CAS Issues Request for Proposals to Examine the Actuarial Considerations Associated with IFRS-17 Implementation for General Insurers in Asia

The CAS is issuing a Request for Proposals (RFP) for a research paper which studies and discusses the actuarial considerations associated with IFRS-17 implementation for general insurers in Asia.

1. About the Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS)

The Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS) is a global leader in general insurance, with a growing membership of nearly 10,000 members around the world. Our members are experts in property and casualty, reinsurance, finance, risk management, and enterprise risk management. Professionals educated by the CAS empower businesses and governments to solve problems and make well-informed strategic, financial, and operational decisions. To continuously expand and enhance the skills of the modern actuary, the CAS supports research in a variety of areas. The vast array of CAS publications encompass the theoretical aspects of actuarial science as well as the practical business facets of building the profession in general insurance. The CAS is an active and full member of the International Actuarial Association.

2. The CAS Research Council

The CAS Research Council was formed in 2021 to prioritize the research needs of the general insurance actuarial community. This work augments the existing work of standing research working groups which focus on specific practice areas like ratemaking, reserving, reinsurance, and risk analysis. The operational oversight of projects is designated to a project oversight group (POG) made up of CAS staff and volunteers.

3. Research Problem Description

The implementation of IFRS-17 is an emerging focus area for general insurers in the Asia region. China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, and Taiwan are all presently moving to this new accounting standard. Actuaries and professionals in accounting and information technology are working together in new ways to assemble and report in accordance with this new standard.

The research will investigate key considerations for actuaries supporting their companies in IFRS-17 reporting and may include risks and opportunities for professionals and general insurance companies; as well as approaches, case studies, and lessons learned in implementing the standard. Potential topics include, but are not restricted to:

• Use of Premium Allocation Approach (PAA) vs. General Model (GM).
• Case studies on PAA eligibility approaches.
• Explore the actuarial role in Onerous Contract identification and loss component calculation.
• For those under the GM, case studies in actuarial work in updating the Contractual Service Margin (CSM).
• Research on change in Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), and actuarial influence on them.
• Reconciliation of IFRS 17 statements against prior accounting rules, regulatory accounting (if different) and internal management reports.
• What are best practices for post-implementation reviews?
• What changes to data quality will be brought about by IFRS-17 implementation?
• What might a movement analysis between IFRS-17 and the current standard show?
• What impact will IFRS-17 have on system efficiency?
• How will IFRS-17 affect the construction and display of management information?

Proposed hypotheses and research designs should be new and not duplicative of existing publicly available materials. Projects that incorporate a regional or multi-country focus are encouraged.

4. Project Requirements

The end product of the research should be a paper, in English, saved as (or converted to) a Microsoft Word file. The length should be sufficient to give meaningful, practical guidance to practitioners in a way that is concise yet complete. This typically means a paper of 20-50 pages. Those page counts should be regarded as rough guidelines only.

Where actuarial/statistical methods are used, they should have sound foundations, rooted in established principles. With that understood, the techniques within a method should be intelligible to an actuary working general insurance. Moreover, a method’s output should be explainable to insurance industry decision makers who may not have the experience or education of an actuary.

We understand that this brief may rely on technologies which are generally understood within IT and engineering circles. Authors should understand that although actuaries are technically literate, they are not necessarily fluent in all the technologies that a paper might present, and therefore any technologies discussed should be introduced in the paper.

5. Proposal Requirements

A complete proposal will include the following items:

• The name and contact information of the lead researcher/primary contact for the project;
• The detailed hypothesis to be addressed in the research paper and why it is significant for actuarial professionals in Asia and how it will expand current knowledge on the topic. Please also describe how this work is new and not duplicative of existing material;
• An outline of the approach to be used (examples: literature reviews, models, etc.). Details should be given regarding the techniques to be used, material to be consulted, and possible limitations of the analysis;
• Resumes of the researcher(s) indicating how their education, skills, and experience are related to their qualifications to undertake the research;
• A project timeline with key milestones that also includes submission of a draft report to the CAS for questions and comments to be considered and addressed in the preparation of the final product. Please plan for up to eight weeks to receive feedback on your draft report from the CAS in your timeline.
• A detailed budget of no more than $40,000 USD that includes estimated numbers of hours per research team member and their associated hourly rates and any other direct or indirect costs (technology, materials, etc.). The budget should be reasonable in relation to the design of the research project.

6. Timeline and selection

The selection of a proposal is conditioned upon and not considered final until a Letter of Agreement is executed by both the CAS and the researcher.

The CAS will award to the respondent who - in the judgment of the CAS and entirely based on their written proposal - is best able to perform the work as specified herein. The CAS reserves the right to not award a contract for this research. Reasons for not awarding a contract could include, but are not limited to, a lack of acceptable proposals or a finding that insufficient funds are available. The CAS also reserves the right to redirect the project as is deemed advisable.

7. General Conditions

As a condition of selection, the CAS requires that all rights, title, and interest, including copyright and patent, in and to the report be owned by the CAS. The selected researcher/research team must sign a formal research agreement that assigns all such rights to the CAS. In any publication of the report, the researcher(s) will receive appropriate credit with regard to authorship.

The CAS may publish the report in its entirety, or any sections thereof, in any format and medium as it finds fit, including but not limited to CAS publications, and electronic versions such as on its website or physical storage media.

The CAS may choose to seek public exposure or media attention for the research. By submitting a proposal, you agree to cooperate with the CAS in publicizing or promoting the research and responding to media requests. The researcher(s) should make every effort to be available to present the report at CAS meetings or seminars (up to one in person in the U.S., two regionally in person in Asia, and two virtual).

Any accompanying code examples will be shared on the CAS GitHub site (https://github.com/casact). All material on GitHub is released under the Mozilla Public License, version 2.0 (https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/MPL/2.0/).

8. Contact Information

Interested researchers should submit their proposals and any questions to:
Brian A. Fannin, Research Actuary
Casualty Actuarial Society
bfannin@casact.org

and

Ran Guo, Country Director China & Staff Actuary
Casualty Actuarial Society
rguo@casact.org