The Seminar Formerly Known as DFA Visits Toronto this Summer

by Joseph W. Wallen

A funny thing happened on the way to this year's DFA Seminar—it turned into the Risk and Capital Management Seminar, which will be held July 8 and 9 at the Marriott Eaton Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In addition to the traditional focus on DFA and its practical applications, this year's seminar will offer significantly more sessions on enterprise risk management (ERM) and capital management. Planned session topics include the role of capital management, management of asset risk, lessons learned from Enron, and professional standards for corporate risk managers.

Why the change in focus? After six years as the Seminar on Dynamic Financial Analysis, it was felt that expanding the scope would keep the seminar relevant and fresh in the face of a changing landscape in our industry and our profession. The seminar began as an outgrowth of the CAS's efforts to educate and enhance our members' roles in the application of this emerging discipline.

As the building blocks of DFA models became more standardized and familiar to those who attended seminars, the world in which DFA was being applied changed dramatically. The insurance industry, plagued by perceived excess capital and a prolonged soft market, came under pressure to return to fundamentals of sound underwriting, financial management, and (for publicly traded companies) shareholder value. Rating agencies also began to focus on these fundamentals, providing further impetus for change in the industry.

Early DFA seminars focused on practical topics such as model building, theoretical foundations, generation of model parameters, and potential uses for DFA models. In more recent years, seminars have added topics on practical applications, case studies, and real world experiences with DFA.

The CAS also began to investigate the potential role of actuaries in ERM. During 2001, the CAS successfully held its first ERM seminar, and the Advisory Committee on Enterprise Risk Management delivered its report to the CAS Board. Chief among the many findings of this report was a desire by CAS members to learn more about ERM and become more involved in the process.

All of this leads to the new Risk and Capital Management Seminar. Its roots are still based on the foundation of DFA, but its focus has been broadened to stay abreast of current trends and needs within the profession. For more information on the Risk and Capital Management Seminar, please visit the Continuing Education. Registration for the 2002 seminar will begin in May.