Reinsurance Worldwide
When many of us started in the actuarial profession, the traditional view of reinsurers was presented in exam texts as "following the fortunes" of the primary customers. Through liability crises, natural catastrophes, terrorist attacks, asbestos and environmental claims, and the like, that early characterization of reinsurance no longer seems adequate. In many respects, it now appears that reinsurance coverage availability and pricing considerations often are significant elements in marketplace developments for primary insurers, for self-insureds, and for the insuring public. Reinsurance is a worldwide business.

This panel will address the current drivers of the reinsurance market, ever more sophisticated catastrophe modeling techniques, financial and underwriting risk analytics, and emerging liability theories. Panelists will represent the perspectives from various reinsurance "clusters" in North America, Bermuda, and Europe.

Moderator:
Gary G. Venter, Managing Director, Guy Carpenter Instrat

Panelists:
Donald R. Alexander, Executive Director, Guy Carpenter & Company, Ltd.
James N. Stanard, Chairman & CEO, Renaissance Re Holdings Ltd.
Michael G. Wacek, President, Odyssey America Reinsurance Corporation

Workers Compensation Update
Loss cost trends for Workers Compensation insurance are ever increasing across the country. The situation is exacerbated in the eyes of policyholders when premium increases are extraordinarily steep, due to historically inadequate rates. The panelists will provide a brief summary of the premium, loss cost, and legislative trends in some of the more notable jurisdictions and proceed to offer their prognosis for the future.

Due to the barrage of legislative changes that has hit California over the past couple years, a summary of the bills enacted will be presented along with an up to date estimate of the expected financial impact of each. California's change to open rating, the ensuing price cuts, and the fallout due to insurance company failures will be discussed, with an eye on other jurisdictions that may be facing similar competitive and legislative situations.

Following brief presentations, the panelists will engage in a roundtable discussion about common areas of concern across jurisdictions, allowing ample time for questions and comments from the audience.

Moderator:
Robert F. Conger, Principal & Consultant, Towers Perrin

Panelists:
Dennis C. Mealy, Chief Actuary, National Council on Compensation Insurance
David M. Bellusci, Senior Vice President and Chief Actuary, California Workers Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau
Stanton F. Long, Managing Director, Marsh New York

Reserve Adequacy and the Underwriting Cycle
A question that is commonly asked is whether there is a correlation between financial reserve adequacy and the underwriting cycle. The panelists will provide a brief summary of their interpretations of this issue, and comment on trends and recent and pending legislation that may affect this issue in the future.

Some of the potential topics of discussion are the impact of Sarbanes-Oxley, revised actuarial reserve opinion rules, and insurance regulatory issues. Transparencies between reserving and pricing/underwriting functions within companies will also be examined. Panelists will also discuss how this issue affects outside rating agencies view of both individual companies and the insurance market in general.

Moderator:
Stephen T. Morgan, Vice President, Clarendon Insurance Group

Panelists:
Michael E. Angelina, Consulting Actuary, Tillinghast-Towers Perrin
Meyer Shields, Analyst, Legg Mason Wood Walker, Inc.

Actuaries and Actuarial Issues Around the World
The actuarial profession is facing numerous challenges around the world. As the tools of risk assessment and risk analysis have become widely available to more people and the process of risk management has moved beyond the traditional field of insurance, our various publics' perceptions of what services the actuary provides and the value of those services are changing.

• What changes must we make to adapt to the new public perception of a risk management professional?
• What must we do to continue to demonstrate our integrity and competence to our current publics and gain the confidence of potential new publics?
• What are the hard choices that we must make? Do we need to change our education, standards of practice development, and discipline in order to ensure continuing public confidence?
• How do these questions also address the survival of the actuarial profession?

A distinguished panel of leaders of international actuarial organizations will present their views on these questions. They will speak from the experiences in their own countries and from a perspective of the profession globally.

Co-Moderators:
Mary Frances Miller, President, Casualty Actuarial Society
Brian A.P. FitzGerald, President, Canadian Institute of Actuaries

Panelists:
Graham E. Rogers, President, Institute of Actuaries of Australia
Robert E. Wilcox, President, American Academy of Actuaries
Harvie Brown, President, Faculty of Actuaries