ASTIN COMMITTEE Helsinki (Finland), June 1, 2009

Transcription

1 ASTIN COMMITTEE Helsinki (Finland), June 1, 2009 Attending: Apologies: Guests: Peter Boller, Andrew Cairns (until agenda item 7.), Chris Daykin, Dave Finnis, David Hartman, Mette Havning, Tor Eivind Hoyland, Henk Kriek, Glenn Meyers (IAA), Yuji Morimoto, Hervé Odjo, Harry Panjer, Jukka Rantala (IAA), Nino Savelli, Arne Sandstrom Jose Luis Lobera Julián Oliver (Spain), Maria de Nazaré Barroso (Portugal), Enrique de Alba (Mexico) all agenda item 3 Louise Francis (US, nominee), Montserrat Guillén (observer) 1. Call to order and welcome (13.00) a) Welcome Harry Panjer welcomed everybody. b) Additions to the agenda Some items are added to the agenda to be discussed under items 7 (Editor s report) and 10 (Membership and promotion of ASTIN). 2. Approval of minutes of 2008 ASTIN Committee meeting The minutes of the Manchester meeting dated 13 July 2008 were approved without any comments. 3. Colloquia Reports a) Helsinki 2009 Jukka Rantala Jukka thanks the Committee for allowing the Colloquium to be held in Helsinki. The organisation is going well. Last week there were 183 registrations, including 124 delegates, 28 academics and 9 speakers. On Wednesday, the keynote speaker is changed into Antonio Guevara of Swiss Re. The winner of the Hachemeister prize will be announced on Thursday. The winner will give a short presentation. The start of the gala dinner is postponed by half an hour.

2 Page 2. Four bursaries in total have been granted for participants from Poland, Russia, India and China. Mette Havning and Hans Peter Boller joined the meeting during the presentation on Helsinki. b) Proposal from Spain 2011 The colloquium will be held from June There will be a reduced fee for ASTIN attendees who want to join the Iberian Congress. Paul Embrechts will likely be a speaker. He has un-officially confirmed. The topics for the colloquium are: RISK MANAGEMENT, ERM, internal models, lessons learned from the financial crisis SOLVENCY CAPITAL & RESERVING, assessing the solvency capital, stochastic modelling and reserving CATASTROPHIC RISK, EXTREME VALUES AND REINSURANCE PRICING, micro insurance and products in emerging economies ACTUARIAL EDUCATION, new methodologies and adapting education The location for the colloquium is the MAPFRE Congress Center, which is close to Real Madrid. There is a range of hotels in different price ranges nearby the colloquium location. Recently a website has been opened: The members of the Organising Committee are: Julián Oliver (Instituto de Actuarios Españoles) (Chair) Maria de Nazaré Barroso (Instituto dos Actuários Portugueses) Manuel Peraita (Instituto de Actuarios Españoles) Mercedes Sanz (Fundación Mapfre) The Scientific Committee is formed by: Ángel Vegas Universidad de Alcalá (Chair) José Luis Vilar Universidad Complutense de Madrid Antonio Heras Universidad Complutense de Madrid Montserrat Guillén Universidad de Barcelona Mercè Claramunt Universidad de Barcelona Roberto Escuder Universidad de Valencia Lurdes Centeno ISEG Universidade Técnica de Lisboa Harry Panjer University of Waterloo Enrique de Alba Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México Miguel Usabel Universidad Carlos III de Madrid Frank Kuipers

3 Page 3. Cristina Lozano Universidad Pontificia Comillas Fundación MAPFRE sponsors the colloquium by making the conference center available. Further, some details of the very preliminary budget are presented, taking into account that there are still two years to go. Up to 10 bursaries 1,300 each Speakers (4) cost: gift valued 500 Fundación MAPFRE offers the venue The gala dinner will be attended by 75% of the people The appendix to the minutes contains more details on the budget as presented by Julián. Provisional fees for the colloquium are: standard 950; academics and accompanying persons 450. The preliminary budget is based on some 200 participants and assumes the Committee members, and members of the Organizing Committee and the Scientific Committee do not have to pay their colloquium fees. The Committee explains that it is normal practice that the Committee members do pay their fees It is up to the organisation committee to decide about the fees for the Organizing Committee and the Scientific Committee. Dave Hartmann explains that in France no VAT had to be paid. Julián responds that this is very unlikely in Spain. Dave asks about the level of co-operation between the Instituto de Actuarios Espanoles and the other Spanish / Portuguese actuarial organisations. It is confirmed that the co-operation is good. Chris Daykin confirms that he has spent time looking into the programme and is happy with it. He is thanked for his help. Harry Panjer asks Julián for an update in 10 months time in Cape Town. c) Mexico proposal for 2012 Enrique de Alba A joint AFIR ASTIN Life meeting is proposed to be held in Mexico from 1 4 October Enrique de Alba presents the outlines of the programme on behalf of Jose Luis Lobera who could not attend the meeting. The draft programme is:

4 Page 4. Possible venues are the Sheraton (downtown Mexico City) and the Nikko hotel (midtown Mexico City). The Organising Committee consists of: Enrique de Alba will be the president of the Scientific Committee for ASTIN. The organisers hope to have 500 participants, being Mexican actuaries and actuaries from other countries. The colloquium will be at the anniversary of three important moments for the Mexican actuaries.

5 Page 5. Dave Hartmann asks if the meeting is not too close to the Society of Actuaries meeting in Los Angeles. This is not seen as an issue. The motion to hold the 2012 ASTIN colloquium in Mexico is approved by the Committee. d) Update from Netherlands Henk Kriek Henk updates the Committee on behalf of Bart Kling who could not be present at the meeting. We received a letter from the Dutch Actuarial Association, expressing gratitude for the possibility to hold the 2013 ASTIN Colloquium in the same week the Dutch will celebrate the 125th anniversary of its actuarial association. Registration will start on Tuesday evening 21 May The colloquium is postponed by one day because of Whit Monday on 20 May. The colloquium will close on Friday afternoon 24 May The colloquium will be held in Het Kurhaus in The Hague. This hotel, from the midst of the 19th century, is a perfect venue for seminars. The necessary bookings have been made for a batch of hotel rooms in Het Kurhaus. Negotiations with nearby hotels in different price ranges are ongoing. The draft program is: Tuesday 21 May 2013: Evening: registration and reception Wednesday 22 May 2013: Morning: Opening and keynote speakers in plenary room Afternoon: Breakout sessions in multiple rooms Evening: Gala dinner Thursday 23 May 2013 Morning: keynote speakers in plenary room Afternoon: social programme Friday 24 May 2013: Morning: keynote speakers in plenary room Afternoon: keynote speakers in plenary room and close There will be a social program for accompanying persons. Given that it is early days, some flexibility in the program needs to be retained. The preliminary scientific committee consists of: Rob Kaas, Professor at the University of Amsterdam Angela van Heerwaarden, Ernst & Young Dennis Dannenburg, ING Corporate Reinsurance All three have worked in the academic environment and are well known in the actuarial world both locally as well as internationally.

6 Page 6. The Committee has no questions, given that there are still four years to go. 4. Role of ASTIN in ICA 2010 Harry Panjer gives a short presentation on ICA 2010 on behalf of Eugene van der Westhuizen who cannot attend the meeting. [Harry, can you please forward the presentation to complete the minutes?] The programme will consist of: 4 social events 4 plenary sessions 73 congress sessions in 8 subject tracks Further, the programme includes papers, presentations, panel discussions and joint sessions. There are four ASTIN related blocks on Monday afternoon, Tuesday morning and Wednesday, consisting of 7 sessions of 1.5 hrs plus 4 parallel sessions (so 11 or 15 meetings in total). The question is how we can assist in getting papers, presentations or panel discussions organised, realising there is only 10 months to go. Several members of the Committee volunteer to assist: Create awareness under writers of papers in the ASTIN Bulletin. This includes papers in the pipeline and papers that did not make it to the Bulletin but fit well in a congress (the level of reviewing is quite different) (Action Andrew) Send to CAS membership and take a similar action for CAS papers as for the ASTIN Bulletin above (Action Louise and Glenn) Perform a similar action for Giro (Action Chris) Contact the Solvency II working party of Groupe Consultatif and the IAA insurance regulation committee (Action Harry) Dave Hartmann mentions that the CAS wants to have time for panel sessions. However, it is not clear to him if this goes through ASTIN or is next to ASTIN. (Action Dave to co-ordinate with CAS) Accounting standards is mentioned as a potential topic (Action Dave to discuss with Sam Gutterman) Nino to stay in touch with the bursaries task force (Amy Bouska and Chris Daykin et al) (Action Nino) 5. Secretary s Report Henk Kriek The draft notes of the General Assembly of 19 July 2008 are agreed to be ready for submission for approval by the General Assembly of 4 June Treasurer s Report Nino Savelli a) Approval of Kenya seminar funding of up to CAD 13,500

7 Page 7. After some discussion the Kenya seminar funding of up to CAD 13,500 is approved by the Committee. b) 2007 audited statements The 2006 and 2007 financial statements are now audited. c) 2008 financial report Nino presents some highlights of his written report: The financial statement FY 2008 has to be submitted for approval to the ASTIN General Assembly to be held here in Helsinki on the next 4th June For the first time the financial statements have been prepared by the IAA Secretariat and they are in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in Canada and include some significant changes in accounting policies compared to previous ASTIN financial statements. It is worth mentioning here that investments are measured at market value at each reporting date. Unrealized gains and losses are recorded in the statement of changes in net assets whereas realized gains and losses are recorded as investment income. Furthermore the reference currency is now CAD instead of Euro. ASTIN financial statements for FY 2006 and 2007 have been positively audited by IAA s auditor and reported according to the above mentioned new accounting principles. In the future, data regarding 2007 audited financial statement will be used for an appropriate comparison. The financial result of FY 2008 as excess of revenues over expenses is positive for CAD 30,442 (according to the new accounting principles negative for CAD 114,777 in 2007 and positive for CAD 263,307 in 2006). The difference with the 2007 result is mainly due to a more favourable result on currency exchanges notwithstanding a negative result in realized gains/losses on investments (-53,756 instead of +64,874). Membership fees are stable compared with the previous year. It is to be emphasized that as the reference currency is now CAD instead of Euro, gains/losses in currency exchanges are more significant because a major part of ASTIN assets and transactions are in Euro or USD currency. As regards to the ASTIN membership, for year 2008 the IAA Secretariat has been collecting annual fees for a total amount of CAD 68,640 (CAD 69,920 in 2007 and 60,240 in 2006) from the local associations, for either ordinary members or benefactor members. The number of ASTIN members is approximately 1,700. For 2008 the administration fees paid to IAA Secretariat have been 6 CAD per member. The total value of ASTIN assets as at 31st December 2008 is CAD 1,501,232 (CAD 1,595,307 in 2007). These assets include bank accounts, short-term bank deposits, assets portfolio and receivables. The main operational ASTIN bank accounts are located at Delta Lloyd Bank in Brussels (n. 1 account in EUR) and at DeGroof Bank in Luxembourg (n. 4

8 Page 8. accounts in EUR, USD, CHF and GBP currencies). During the year 2007 n. 2 new bank accounts have been opened in Ottawa (in EUR and USD currency respectively) in order to facilitate the payments made by the IAA Secretariat on ASTIN behalf. All of these accounts have a total cash as at 31st December 2008 corresponding to CAD 128,782 (CAD 63,504 in 2007). As regards the ASTIN investment portfolio, its value at the closing date is CAD 1,333,552 (1,501,573 in 2007), mostly invested in Government Bonds, listed Shares and Funds. The ASTIN portfolio is managed by DeGroof Bank in Luxembourg. The changes in the assets portfolio since 1st January to 31st December 2008 have resulted in realised capital losses for CAD 53,756 against gains obtained in 2007 for CAD 64,874. Unrealized capital gains or losses have been quite significant in 2008 (CAD 197,366); as previously mentioned according to the new adopted accounting principles, they are not included in the Income statement but only in Net Assets statement (see Table 3). As at December 2008 Net Assets are CAD 1,389,968 with a decrease of CAD 120,000 approximately compared to previous year (CAD 1,509,497). It is worth reminding that in the near future ASTIN assets will be transferred from Europe to Canada, under the supervision of both the IAA Secretariat and ASTIN Treasurer. That should facilitate the asset management and the allocation mix to be progressively in line with IAA Guidelines. The IAA Secretariat is verifying how this transfer can be effected in full compliance with local and international taxation rules. As to the ASTIN Bulletin, the expenses for printing and shipping the two issues concerning May and November 2008 have been CAD 95,747, amount net of the contributions by the other sections. Moreover, because of the ASTIN Bulletin now being the Journal of the IAA, ASTIN receives contributions for ASTIN Bulletins expenses not only from the AFIR section but also from the other IAA sections. The 2008 financial statement is under auditor s review. Some time is spent on a discussion of the investment policy. On the one hand the policy needs to be in line with the IAA investment policy; on the other hand Chris Daykin raises the point that the amount of ASTIN funds, the spread of investments given the long-term nature of the goals and the spread in currencies are very different from the other sections and the IAA. Nino will discuss the need for refinement of the IAA investment policy with the IAA (Action point Nino). The Treasury report on 2008 is approved by the Committee. Nino is thanked for his work. d) 2010 dues level

9 Page 9. The Treasurer proposes to raise the individual fees from 40 to 50 CAD for the next year 2010 for Ordinary Members and from 80 to 90 CAD for Benefactor Members. At the IAA sections Chairs meeting recently held in Tallinn, it was agreed that each section should take an increase in dues into consideration. Louise Francis raises the point that a 25% increase in expenses is difficult for US members. It is explained that the proposal is already a compromise. After discussion the Committee supports this proposal to be made to the General Assembly, taking into consideration issues such as the increasing expenditure of the Bulletin, more IT expenses and website support in Ottawa. e) Update on contribution to bursary fund for ICA 2010 The current bursary fund is CAD No changes are made. The deadline is still sometime off. 7. Editor s Report - Andrew Cairns, Editor-in-Chief Andrew presents his Editor s Report: Recent editions Since the last report Volumes 38.1 and 38.2 have been published with 29 original articles and covering 669 pages. Of these, 21 were directly or partly linked to the interests of ASTIN members and 10 of AFIR members. The submission rate is reasonably steady and our acceptance rate also remains stable at around 50%. Rejections include a small number (around 10%) of new submissions that are returned without refereeing. This usually happens when I feel that the paper lacks genuine motivation in an actuarial context. Volume 39.1 will be coming out shortly, with 15 original articles. Editors With the recently expanded scope of the journal, some new editors have been appointed: Professor Montse Guillén, from the University of Barcelona, and a regular attendee at ASTIN colloquia. Montse, who is present at the meeting, is welcomed by the Committee. Professor David Dickson, from the University of Melbourne, and a regular contributor to ASTIN Bulletin. Professor Antoon Pelsser, from the University of Amsterdam, a recent contributor to ASTIN Bulletin, with interests in asset modelling and valuation. These all join the existing team. Andrew is looking forward to working with them. Andrew is also looking for a further editor, possibly from practice and possibly from North America. Recommendations are welcome! Administration

10 Page 10. We now have Christian Levac based at the IAA s offices in Ottawa as our editorial assistant. This seems to be working well and will help provide the Bulletin with stability in our back-room administration. Christian s computing expertise has also helped us to move smoothly onto the online submission system. Online submission system Our online submission system finally went live in March, and since then we have had 15 online submissions. In general it seems to be working smoothly. In the long run we hope that the new system will result in faster turn around times, and generally a more efficient system. Andrew has not yet had any specific feedback from authors or referees on whether they think it is good or bad. The Publishers, Peeters Leuven Our relationship with the publishers continues to work well. At the start of April Christian Levac and Andrew visited the publishers for a meeting and a tour of both their publishing site and their distribution depot. It looks like a well run and efficient organisation and Andrew is confident we are in good hands. The publisher recommended that we modernise our cover and Andrew has agreed to go ahead with this. Instead of the usual green card cover, it will now be a more durable, glossy cover. The outer cover will be a lighter grey-green not unlike volume 5 (!) for those that remember, and the inside cover will be white. Online access to past issues Last year it was suggested that we make the latest two editions available online to subscribing section members. This is being worked on at the moment by Christian Levac with some input from me and the Casualty Actuarial Society where older issues are currently available online. Amongst other things, our new IAA website will whole-heartedly acknowledge our thanks to the CAS for their significant contribution in recent years: first scanning in all the past issues and then providing a free online service for the last 10 or so years. We anticipate the two websites running in parallel for a few years at least. Amongst other things the CAS members have their own specialised research search engine, and we do not want to make any changes that will result in a deterioration of service to CAS members. Harry leads a discussion on management issues, building on a discussion between the section chairs in Tallinn. The proposal may or may not be adopted by the IAA. If it were to be adopted, some changes to the ASTIN rules are needed. The main topic is whether it would be better if : The editorial board is responsible for the content of the Bulletin The website, producing, financing and contact with other sections are run by someone else Management includes all the sections (also important to get buy-in for financing). The expenses for the Bulletin should be partly funded by the IAA as a whole and partly by membership dues. This relates to the expenses for hard copies, recognizing the electronic submission would be sufficient for most IAA members. On the other hand, hard copies are important. To some extent this is related to the

11 Page 11. ISI Thomson listing. Having hard copies definitely helped to get in and future electronic submission only is perceived to cause a problem. The idea originated to have a new version of the ASTIN history on the inside of the back cover to reflect the new mission of the Bulletin but keep the history. This may include Dave Hartmann s suggestion for the meaning of ASTIN for the Bulletin, being Actuarial Studies International. The expenses for printing in Belgium may be high compared to e.g. Canada. Alternatives are investigated. The expenses for editing and postage will be split out. A marketing plan may be required to make people aware of this change. The motion to put a transition plan together for the next 5 years is approved (Action Harry, Dave, and Nino). Andrew and his team are thanked for their valuable contributions. 8. Seminars developing a strategy for more seminars in developing countries to support the goals of ASTIN and IAA Last year it was quiet around seminars. Several action points are identified. Write a letter to all actuarial associations to make them aware of our funds to promote non-life actuarial science in developing countries (Action Harry) Write a letter to the chair of the Advice and Assistance Committee, Bob Conger (Action Dave) Write a letter to the IAA fund, Jim McGinnity (Action Dave) Hervé raises the question how to deal with countries without an actuarial association. These countries fall under the Advice and Assistance Committee and will be added to the action point above (Action Dave). Also, Chris will create awareness on a congress on Africa (?) that is held from June (Action Chris). I doubt if my notes are fully accurate here; need to check with Chris 9. Election of Committee members Dave Hartmann and Chris Daykin have completed their terms. The Committee agrees to put the nomination of Louise Francis and Colin Czapiewski forward to the General Assembly. Jukka Rantala will lead this session of the General Assembly. 10. Membership and promotion of ASTIN The basis for the discussion is a report on Section memberships that has been prepared by Christian Levac. Most of the sections are suffering from a small decline. Within the CAS, discussion has taken place in the Executive Committee whether it the support of ASTIN should be continued. Glenn and Louise ask if ASTIN can be seen as a research group and what structure exists for working parties. ASTIN s mission is to build a bridge between theory and practice. ASTIN connects individuals, as fits within the IAA by its committee and section structure.

12 Page 12. It is recognized that ASTIN has a reputation problem that requires marketing, in the US, Australia and significant parts of Europe. Many actuaries think of ASTIN as the Bulletin only. Our colloquia are another result of our effort. Practice plays a more prominent role in our colloquia than in the Bulletin. Chris points out that ASTIN brings together people from countries. We should the leverage from that. Some other ideas: What is the value proposition Use technology better Web cast versus colloquia ~ the Life sector is about to do one Dave makes the observation that the practical aspects of our colloquia, such as panel discussions are not documented. And we need more people to attend our colloquia. Tor Eivind raises the idea to create a white paper to publish in the Bulletin. We may have two related marketing issues, creating awareness of IAA members around The new role of the Bulletin A clearer profile of ASTIN Perhaps Collin Czapiewski can play a role in this. There is no separate report from Mette on the action point of last year s meeting about bringing in new members. Another idea is to hold international sessions in meetings of national organisations. Harry will start an discussion on membership and promotion of ASTIN (Action Harry) 11. Date and time of 2010 ASTIN Committee meeting in Cape Town The Committee meeting will be held Sunday 7 March 2010 at noon. The General Assembly is on Monday at 5PM. 12. Other Business The IAA governance report (see ) is discussed briefly. Current thinking on the role of the sections in the Council is that the sections are represented by 1 person collectively. The group of section chairs puts a person forward for nomination. Harry thanked the members of the committee for their participation in the meeting. The meeting adjourned at hrs. Summary of Action points Nr Issue Responsible

13 Page 13. Summary of Action points Nr Issue Responsible Assistance ASTIN-related sessions ICA A Contact writers ASTIN Bulletin Andrew Cairns 1B Send to CAS membership and contact writers CAS papers Louise Francis, Glenn Meyers 1C Contact Giro Chris Daykin 1D Contact the Solvency II working party of Groupe Consultatif Harry Panjer 1E Contact the IAA insurance regulation committee Harry Panjer 1F Co-ordination between ASTIN and CAS on session Dave Hartmann 1G Liaise with Sam Gutterman on accounting standards Dave Hartmann 1H Stay in touch with bursaries task force Nino Savelli Investment policy 2 Discuss need for refinement of the IAA investment policy with IAA Nino Savelli ASTIN Bulletin 3 Develop transition plan together for the next 5 years, including marketing plan and alternatives for printing in Belgium Harry Panjer, Dave Hartmann, Nino Savelli Create awareness around ASTIN funds for developing countries 4A Write letter to all actuarial associations Harry Panjer 4B Write letter to the chair of the Advice and Assistance Committee, also for countries without actuarial organisation Dave Hartmann 4C Write letter to the IAA Fund Dave Hartmann 4D Promote at congress Africa Chris Daykin Membership and promotion of ASTIN 5 Start discussion on membership and promotion of ASTIN Harry Panjer Respectfully submitted,

14 Page 14. Henk Kriek Secretary

15 Page 15. APPENDIX BUDGET DETAILS MADRID COLLOQUIUM AS PRESENTED BY JULIÁN OLIVER OF SPAIN ASTIN 2011 BALANCE OUTCOME Registered Delegates Academic (all figures in EURO) % 50% N TOTAL VAT / OT Net Amount VAT% Income ASTIN Committee 0 5 Organising Committee 0 10 Scientific Committee 100 Delegates % 100 Academic % 40 Accompanying person % 10 Bursaries % Sponsored / Sponsorship 0 Expenses BURSARIES % SPEAKERS 4 Speaker fee % Speaker travel costs flights included in fee, to be managed on their own 0 4 hotel (4 nights) % VENUE Colloquium rooms Fundación MAPFRE % 1250 Coffee breaks % 500 Lunch % SOCIAL 34 Committee Diner % 290 Welcome reception % 290 Half day excursion % Social programme % 217,5 Gala dinner % MATERIAL advertising % 250 briefcase + programme % 250 notebook + pen % 250 usb drive + contents % 250 back pack + peaked cap %