Feasibility Studies

For many companies a feasibility study is the first step in the establishment of an insurance operation. Actuarial Partners can provide studies on the market potential for the company as well as an analysis of the risks.

Establishing / Restructuring Operations

When establishing or restructuring operations Actuarial Partners is able to provide assistance with:

• Company operating structure
• Product range/operations
• Selection of administration arrangements
• Reinsurance
• Necessary capital levels
• Financial modeling and projections
• Investment policy
• Fulfilment of regulatory requirements
• Assistance in the establishment of the IT system

Merger and acquisition work constitutes a significant part of our consulting business. We provide the following strategic advice and calculations:

• Financial investigation and actuarial valuation
• Potential sellers/purchasers identification and evaluation
• Brokering negotiations between parties
• Due diligence on financial as well as strategic and operational aspects
• Identifying synergies
• Company restructuring prior to and after the sale
• Independent opinion to regulators
• Identification of the factors affecting the deal price, with a view to maximising the value from the seller’s point of view or assessing potential risks from the buyer’s point of view

Actuarial Partners can assist in determining:

• Relevant industry benchmark
• Developing industry surveys to ascertain industry standards and the reinsurer’s position
• Analyzing the reasons for the insurer’s position in the industry

Information Management

It is vital that insurers capture appropriate information to ensure awareness of trends and understand the profitability of all lines of business and subsets of the business. This information is then used in formulating business and marketing plans focusing on the business subsets which give the most value to the company. Actuarial Partners can assist in the development of efficient management information systems and analyze which variables should be kept in this system.

Business Planning

Actuarial Partners can provide detailed financial modeling which is essential for effective business planning. These models can assess the effects of new market entry on shareholder profit, or test the effects of varying bonus or dividend rates on company profitability.

Reinsurance Optimization

The level and type of retakaful in place can have a large effect on profitability. We can assist in investigating the financial impact when varying retakaful arrangements and retention levels. This is performed using statistical modeling, and results in a probability distribution of profits across various scenarios.

Product Cycle

Actuarial Partners can assist in all aspects of the product development cycle, including:

• Identification and research of the target market
• Policy design and pricing with sensitivity testing
• Competitive analysis
• Business plan projection
• Asset share and cash flow analysis
• Policy illustration
• Management of risk including the use of reinsurance and other financial instruments
• Analysis of capital required
• Measurement of return to policyholders and shareholders
• Analysis of existing experience for mortality, lapsation, investment and expenses

Product Pricing: Medical and Health Insurance

Actuarial Partners is an industry leader in pricing medical and health insurance products in Malaysia. We can also assist in specific medical product development and pricing, and subsequently track results.

Appointed Actuary

We offer advice and assistance to a company’s appointed actuary, are able to perform most or all actuarial work for companies with little or no actuarial staff, or can provide more of an auditing role for companies with an in-house qualified actuary. Our actuarial services include:

Actuarial Peer Review

We also review the actuarial tasks and reports performed by the client’s in-house actuarial department or the company’s appointed actuary in discharging his or her responsibility, which may be a necessary regulatory requirement or as part of a regular audit process.

IBNR

Premium Rating

In a tariff driven market the need for premium rating may not be obvious. Considerations include:

Premium < Tariff

Company will be able to focus more on marketing strategies by knowing which line of business could be charged lower than tariff rate.

Premium > Tariff

Business should be reviewed carefully for ways to bring the rates in line with experience.

Risk Based Capital Framework

One of the goals of the Risk Based Capital (RBC) Framework is to evaluate the additional reserves and capital required to increase the level of certainty of meeting known and unknown obligations and identifying sources of risk and stress testing to determine an internal capital adequacy target. As part of our analysis, we carry out stochastic testing of the variability of various liabilities using Monte Carlo simulations and fitting to various distributions. This testing can go beyond simply calculating the capital required to determine how to minimize the capital required for a required level of risk.