of seasoned actuaries. Audience members will participate in live polling on professionalism issues.
12:15–13:15: Closing keynote
Session 23: Closing keynote: Inoculating the planet: Life after COVID-19
Interest: All
Speakers: Greg Lindsay, expert on cities, mobility, travel, trade, and the future of work
While the world awaits a vaccine for COVID-19, how will we inoculate our cities, workplaces, homes, and families against another pandemic?
Greg Lindsay draws on his research and foresight to tackle the questions fresh on everyone’s mind right now. For example, how will fluid organizations balance the mental and physical health of employees with new remote/office work hybrids? Will social distancing kill mass transit and ride-hailing in favour of driving alone? Or, will cities turn streets over to cyclists, scooters, and pedestrians? How will deliveries, “dark kitchens,” and automation threaten to turn retailing and restaurants inside-out and threaten main streets, mom-and-pop shops, and real estate as we know it? And where will millennials – now the victims of a second financial crash – choose to raise their children, “Generation C”?
Lindsay delivers a sweeping view of how the pandemic and resulting economic crash will alter the trajectory of our lives for decades to come.