Insurance Risk and Reserving Training Course

Participants can structure an insurance risk taxonomy and assign clear ownership and controls.

• Underwriting, reserving, market, credit, liquidity and operational risk categories
• Risk registers linking causes, events, consequences, controls and owners
• Three lines model responsibilities for insurance risk oversight
• Board risk appetite metrics, limits, triggers and escalation routes
• Own Risk and Solvency Assessment purpose and evidence requirements
• Control self-assessments for underwriting, claims and reserving processes

Participants can assess whether claims and exposure data are suitable for reserving analysis.

• Policy, claims, payment, case reserve and exposure data structures
• Accident, underwriting, report and payment dates distinguished precisely
• Data reconciliation between claims systems, general ledger and actuarial extracts
• Completeness, accuracy, timeliness and consistency data quality tests
• Claim coding standards for peril, coverage, jurisdiction and claimant type
• Data triangles constructed from cumulative paid and incurred claims

Participants can evaluate how claims handling practices affect reserve quality and uncertainty.

• First notification, investigation, settlement and closure claim stages
• Case reserve setting rules, authority levels and review frequencies
• Claims leakage sources: coverage errors, delay, fraud and handling failures
• Large loss identification, escalation criteria and specialist claim review
• Open claim inventories analysed by age, value and closure patterns
• Claims inflation drivers: repair costs, medical costs and legal awards

Participants can analyse portfolio performance indicators before selecting reserving assumptions.

• Gross and net loss ratios calculated from earned premium
• Ultimate loss ratio compared with reported and paid experience
• Frequency, severity and exposure trends separated within claims movements
• Rate change, mix change and benefit change effects
• Calendar-year, accident-year and underwriting-year result comparisons
• Portfolio segmentation by product, territory, channel and policy limit

Participants can construct and interpret claims development patterns from historical data.

• Development triangles organised by accident year and development period
• Age-to-age factors calculated from cumulative paid claims data
• Volume-weighted and simple-average development factors compared carefully
• Link ratios reviewed for outliers, settlements and operational changes
• Tail factors selected for long-tailed liability claim portfolios
• Development patterns reconciled with claim closure and payment behaviour

Participants can calculate ultimate losses and outstanding claims using the chain ladder method.

• Chain ladder assumptions tested against portfolio stability evidence
• Selected development factors applied to incomplete accident years
• Cumulative development factors converted into ultimate loss estimates
• Outstanding claims reserve derived from ultimate less reported losses
• Paid chain ladder and incurred chain ladder results compared
• Method limitations assessed for changing claims and underwriting conditions

Participants can apply expectation-based reserving methods where development experience is immature.

• Expected loss ratios derived from pricing, underwriting and historical evidence
• Premium earning patterns aligned with exposure and policy terms
• Expected loss ratio reserves calculated for immature portfolios
• Bornhuetter-Ferguson method combining expected losses and reported emergence
• Cape Cod method using credibility-weighted expected loss ratios
• Method selection justified for new products and volatile portfolios

Participants can develop exposure-based reserve estimates using frequency and severity assumptions.

• Claim frequency estimated from exposures, notifications and historical patterns
• Severity distributions examined using average, percentile and large-loss data
• Exposure measures selected for motor, property, liability and health
• Frequency-severity models used to estimate ultimate claim costs
• Policy limit profiles incorporated into severity and aggregation analysis
• Emerging claim notifications compared with expected reporting patterns

Participants can distinguish reserve components and calculate gross claims liabilities accurately.

• Reported outstanding claims separated from incurred but not reported claims
• IBNER reserves identified from deterioration in known claim estimates
• Claims handling expenses included within technical provision estimates
• Unearned premium reserve distinguished from unexpired risk reserve
• Gross reserves reconciled to paid claims and case reserves
• Reserve movement analysis explained through payments, emergence and assumption changes

Participants can quantify and communicate uncertainty surrounding central reserve estimates.

• Parameter uncertainty, process uncertainty and model uncertainty distinguished
• Sensitivity tests applied to development factors, inflation and tail assumptions
• Scenario analysis for adverse claims emergence and settlement delays
• Reserve ranges developed using alternative methods and assumptions
• Back-testing compares prior ultimate estimates with subsequent actual development
• Management margins documented separately from best-estimate technical provisions

Participants can assess catastrophe accumulation and emerging risks affecting reserve adequacy.

• Catastrophe perils: flood, windstorm, earthquake, wildfire and terrorism
• Accumulation analysis by geography, peril, policy limit and reinsurance layer
• Event claims reserves separated from attritional claims development
• Probable maximum loss concepts used for portfolio risk assessment
• Climate change assumptions considered within catastrophe and liability exposures
• Emerging risks assessed through horizon scanning and scenario narratives

Participants can assess how reinsurance structures affect net reserves and credit exposure.

• Quota share, surplus, excess-of-loss and stop-loss treaty structures
• Attachment points, limits, reinstatements and aggregate covers interpreted
• Gross-to-net reserve calculations reflect treaty terms and recoverability
• Reinsurance recoverables reconciled with ceded claims and accounting records
• Counterparty default risk assessed using collateral and credit ratings
• Commutation, dispute and coverage risks considered for recoverable balances

Participants can relate reserving outputs to IFRS 17 insurance contract liability measurement.

• IFRS 17 measurement models: general, premium allocation and variable fee
• Fulfilment cash flows include estimates, discounting and risk adjustment
• Liability for remaining coverage distinguished from incurred claims liability
• Contractual service margin explained for profitable insurance contract groups
• Onerous contract assessment linked to expected claims and expenses
• Reserve data mapped to financial statements and IFRS 17 disclosures

Participants can connect reserve risk to solvency assessment, capital needs and stress testing.

• Solvency II technical provisions: best estimate and risk margin
• Reserve risk capital reflects adverse development and parameter uncertainty
• Stress tests model claims inflation, catastrophe losses and reinsurer default
• Reverse stress testing identifies scenarios threatening solvency thresholds
• Capital management links underwriting growth, dividends and reinsurance decisions
• Own Risk and Solvency Assessment integrates forward-looking reserve projections

Participants can design governance evidence supporting reliable reserve approval and challenge.

• Reserve committee mandates, membership, decisions and escalation protocols
• Assumption papers document rationale, evidence, limitations and approval
• Independent review challenges data, method selection and judgement
• Change control records model updates, data revisions and impacts
• Audit trails connect source data, calculations, approvals and disclosures
• Materiality thresholds define investigation and management reporting requirements

Participants can present reserve results, risks and decisions clearly to senior stakeholders.

• Reserve roll-forward explains opening balance, movements and closing balance
• Actual-versus-expected analysis identifies adverse development by portfolio segment
• Key risk indicators track claim frequency, severity and closure rates
• Board dashboards distinguish central estimate, range and management margin
• Narrative reporting explains assumptions, uncertainty and proposed management actions
• Reserve adequacy messages tailored for executives, auditors and regulators

Participants can identify reserving considerations specific to life, health and long-term products.

• Mortality, morbidity, lapse and expense assumptions affect long-term liabilities
• Policyholder behaviour risk assessed through surrender and lapse experience
• Health claim trends reflect utilisation, provider costs and benefit design
• Discount rates influence present values of long-duration insurance obligations
• Experience investigations compare assumptions with observed policyholder outcomes
• Long-term guarantees create market, longevity and option-related exposures

Participants can review a reserve process and prioritise corrective actions for identified weaknesses.

• Reserve review scope defines portfolios, valuation dates and materiality thresholds
• Diagnostic questions test data, assumptions, models, governance and reporting
• Control gaps prioritised using impact, likelihood and remediation feasibility
• Remediation plans assign owners, milestones, evidence and review dates
• Model risk registers record limitations, dependencies and validation actions
• Post-implementation monitoring confirms improved reserve process performance

Participants can build, review and present a complete insurance risk and reserving pack for a portfolio.

• Portfolio data reconciled across premium, claims, reinsurance and ledger records
• Selected reserving methods produce gross, ceded and net estimates
• Assumptions documented with development evidence, pricing data and expert judgement
• Sensitivity scenarios quantify adverse development, inflation and catastrophe effects
• Risk register links reserve exposures, controls, owners and actions
• Management paper presents reserve recommendation, uncertainty range and governance decisions