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STAY TUNED! If you are anticipating additional search filters by attribute and level to align with the CAS Capability Model, it is coming later this Summer. As the CAS begins to code recorded sessions by specific attributes and levels (starting with the 2023 Annual Meeting), these will be tagged in the CAS database of presentations going forward and should be searchable.
But you may use the Capability Model now to help you identify topics. For example, if you want to move up one level under the content area “Functional Expertise,” you may search topics in the particular functional area to expand your knowledge.
Recorded content is searchable by Capability Model attribute and level in the CAS Online Library.
A Framework for Modelling Cause-of-Death Mortality and Implications of Cause-Elimination
Among the well-known limitations of cause-specific mortality models is the typically employed assumption of independence amongst causes. Although dependence amongst the causes exists by the definition of competing outcomes, in the case of mortality data it is not objectively observable. In previous work that quantified the impact of cause-elimination or produced mortality forecasts in causal frameworks, the independence assumption has then frequently been implicit. The straightforward aggregation of causal mortality forecasts to yield total mortality forecasts is an example of the latter.
Various models have been developed that attempt to account for the dependence between causes. These models either require significant additional data, which is not readily available, or introduce complexity that results in a lack of applicability. Consequently, such models are seldomly employed in practice.
In this work, we develop a parsimonious framework that incorporates cause dependence. We do so by employing the well-known multinomial logistic model. This framework allows us to investigate the effects of improvements in, or the elimination of, cause-specific mortality. We quantify the subsequent impact on aggregate mortality using life expectancy. Finally, the model is able to forecast mortality without reliance on the independent cause-of-death assumption.
Source:
2014 International Congress of Actuaries
Type:
Concurrent Session
Drawing Down Retirement Savings - Do Pensions, Taxes and Government Transfers Matter Much?
What is the best strategy for retirement spending? Clearly, calculations of the implications of different strategies will be easier and simpler if the complications of pensions, taxes and government transfers can be ignored (as much of the literature now does). What is the cost of such simplification? How much might retirees, their advisors and researchers expect to go wrong in specifying the preferred strategy, if pensions, taxes and transfers are ignored? More specifically, does including them in analysis alter the ranking of commonly advocated alternative drawdown strategies?
Source:
2014 International Congress of Actuaries
Type:
Concurrent Session
Do Underwriting Cycles Matter? An Analysis Based on Dynamic Financial Analysis
The aim of this paper is to analyze the impact of underwriting cycles on the risk and return of non-life insurance companies. We integrate underwriting cycles in a dynamic financial analysis framework using a stochastic process, specifically, the Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process, which is fitted to empirical data and used to analyze the impact of these cycles on risk and return. We find that underwriting cycles have a substantial influence on risk and return measures. Our results have implications for managers, regulators, and rating agencies that use such models in risk management, e.g., to determine risk-based capital requirements.
Source:
2014 International Congress of Actuaries
Type:
Concurrent Session
Determination of a Basic Income Benefit
The principal advances in Social Security models have happened in troubled socially and economically situations. The result of them is the nowadays system. Nevertheless, in the year 2005 the World Bank proposed to design an economic benefit for every citizen depending on his own situation. This kind of benefit has to be supported in an annual financial base, taking into accounts the demographic and economic situation of the country. It is possible to define this benefit as Basic Income. This new level of social protection implies a redesign of the basic and compulsory level of protection that every country has. Even more as the World Bank proposed to be financed by a pay as you go system.
The aim of this paper is to design a Basic Income for the citizen understood as a system and basic economic level that guarantees the vital expenses of all of them financed by a by a pay as you go system.
Into the Spanish population exist demographic and economic important differences and these have to be in mind on designing the Basic Income. It is necessary to analyze the vital daily needs : Food, housing, clothes, transport, etc. These factors are the key to found a differentiation of the economic assignment (Basic Income) so, the final benefit should be according to the own characteristics of every citizen / family.
The data for this paper is the public survey of familiar budgets, therefore we establish a methodology of inter-quarter regression that allows discrimination for determinate the different values/levels of Basic Income, all of them according to economic and familiar typology.
Source:
2014 International Congress of Actuaries
Type:
Concurrent Session
Defined Ambition: A Successful Synthesis between Defined Benefit and Defined Contribution?
Most pensionschemes in the Netherlands are still defined benefit. Defined benefit is no longer sustainable. The cause lies in structural demographic changes. This evolution is structural and irreversible. The dotcom crisis, but even more the credit crunch, actually work as a catalyst of the underlying demographic problem. The excessive pressure on the solidarity of future generations and on the affordability (employer and labour market) mean that we should stop structurally shifting these risks. From now on, the current generations will have to absorb the risks themselves.
This is where Defined Ambition comes in. As in defined benefit defined ambition is based on accruing benefits according to years of service and salary. The level of accrual is derived from the pension ambition including the indexation that members should be able to reach. The pension assets are pooled and the risks are shared within and between generations. The investment policy for the collective pension assets is aligned with the ambition, including the preferred security level of achieving this ambition.
So far, this is fully in line with defined benefit. The main difference is that the pension age will increase according to future increases in life expectancy and that in cases of for example more severe market stress or increased longevity the benefits accrued in the past can be adjusted. The ambition is realigned. In better times, the benefits lost can be recovered. So the benefits are not guaranteed anymore, they are an ambition or target. To stay on track, the ambition has to be met by a solid funding system according to the security rules of an appropriate financial assessment framework. Faced with the same kind of financial drawdowns, the result in both defined benefit and defined ambition should be the same; the distribution of the shortfalls is however more likely to be fair. A new sustainable solidarity-balance between young and old can be reached. And the employer can stay in the system, his risk is controlled.
Defined ambition is hybrid or synthesis between defined benefit and defined contribution. It has defined benefit elements like a pensiontarget to be funded properly and it remains based on collectivity and risk sharing (also between generations). And it has defined contributions elements like adjustable benefits. Defined ambition offers the possibility to profit as much as possible from risk sharing and is the only way out of unsustainable guarantees without needing to revert to individual contracts.
Source:
2014 International Congress of Actuaries
Type:
Concurrent Session
Tree-based methods: Gaining New Insights into (Life) Insurance Data
Today, the field of life insurance (i.e. mortality as well as disability insurance and pensions) is undergoing significant changes. On the one hand, there is an increasing demand for segmentation and better risk assessment. On the other hand more comprehensive data sets have become available. The presentation identifies some difficulties with techniques that are widely used to cope with these challenges.
In the first part of the presentation, tree-based methods are suggested and discussed as an interesting alternative. In particular a “hybrid” approach (using regression trees for a classification situation) is proposed. The main advantage of this approach is its ease of interpretability and its inherent transparency.
The method appears to be particularly suitable for the identification of the risk factors in complex situations like disability insurance. In its second part, the presentation looks at the application of tree-based methods to disability data. In a case study based on German insurance data, the interdependencies of influence variables and their impact as risk drivers for disability probabilities are analysed. The identification of occupational classes with homogeneous risk profiles and the difference of male and female rates are of special interest.
Source:
2014 International Congress of Actuaries
Type:
Concurrent Session
Transition Rule in Bonus-Malus System
In this paper we consider the design of transition rule in Bonus-Malus System. It is usually treated as exogenously given in the BMS literature, but we conclude that changing the simple but inflexible transition rule is useful in addressing certain inadequacy scenarios. The proposed transition rule has a functional form instead of a constant value. It can lead to better a posteriori premium correction in the experience rating scheme. In addition, we argue that a BMS with higher number of BMS levels (especially more malus classes) is needed to satisfy financially balanced and transparency condition. More importantly, our proposed transition rule works better with BMS that has higher number of classes since it allows for more class transitions in the system.
Source:
2014 International Congress of Actuaries
Type:
Concurrent Session
Too Many Questions (and Some Answers) about the Pension System in Argentina (Poster Session)
What we know about the Argentine Social Security (SS) system? How did SS coverage expand? How SS was/is financed? What levels of benefits are being paid? How was/is its institutional organization? What was the impact of demographic and labor market trends on SS? Is there any long term global perspective available? Which are the challenges that future pension policies face in terms of sustainability?
Argentina is a paradigmatic case in the global context due to various aspects of its economic and social development, including setting up a SS system that was modified several times and, at every moment, is the result of decisions, commitments and promises established a long time before.
During the last decades, the pension system in Argentina experienced significant changes that included the introduction of a fully-funded component in 1994 and its subsequent reversal to a pay-as-you-go scheme in 2008. After the 2001 crisis, the favorable fiscal position allowed the implementation of policies that reversed the decline in coverage to unprecedented levels reaching over 90% of the elderly.
This paper analyzes the historical evolution, reviews the main changes in the pension system, and provides updated data in terms of all the most relevant dimensions: scope, adequacy of benefits, funding sources and fiscal commitments.
Besides, the paper summarizes an actuarial evaluation of the Argentine Social Security Administration (ANSES), trying to incorporate the peculiar characteristic of, on one side mixing resources from employees’ and employers’ contributions and taxes from General Session revenues and, at the same time, being responsible for paying contributive and non- contributive benefits.
Finally, given the fragmentation of a set of programs, a possible pension policy is considered in order to achieve, on sustainable basis, universal coverage, certain minimum guarantees of income security and simultaneously certain proportionality between contributions and benefits.
Source:
2014 International Congress of Actuaries
Type:
Concurrent Session
Three Levels of the Dependence Coverage in Spain (Poster Session)
In Spain since 2006 has given legal cover to the needs that are triggered by related illnesses and dependence. Until then only social services, informal supports took care of these people. Currently, it is responsibility of the government, limiting the autonomy of people to be able to become totally dependent on others.
In the current crisis is affecting the European economy and more specifically to the Spanish economy, this protection is at risk of disappearing, due to the many cuts forced by the European recommendations, so more than ever we need to find alternative funding to protect the most vulnerable. And this alternative comes by the private sector by way of individual coverage or employer coverage. The aim of this paper is to develop the principles and methods of successful coverage of the dependence into the nowadays economical situation in Europe and concretely in Spain.
At the individual coverage, the alternative is clear in providing financial products or property conversion by the private sector although in other countries such as France, UK and Germany have insurance product to cover the dependence as in United States, which has the longest tradition in producing this kind of products. But in Spain the insurer has not been too successful to protect these contingencies, because -among other arguments- there was no legal security to do so.
The Spanish government has chosen to amend certain laws such as the Mortgage with the goal of providing real estate feasibility conversion operations such as reverse mortgages.
At the employer coverage one of the safest ways is through an employment pension scheme. With this kind of coverage there is not a double benefit when the employee becomes retired and a dependent beneficiary.
Source:
2014 International Congress of Actuaries
Type:
Concurrent Session
The Sustainability of Pension System: New Indicators
Financial sustainability is a crucial concept when evaluating and comparing public pension systems. Even if there are some attempts to improve the measure of thesustainability, the mostly used indicator is given by the ratio between the pension expenditure and the GPD. It may be recognised that this indicator does not take into account two factors that may cause a different impact of the pension expenditure on the public finance, namely the pension taxation and the contribution income.
Hence, the paper aims at studying a new version of the indicator concerning the sustainability, which considers the pension expenditure after deductions of the relevant taxation and the contribution income. The proposed index would represent a more suitable measure of the financial sustainability and facilitate comparisons between different countries of the impact of the actual financial cost on the public finance.
Source:
2014 International Congress of Actuaries
Type:
Concurrent Session
The Role of the IAA in Assuring Ethical Behavior of Actuaries Globally
TBD
Source:
2014 International Congress of Actuaries
Type:
Concurrent Session
The Power of the Collective; The Death of the Collective
Modern insurance is really just a formalized mechanism mirroring Mennonite risk sharing with an insurance company administering the process. This process depends on a collective view of risk. Hundreds of policyholders sign contracts that state that their collective cohort will make any policyholder, who has an unfortunate event, whole. It is not a big stretch to propose that 39/40 policyholders will pay the economic cost for the one policyholder who has an unfortunate loss. In that way, individuals can pay 1/40 of their expected loss (plus expenses) and know that they are now immune to economic risk.
It is this use of the collective that makes insurance work. And it is a miraculous financial instrument. But, modern reality is significantly different than the insurance nirvana outlined above. Today there is a strongly increased focus on individual equity that erodes the principles of collective risk sharing. This has been aided and abetted by the acumen of actuaries.
The paper will now discuss this philosophical transition one line of business at a time.
*Brown Paper Awarded Professionalism/Education Track Prize
Source:
2014 International Congress of Actuaries
Type:
Concurrent Session
The possibility of Best Estimate Valuation and Risk Margin Calculation of Technical Provisions as Set Out in Solvency II Framework Directive by General Session Insurance Companies in Armenia and the Need for Additional Actuarial Guidance
The presentation introduces the need to develop Solvency II Framework Directive Pillar I regarding best estimate valuation and risk margin calculation of technical provisions in Armenia. The main issues (such as quality of data, appropriate systems for organizations, etc) that need to be improved, solved or introduced will be presented. It will include the uncertainties that are specific to the region and will mention those requirements to the valuation techniques which may be adopted and applied in Armenia during three years time. It will also include the choice of
-the most relevant methods for determining the best estimate reserve and suggested simplifications or proxies, and
-the guidelines for the calculation of risk margins.
The key draft content of the actuarial guidance regarding the coordination of technical provisions, assertion of the appropriateness of the methodologies and the assessment of the sufficiency and quality of the data will be suggested.
Source:
2014 International Congress of Actuaries
Type:
Concurrent Session
The Next Generation In DC Management - QSuper's Approach
QSuper is one of Australia’s largest superannuation funds with a membership base of over 540,000 current and former Queensland Government employees and their spouses. QSuper directly has over $32 billion funds under management. QSuper members have very high average account balances and this has come from a strong commitment to adequate savings for retirement. The vast majority of contributing members have a default contribution of nearly 18% of salary. This commitment to adequacy shapes the thinking of the Fund.
QSuper has embarked on a new way to approach the investment strategy development for default defined contribution members. Rather than the traditional one-size-fits-all “balanced” strategy commonly applied in Australia, or mechanical target date funds as seen in the United States, QSuper's default defined contribution approach will group members into reasonably homogeneous cohorts. Grouping is based on individual member characteristics like age, account balance, contribution rate, salary, gender and retirement age. Cohort-level investment objectives are set relative to achievable projected retirement outcomes. Stochastic modelling, based on asset liability management methodology, is used to determine optimal cohort-level investment strategies. The Fund has a conservative bias in its strategy decisions which focuses on the reduction of risk of downside outcomes. Initial structures and processes are basic in their nature, but provide scope for significant improvement in sophistication until the ultimate aspiration of completely individualised solutions.
Source:
2014 International Congress of Actuaries
Type:
Concurrent Session
The New Era of Gross Premium Valuation for Indonesian Actuaries
The Indonesia Accounting Board has issued new accounting standard (PSAK 36) on Life Insurance Contract which adopted the Phase-1 of IFRS 4. This standard is required to be effectively used by multinational companies in Indonesia at the end of year 2012. Under PSAK 36 an insurance company is required to calculate the liabilities of future benefits using Gross Premium Valuation (GPV) method. The new reserving method will replace Net Level Premium method that has been used by Indonesia actuaries since more than 20 year ago. In addition, the Indonesia Minister of Finance (MoF) has just recently issued a decree on the solvency of Insurance companies in Indonesia which will be effectively on 1st January 2013. This decree also requires a life insurance company to calculate the statutory reserve on policy with more than one year term using GPV. The new method of valuation will not only impact the reserve but also impact the product pricing, policyholder’s dividend, Financial Report, and company’s strategic planning in the long-run. The Society of Actuaries of Indonesia (PAI) has been aware that the new valuation method will have significant impact to the actuarial practices in Indonesia. Therefore, PAI, along with MoF and the Life Insurance Association, has hold a series of workshop to discuss the implementation of this new method. At the time of writing of this proposal, PAI also has issued draft technical guidelines of GPV which is still open for further discussion. The more complex GPV needs in-house development software which involves internal comprehensive review and more people with good technical skill in actuarial software. Experience Study must be conducted regularly and continuously so an actuary can determine the best-estimate assumptions used in the valuation. Consequently, GPV requires more responsibilities and roles of the actuaries. The actuaries should have a very good understanding of economic trends and any other factors that impact future interest rates.
That’s why the implementation of GPV will be a new era for the Indonesian actuaries.
Source:
2014 International Congress of Actuaries
Type:
Concurrent Session
The Marginal Cost of Risk in a Multi-Period Risk Model
Capital allocation is used widely within the insurance industry for purposes of pricing and performance measurement. In this paper, we consider the theoretical impact of extending the canonical model of a profit maximizing insurer beyond a single period and, in particular, consider the effect of having opportunities to raise external financing in future periods. We show that in this setting, outside of special cases, capital allocation as currently conceived cannot be done in a way to produce prices consistent with marginal cost. We go on to evaluate economically correct capital allocations based on the model in the context of a catastrophe reinsurer with four lines of business. We find that traditional techniques can be resurrected if:
(1) an appropriate definition of capital,
(2) a broader conception of the cost of underwriting cost, and
(3) an appropriate risk measure connected to the fundamentals of the underlying business are used.
*Awarded 1st Place Non-Life Track Prize
Source:
2014 International Congress of Actuaries
Type:
Concurrent Session
The Longevity Dividend: Altering the Future Course of Health and Longevity?
The conventional view held by many is that the historical increase in life expectancy will continue throughout this century in most parts of the world. Some scientists even contend that most babies born today will reach 100 years of age. Yet, empirical evidence demonstrates that neither of these scenarios is likely. Rather, evidence has emerged indicating that two subgroups of the population are forming -- one that will experience more rapid increases in life expectancy than anticipated by conventional forecasting methods, and another that has already experienced declines in life expectancy or are about to do so.
Given the vast differences in longevity prospects among subgroups of the population across the globe, questions have arisen about the appropriateness of forced retirement at ages near 65 years. Dr. Olshansky will illustrate the significance of these trends by exploring what the retirement age should be today, hypothetically, given the secular changes in survival and longevity that have occurred since Social Security (or its equivalent in other countries) came into existence in the 20th century.
An important new effort is now underway to secure what has become known as the Longevity Dividend -- the social, economic and health benefits that would accrue to individuals and populations as a consequence of a successful effort to slow the aging process in people. Why is this initiative taking off now? How might it come about? And, what are the implications for the future course of health and longevity?
Source:
2014 International Congress of Actuaries
Type:
General Session
Moderators:
Thomas Weist
Panelists:
Jay Olshansky
The Importance of Big Data in the Life and Health Insurance Industry
This session shows how the world of insurance, underwriting and product development could change in response to Big Data.
Source:
2014 International Congress of Actuaries
Type:
Concurrent Session
The Impact of Inflation Risk on Financial Planning and Risk-Return Profiles
The importance of funded private or occupational old age provision is expected to increase due to the demographic changes and the resulting problems for government-run pay-as-you-go systems. Clients and advisors therefore need reliable methodologies to match offered products with clients’ needs and risk appetite. In Graf et al. (2012)
2 the authors have introduced a methodology based on stochastic modeling to properly assess the risk-return profiles – i.e. the probability distribution of future benefits – of various old age provision products. In this paper, additionally to the methodology proposed so far, we consider the impact of inflation on the risk-return profile of old age provision products. In a model with stochastic interest rates, stochastic inflation and equity returns including stochastic equity volatility, we derive risk-return-profiles for various types of existing unit-linked products with and without embedded guarantees and especially focus on the difference between nominal and real returns. We find that typical "rule of thumb" approximations for considering inflation risk are inappropriate and further show that products that are considered particularly safe by practitioners because of nominal guarantees may bear significant inflation risk. Finally, we propose product designs suitable to reduce inflation risk and investigate their risk-return profile in real terms.
Source:
2014 International Congress of Actuaries
Type:
Concurrent Session
The Impact of Inflation on the Insurance Industry
The presentation starts with an overview of different types of inflation measurements relevant in an economic and insurance context. After the financial crisis, deflation was the predominant worry, but inflation fears soon resurfaced as government debt levels surged and the major central banks expanded the money supply significantly.
The presentation then analyses impact of inflation on insurers. For non-life insurers, inflation leads to higher claims costs, thereby eroding profitability. It has the greatest effect on long-tail lines. For life insurers, deflation – rather than inflation – poses the biggest risk to liabilities. In the case of deflation, interest rates tend to fall. This makes it more difficult for life insurers with large portfolios of minimum interest rate guarantee savings products to earn the appropriate asset returns.
The effects of inflation on assets can vary significantly. Commodities, real estate and TIPS are the most viable hedges against inflation. Contract design can also be used to reduce the impact of inflation. Insurers may also opt for reinsurance to partially protect themselves against inflation surprises.
Source:
2014 International Congress of Actuaries
Type:
Concurrent Session
The Healthcare Safety Net  Different Approaches around the World
Access to affordable healthcare for the low-income population is an important issue around the world. Different countries and cultures grapple with this universal issue differently, including approaches that use government funded healthcare for all, targeted government insurance programs for low-income populations, and the use of public hospitals and other providers. In some developing countries that lack a healthcare safety net, microinsurance programs are an increasingly important source of access to healthcare services.
The presenters of this session will explore how different countries have designed their healthcare safety net. The session will provide comparative information regarding program design, financing arrangements and relative cost, access to care, quality of care, and other issues. The impact of population demographics and income distribution will be explored as they relate to healthcare safety net design. In countries without a formal safety net, the presenters will discuss how microinsurance has been used by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and private insurers to fill an important void.
The presenters will discuss how actuaries play an important role in healthcare safety net design. • John Meerschaert is recognized as a national expert in the Medicaid program, the major source of coverage for the low-income and disabled population in the US. He currently works with five US state governments, as well as Medicaid managed care organizations and hospital systems, to develop financing arrangements for the Medicaid population. He also has worked with health care financing systems in other parts of the world, including Nigeria and Colombia.
• Simon Moody is an expert in European health care systems and has worked with both public sector and private sector healthcare clients, including the National Health Service and several private health insurers in the UK. He also has experience with health insurance in Saudi Arabia and other countries in the Middle East.
• A third presenter will be recruited to provide insight into the healthcare safety net in Asia or Latin America.
Source:
2014 International Congress of Actuaries
Type:
Concurrent Session
The Global Economic Outlook and Its Implication for the Re/Insurance Industry
The presentation will touch upon the current pace of economic activity, inflation and the interest rate environment both in advanced and emerging economies. Recent political and economic developments will be put in context and their implications for the world economy will be assessed. From the current developments and trends the presentation will lead to SwissRe's economic outlook and the surrounding risks. The European debt crisis, which will likely still be a major risk, will be treated in more detail. Key for understanding the crisis and its dynamics is an understanding of the underlying self-reinforcing links between sovereigns, banks and the economy. The presentation will show how these links work and how they have been affected by most recent policy measures. The session will end with an assessment of the impacts and implications of the economic situation and outlook for the re/insurance industry.
Source:
2014 International Congress of Actuaries
Type:
Concurrent Session
The Four-Pillar Healthcare Framework
A four-pillar health care framework showing the role of public and private sector in providing health care for the different segments of the population and their respective coverage.
The paper focuses in particular on the financing of health care system for the retired population. Unlike a pension system in which benefits to a retired population can be assessed based on a defined-contribution or defined-benefit approach, a health care system could actually be described as an undefined-benefit system.
The paper discusses how different factors affect both systems differently, and how certain features of social security and social protection systems take on different realities in health care and pension.
Finally, and most importantly to our discussion, a health care system has to endure the soaring cost of health care worldwide while providing quality and accessible health services. In fact, those costs will most likely continue to escalate due to many economic and demographic factors, and if left unmitigated will add to the strain put on public and household finances. I will argue that the problem of health care financing should be addressed in all its complexities, with emphasis on health care for the elderly. I will shed light on the issue of financial sustainability in the context of the demographic challenges facing today’s health care systems, and the ability of the different financing systems to cope with these challenges. My analysis will attempt to make the case for setting up a somewhat hybrid health care system that caters for an increasingly ageing population, by building up a reserve that will eventually serve for paying the health benefits of the elderly in the population, while the benefits of the currently active continue to be paid on a pay-as-you-go basis. In other words, a large percentage of the contribution rate of the currently active population for a certain financial year will go to financing benefits required in that same year. The remaining share of the contributions paid will go to building up a technical reserve that will cater to the ageing population, and the increase in the ratio of retirees to workers. This reserve will soften the immediate need for income to cover an increasingly large elderly population and will eventually help achieve level and stable contribution rates.
Source:
2014 International Congress of Actuaries
Type:
Concurrent Session
The Forward-Looking Actuary: A Required and Expected Discipline
Description TBD
Source:
2014 International Congress of Actuaries
Type:
Concurrent Session
The Evolution and Future of Social Security in Africa: An Actuarial Perspective
Social Security in most African countries has evolved significantly in terms of perspectives, motives, governance as well as innovation of benefits and administration. African countries are slowly, one by one, beginning to reassess the role of social security in correcting several social ills. Empowerment programs and grants are increasingly being provided via social security to women and the youth. From the roots of social security, even very low income countries, some of which have recently experienced several years of civil war and extreme economic hardships, have begun to improve benefit structures and amounts, which include national medical benefits. The countries analysed include Rwanda, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Namibia and Tanzania, amongst others. The successes and challenges facing these African countries are highlighted to display the state of social security in Africa. Comparisons are done with respect to a few emerging nations such as India and Brazil to identify lessons which can be applied to African nations, given some of their similar socio-economic characteristics. The attention being provided to social security and how it fits into a nation’s plans to lift itself out of poverty is increasingly involving the actuarial profession from international organisations such as ILO and ISSA as well as consulting actuaries and academics. Assessing and ensuring sustainability of social security benefits requires actuarial valuations to take long-term consequences involving demographic changes into account in the face of providing the benefits in the short term; asset liability modelling to ensure adequate resources are held; ensuring that results are appropriately reported and communicated to key stakeholders; as well as developing long-term strategic plans and dynamic systems surrounding all of these issues. In this paper, the role of actuaries is brought to the centre of the increasingly changing face and evolving culture of social security in taking Africa closer to poverty alleviation. (Co-author Fatima Badat could not attend ICA 2014.)
*Awarded PBSS Track Prize
Source:
2014 International Congress of Actuaries
Type:
Concurrent Session
