2009 Annual Meeting ● Assemblée annuelle 2009Halifax, Nova Scotia ● Halifax (Nouvelle-Écosse)

2009 Annual Meeting ● Assemblée annuelle 2009Halifax, Nova Scotia ● Halifax (Nouvelle-Écosse)

Canadian Institute

of Actuaries

Canadian Institute

of Actuaries

L’Institut canadien desactuaires

L’Institut canadien desactuaires

WS-32Par Topics

Stephen HumphreysArshil JamalDale MathewsJune 26, 2009

Topics

• Bill C-57• Par Governance• Valuation

– CICA 3855– Application of CALM

• Selection of Scenarios– DCAT– Retention of Knowledge– Legacy Systems

• Open Block Issues• Closed Block Issues• Stochastic Scenarios/ Economic Capital

3

Bill C-57

• December 2008-Finance issued draft regulations

• March 2009-CLHIA response– Still concerns about application to adjustable

policies issued in foreign branches• Finance intention was to implement regulations

prior to YE 09– Would require minimum of 6 months lead

time– Appear to be preoccupied with credit card

legislation– Implementation prior to YE 09 may be in

doubt

4

Draft Regs-Dividend Policy

Shall include a description of:• Frequency of adjustment• Principal factors affecting determination of

dividends or that might cause board of directors to review the dividend policy

• Basis for allocating dividends between different classes

• Principle sources of income for funding dividends• How policyholder behavior is reflected in

dividends

5

Draft Regs-Management Policy

Shall include a description of:• Policies included• Investment Policy• Method of allocating investment income• Method for allocating expenses and taxes• Approach to managing and using surplus

– Blocks closed to new business– Fairness to policyholders in closed blocks of demutualized

companies

• Principal factors that might cause board of directors to change policy

• Intended transfers to shareholders account under Section 461

6

Draft Regs-Annual Meeting

Must provide:• Summary of dividend and management policies and

information on how to obtain them• Statement for each par account of financial position for two

years prior to meeting• Amounts transferred to shareholder account and

applicable percentage for prior two years• Information on how to obtain copies of Dividend Policy and

Management Policy

7

OSFI Guidelines

Expected to include:• Final demutualization closed block rules• Interpretations regarding shareholder transfers under

Section 461• Greater detail on information regarding allocations of

investment income, expenses and taxes

8

CIA Taskforce

• Reports to AA committee• To develop guidance through standards of practice or

educational notes– Standard opinion wording

• May be included in SOP

– Definition of “fairness”• Educational material on appropriate criteria to follow

• Working groups:– Dividend Policies-Arshil Jamal

– Par Account Management-Simon Curtis

– Adjustable Policies-Nick Bauer

• Overall coordination – Nick Bauer

9

Par Governance

How are companies dealing with governance issues?

SLF Canada Practice:• Par Governance Committee:

– Continuous support and input to existing annual governance processes

– Support fair and equitable treatment of policyholders– Implementation of Bill C-57 requirements

• Par Operating Guidelines:– Details about how par policies should be managed– Specific requirements and annual process to comply with:

• legal requirements ( eg., ICA sections 460, 461, 462) • standards set by regulators• actuarial guidance• demutualization agreements

– Document responsibilities and sign-off requirements– Will include C-57 requirements

10

CICA 3855

• Term of the liability for elements of a policy– If it operates independently has its own term– Dividends on Deposit

• credited rates may be short term, but could be backed by portfolio assets

– 2008 CLIFR Guidance Letter:• if DOD profits support dividends, then DOD is not

independent and term of liability is the same as related policy

• Otherwise, DOD are independent– Demand liability=>cash value floor– Recent decline in asset values may trigger

cash value floor

11

CICA 3855

• Yield used to set dividend scale– Approximation of pre-CICA 3855 basis?– Multiple DSRs– Five year pass-back period for qualifying par

12

Application of CALM

• Frequency of CALM valuations• Number of scenarios run• Margins actually held / degree of pass-through

reflected– C3 based on CALM run?– CALM as adequacy test of C3?

• Dividend scale / glidepath reflected in valuation– Based on CALM booking scenario?– Current dividend scale?– Best estimate glidepath?

13

Application of CALM

• Guarantees– Implicit interest rate guarantees in dividends– Settlement options– Guaranteed minimum DOD rates

14

DCAT

• Impact of economy on selection of scenarios

15

Retention of Knowledge

• Few companies now offering new par contracts• Now nearly 10 years since demutualization• Knowledge is in danger of being lost• How are companies addressing this issue?

16

Legacy Valuation Systems

• Models of various types originally developed by predecessor companies

• Conversion of remaining APL valuation systems• Re-engineering of older AXIS models to reduce number

of models, improve consistency and reduce run time

17

Open Block Issues

• Many Open Blocks are now closed to new business• Target Policyholder Surplus

– Period over which to reach target

• Repatriation of Seed Capital• Consistency of margins with Closed Blocks

18

Closed Block Issues

• Orderly Release of PfADs– Effect of assumption changes

– Treatment of experience gains and losses

– Changes in Fair Value of underlying assets

• Wind-up of Closed Blocks

19

Stochastic Scenarios

• Technically challenging for Par business due to modelling of pass-through in dividends and run-time issues

• Generally has not been a high priority due to stable nature of business

• May become important in the future:– Necessary to obtain a view on economic capital (Rating

Agencies)

– IASB 2007 discussion paper on Phase 2 suggests that the implicit interest rate guarantees should be evaluated on a market-consistent basis

• What are companies doing?

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Par Topics

• Questions?