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Insurers' models introduce poorly understood risks
26 February 2014Models have become indispensable to managing a modern re/insurer, but their use is creating new risks that are not well understood. Christopher Cundy speaks to the insurer and the academic who are leading a major project to study the systemic risks in modelling
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Oasis: a threat or a complement to the cat model giants?
21 February 2014A new open-source loss modelling framework, Oasis, is threatening to shake up the catastophe modelling establishment. Jamie Bullen asks insurers, scientists and cat modellers how they see it developing
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FCA dices with actuaries in annuity profits probe
14 February 2014The UK's Financial Conduct Authority wants to make the annuity markets more competitive, but tackling excess profitability and price differentiation may be a bigger challenge than it thinks. Christopher Cundy reports
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Equality in insurance - still a decade or two away?
13 February 2014InsuranceERM and BNY Mellon recently hosted a discussion on issues of diversity and gender in insurance. A panel of industry leaders described the state of play and what needs to be done to make the sector more reflective of society
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Implementing "intelligent ERM" at Swiss Re
11 February 2014Swiss Re's recent changes to its ERM framework have focused on encouraging a more adaptive and intuitive approach to risk – and one that adds value to the business. David Baxter and Phil Vermeulen explain
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To call or not to call? Transition to Solvency II poses debt questions for insurers
07 February 2014Morgan Stanley analysis of Solvency II's capital grandfathering rules suggests some insurers' bonds may not be redeemed at first call. But insurers will have to balance their capital needs against their reputation in the debt markets
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Raising the standard of internal model governance
05 February 2014Internal models are increasingly used for decision making and producing figures for financial reports, but model governance procedures have not kept pace with these changing demands. Dominic Rau and Christian Wegmann outline a framework for improving assurance
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Annuity firms need own view of longevity improvement
29 January 2014Individual UK annuity providers should confront the fact that their exposures to longevity risk from people living longer may be materially different from those indicated by the UK Office for National Statistics figures, says Matthew Edwards
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Insurers raise the heat on weather derivatives
24 January 2014Rain or shine, the past year has seen a host of insurers jumping into the weather derivatives markets. Weather risks offer significant synergies with existing business lines and deal flow is on the up. Sarfraz Thind reports
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Getting women on board
16 January 2014The insurance business has a lack of women in senior leadership roles. Jamie Bullen talks to several high flying women to find out what more can be done, the importance of networking and whether quotas should be introduced