The Management Board of the UK Actuarial Profession is undertaking a thought leadership crosspractice research project on the use of discount rates by UK actuaries. The timing for this research is particularly appropriate as there is a convergence of interest in discount rates from within and outside of the Profession. Discount rates are at the heart of most actuarial calculations and are of significant public interest. As part of this project the Management Board wants a full and open debate on the significant issues and this paper is the next step in stimulating that debate, giving another opportunity to influence the future direction of the project. The Management Board set up a small cross-practice steering committee to drive the project. The Discount Rate Steering Committee identified five areas of work that would be needed to achieve the project's overall objectives:(1) A survey of current practices.(2) A survey of existing research and debate.(3) Developing a common language for communicating discount rates and risk.(4) Developing a common framework for the future where appropriate.(5) Considering the impact of any changes.Although the Profession does not set standards for technical work it still has a significant role for undertaking research in the public interest which supports the competence of its members and the furtherance of actuarial science. Chinu Patel and Chris Daykin were commissioned to undertake the first part of this work and they presented their preliminary output at a forum of thought leaders across the Profession and externally on 23 March 2010. Their report ''Actuaries and Discount Rates'' was subsequently published in May 2010 and presented the results of their initial research into past and current practice in the setting of discount rates in the UK, and a survey of existing research and debate. A summary of that report is included in Section 2 of this paper. Following consultation both within and outside the Actuarial Profession, this interim paper now takes forward the ideas and initial steps developed by Patel & Daykin and looks at developing a common language and framework for using discount rates in actuarial work. The Discount Rate

This paper was written at the request of the Life Research Committee of the United Kingdom Actuarial Profession's Life Board. It concerns the valuation of U.K. with-profits business, with particular attention to the market-consistent ‘realistic reporting’ basis currently being used in the U.K. by the regulator, the Financial Services Authority (FSA). The paper surveys recent regulatory activity concerning the development and introduction of the new valuation approach, and puts it into the context of a survey of alternative methodologies, both deterministic and stochastic. The particular issues arising when considering prudential solvency are discussed, and various approaches are reviewed and compared with market consistent methods. Numerical examples are given, which demonstrate potential issues (regarding comparability and consistency) with the FSA's proposed approach — in particular the sensitivity of results to model calibration. The authors support the FSA's move to a stochastically-based framework for solvency measurement, but highlight some issues which need to be taken into account.

This paper focusses on some practical issues that can arise when developing methodologies for calculating benchmark figures for extreme market events, particularly in the context of the Financial Services Authority's ICAS regime. The paper limits discussion to equity and interest rate risks. Whilst not intended to constitute formal guidance, it is hoped that the material contained within the paper will be useful to practitioners. The paper acknowledges the role of prior beliefs in the choice of data to be used for modelling and its influence upon the ensuing results.

With-profits business has flourished for over a century as a means of providing access to equity-type investment whilst smoothing the volatility risk. Today's world demands greater transparency, and with-profits has come under increasing criticism in this regard. The Working Party concludes that it remains good value as an investment vehicle and suggests how its transparency can be significantly improved.The paper first analyses the characteristics of with-profits, which it notes has been permitted for stakeholder pensions. It then analyses the various criticisms of with-profits and considers how they can be rebutted without destroying its essential nature, pre-supposing the implementation of the Association of British Insurers' (ABI) Raising Standards scheme.The paper concludes that greater transparency is both necessary for rebuttal and also achievable without destroying the with-profits concept, to this end proposing a model for the internal analysis of identified classes of with-profits business and the inclusion of specified additional information in the statutory returns to the regulators. It also proposes that policyholders be given slightly more information than is specified under Raising Standards. Finally the paper analyses the implications for the life assurance industry, which it considers acceptable.

This paper considers the approaches currently used by life offices for statutory valuations, and proposes a number of changes to current practice. It builds on the earlier work of Philip Scott's Working Party and a working party which reported on all aspects of unitised with-profits business to the 1996 CILA conference.Recommendations are made for each of the major categories of long-term business, in particular for the introduction of a bonus reserve standard for accumulating with-profits business, whilst retaining the net premium standard for conventional with-profits business. It is proposed that the current net premium approach for non-profit business should be replaced by a gross premium method. The paper also develops a greater codification of the calculation of non-unit reserves on linked business.Considerable emphasis is placed on the requirement for statutory reserves to have regard to PRE. It is assumed throughout that the E.C. Third Life Directive remains in its current form.A number of examples are provided which illustrate the proposed method for accumulating with-profits business. Appendices to the paper include a draft of suggested consequential changes to the Insurance Companies Regulations 1994, and a revised supporting version of the whole of GN8.