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Caution: capital models at work
06 November 2013The prospect of Solvency II led many insurers to spend millions building internal capital models and the time has come to make them work for the business. But basing strategy on a tool that has been developed primarily with compliance in mind is not without risk, as Rob Collinson explains
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Early warning indicators need further refinement
04 October 2013The UK's Prudential Regulation Authority is currently trialling the use of early warning indicators (EWIs) to monitor the outputs from insurers' internal models. With plans to extend their application across Europe, Russell Ward, Eoin O'Byrne and Lyndsay Wrobel examine how EWIs might perform in practice – and find there is room for improvement
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Lloyd's Savage highlights benefits of Solvency II readiness
02 October 2013Luke Savage, director of finance and operations at Lloyd's, tells InsuranceERM about the market's reaction to low investment yields, its capital management plans, how it could yet be designated "systemically risky" - and why it's disbanded its Solvency II team.
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What the LTGA really says about the matching adjustment
10 July 2013A workable matching adjustment is critical for many insurers facing the prospect of complying with Solvency II, but Eiopa's recent study on long-term guarantee measures has left some aspects ambiguous and others unfeasible. Kim Durniat delves into Eiopa's concluding report to bring out the nuances
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Generating return in a cold climate
03 May 2013Low interest rates are prompting insurers to look to further afield in their hunt for yield. For those with resources and dedication, two major areas of focus right now are corporate loans and infrastructure lending. But are these the assets of the future that many say they are? Sarfraz Thind reports
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A strategy to suit each point in the insurance cycle
17 April 2013Choosing a strategy to cope with the ups and downs of the business cycle has been an enduring quest for insurers. Alice Underwood and Dave Ingram offer a solution
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Lloyd's Solvency II 'soft landing' is ICAS+ and a little bit more
22 March 2013Lloyd's of London has been in the vanguard of regulators when it comes to Solvency II preparations, sticking to a strict timetable with little leeway. It's now relaxed its plans after numerous delays to the directive, but is still forging ahead of the regulators. Lorna Davies reports
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How the matching adjustment helps insurers in a crisis
28 February 2013Daily solvency monitoring offers valuable insights into an insurers' risk profile and its regulatory capital requirements – and demonstrates the potential power of the matching adjustment. Matthew Cocke, Russell Osman and Russell Ward explain
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Pushing forward on principles-based reserving
31 January 2013US life insurers may soon be setting their reserves according to principles devised by the NAIC. In a Q&A with InsuranceERM, Julie McPeak, Tennessee insurance commissioner, explains the path ahead
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Searching for the right proxy approaches to life
29 January 2013Care has to be taken in using replicating portfolio techniques, least-squares Monte Carlo approaches and curve fitting for estimating the risk capital of a life insurer, as Tigran Kalberer and Zeljko Strkalj explain