Description: This session at the SOA 1990 San Francisco Spring Meeting is about the various factors to be considered in determining the interest margins for interest-sensitive life insurance, annuities and GICs, i.e. the difference in earned and credited rates including practical considerations. Valuing embedded options in assets and liabilities is also discussed.

Description: This presentation is a panel discussion from the 1991 Annual Meeting of the Society of Actuaries, held October 20-23 in Toronto. Citing the current environment of recent insurance company insolvencies, bad investments, and capital erosion, the panelists discuss issues of interest to the investment actuary, including Financial accounting Standards Board [FASB] activity in market-value [MV] accounting, ways to evaluate asset quality and default risk in an MV environment, the impact of MV accounting on investment strategy, the new benchmark of ‘Return on MV Surplus,’ MV behavior of assets and liabilities, use of derivative instruments to hedge MV surplus volatility, and investment aspects of risk-based capital. Discussion from participants is included. From the Record of Society of Actuaries, Volume 17, No. 4B.