Actuarial Standards Board News

The Actuarial Standards Board (ASB) of the American Academy of Actuaries released its 2024 Annual Report, which highlights the board’s accomplishments throughout the year, including adopting five revised actuarial standards of practices (ASOPs), approving seven exposure drafts for comment, and introducing ASOP No. 58, Enterprise Risk Management. In addition, the ASB continued development of six other new or revised ASOPs and approved a proposal to revise ASOP No. 1, Introductory Actuarial Standard of Practice.

The Actuarial Standards Board (ASB) of the American Academy of Actuaries recently approved an exposure draft of a proposed revision of Actuarial Standard of Practice (ASOP) No. 20, now titled Analysis of Property/Casualty Cash Flows, Including Discounting. The standard applies to actuaries performing a property/casualty cash flow analysis involving underwriting cash flows, investment cash flows, and other cash flows. Examples include discounted claim estimates, determination of capital adequacy, product development or ratemaking studies, evaluations of investment strategy, financial projections or forecasts, actuarial appraisals, and testing of future charges or benefits that may vary at the discretion of the insurer (for example, policyholder dividends or policy terms for retrospective premiums).

In 2024, the ASB decided to remove property/casualty actuarial practice from the scope of ASOP No. 7, Analysis of Life, Health and Property/Casualty Insurance Cash Flows. This revision of ASOP No. 20 expands the scope beyond discounting of claim estimates (i.e., loss and loss adjustment expense reserves and prospective loss and loss adjustment expense funding) to include any property/casualty cash flow model (discounted or undiscounted). This includes non-loss cash flows such as premiums, underwriting expenses, and other non-loss items. The revision consolidates guidance for a variety of actuarial work products that use similar data, methods, models, and assumptions for cash flow analyses.

The proposed approach should eliminate any confusion practitioners currently face and present the expanded guidance in property/casualty-specific terminology. Additional notable changes include expanding the guidance on the changing conditions that might impact discount rates, and on risk margins applied to all cash flows.

The comment deadline is Aug. 1, 2025. Information on how to submit comments can be found in the exposure draft.

The comment deadline for the exposure draft of ASOP No. 39, Treatment of Catastrophe or Extreme Event Losses in Future Cost Estimates for Property/Casualty Risk Transfer and Risk Retention, has been extended from May 1, 2025 to June 1, 2025. The exposure draft can be viewed here.

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The Actuarial Standards Board (ASB) of the American Academy of Actuaries approved an exposure draft of a proposed revision of Actuarial Standard of Practice (ASOP) No. 39, now titled Treatment of Catastrophe or Extreme Event Losses in Future Cost Estimates for Property/Casualty Risk Transfer and Risk Retention. The ASB adopted ASOP No. 39, Treatment of Catastrophe Losses in Property/Casualty Insurance Ratemaking, in 2000 to provide guidance to actuaries in evaluating catastrophe exposure and in determining a provision for catastrophe or extreme event losses and loss adjustment expenses in property/casualty insurance ratemaking. 

Since this ASOP was adopted, there have been many developments in ratemaking and modeling that are not adequately addressed in the current standard such as events that impact casualty insurance or multiple insurance lines, or other events that the industry now faces, such as cyber-attacks, terrorism, and the effects of climate change. The standard is also being updated to recognize ASOP No. 53, Estimating Future Costs for Prospective Property/Casualty Risk Transfer and Risk Retention, and ASOP No. 56, Modeling, as well as changes to ASOP No. 38, Catastrophe Modeling (For All Practice Areas). Notable changes from the existing standard include broadening the scope to include both catastrophes and extreme events and expanding the guidance for casualty coverages, catastrophe models, and scenario analysis. 

The comment deadline is May 1, 2025. Information on how to submit comments can be found in the exposure draft.