Join us as the conference begins to meet and greet peers while you share ideas and common experiences.

Accelerated underwriting (AUW) is a hot topic in the life insurance industry, so it’s no surprise that multiple industry surveys have been conducted in an attempt to get a pulse on where the industry is. What have we learned from these surveys? How is AUW evolving over time? What do we expect from AUW moving forward? We’ll answer these questions and more as we dive into the results of both the recent LIMRA and Munich Re accelerated underwriting surveys.

The annual Insurance Barometer survey examines consumer mindsets on the hottest topics in the industry. This session provides the first look at 2020 results on those and other important trends. Learn how Life Happens uses this information to build consumer awareness programs and create marketing resources that you can use to help consumers take action on their needs.

A panel of experts from the American Council of Life Insurers will provide a review of the most pressing legislative and regulatory challenges facing the industry today. Join a candid conversation with ACLI senior staff for their big picture outlook on 2020.

Digital transformation is a primary area of focus for many life insurance companies to address and meet the changing needs of the business and policyholders. Many insurers started this journey years ago, but it has been a long road with many challenges such as regulatory changes, financial constraints, and building the business case for change. This session will examine how the industry is really transforming and the pace of that change. Roadblocks will be reviewed and recommendations shared on how to better face the uncertain and challenging future.

With the proliferation of complex data sources and increasingly sophisticated technology available to insurance companies, the traditional domains of the actuary have become battlegrounds between algorithmic data-driven insights and traditional wisdom and subject matter expertise. In this session, we will explore advantages and common pitfalls of both approaches, as well as techniques to help insurance companies better utilize data, robust models, and visualization to better quantify, communicate, and manage risks.

Insurance companies are increasingly leveraging the power of data and analytics to answer questions, drive decisions, and improve their bottom line. They are deploying cutting-edge analytics applications to boost their efforts in distribution, marketing, and other company functions. Join us for a panel discussion on what companies are doing in the insurance analytics space right now, what cool things are possible, and what leading experts in the field see as its future.

In 1980, an applicant might buy a policy without smoking distinct rates by submitting a paper application by mail. Today, that person might be evaluated through multiple filters evaluating her risk characteristics before a product is marketed to her. Technology and data will continue to be a catalyst to accelerate the tailoring of product designs and narrowing of risk classifications toward individualized pricing of life insurance coverages. This panel will discuss the opportunities and challenges expected in a continuous pricing future.

Just as digital giants like Amazon, Netflix and Uber have raised customer experience expectations across all industries, InsurTechs are motivating insurance companies to provide insurance-as-a-service — the friction-free experiences and insurance-on-demand that customers want. The key to offering insurance-as-a-service, tailored coverage that attracts and retains customers, is using APIs and micro-services. In this NTT DATA-moderated discussion with InsurTech and insurance company leaders, you’ll hear about the innovative ways InsurTechs attract and keep customers. You’ll also learn about the core system modernization approaches leveraging APIs and micro-services that are enabling insurance companies to design products and services that compete with these digital natives.

Coming soon.

Margaret Meister will share her approach to leading change at Symetra to adapt to the shifting needs of customers and the new generations of employees entering the workforce. Her approach has centered on reshaping Symetra as a company focused on empowering customers and employees.

As Head of Innovation and Creativity at Disney, Wardle helped teams at Disney Parks, Lucasfilm, Marvel, Pixar, Imagineering, and Animation to innovate, creating amazing experiences for consumers around the globe. Wardle will provide keys to transforming a product-centric culture into a consumer-centric one. Learn how companies can create customer experience magic by deeply understanding their consumers and transforming their culture to achieve amazing results.

Resources invested in digital transformation initiatives in the life insurance industry over the past decade are significant and immeasurable. The return on investment is also significant and likely immeasurable. This raises the questions: what does success with digital transformation in the life insurance industry look like, and what steps can be taken to increase the likelihood of success? A panel of technology leaders from the life insurance industry will provide their insight and opine on their digital transformation journeys and what success looks like in our industry.

Do you engage with your customers or is their experience with your company more ‘buy it and forget it?’ Why is customer engagement so important? If you don’t have a good strategy, what steps can you take? Today’s consumers have high expectations and, sometimes, short attention spans. Engaging customers and developing a feeling of connection to your company has many possible benefits from improved persistency to an increased likelihood to recommend you to friends and family. In this session, you will hear firsthand experience from Principal Financial and Sureify on their partnership, lessons learned, and the benefits of an ongoing engagement platform.

Accelerated underwriting is reshaping the life insurance landscape, from customer experience to risk selection. Designing a successful program requires collaboration between underwriters, data scientists, actuaries, marketers and IT. During this session, we will outline the roles and responsibilities of each function, we will share tips for success and how to avoid pitfalls, and we will discuss insights on emerging tools and how to set up effective monitoring programs.

Increased news media attention to, and public awareness of risk factors such as genetic test results, biometric information, standing orders for opioid antagonists, and organ donor status have resulted in a spike of state legislation threatening life insurers’ ability to underwrite life, disability income, and long-term care insurance. Additionally, life insurers’ use of big data to accelerate the underwriting process and improve the customer experience has caused some policymakers to question whether the data is being used fairly. Others have raised privacy concerns regarding how the data is being collected, used, and disclosed in the underwriting process. This panel will focus on the legislative and regulatory issues associated with life insurer underwriting practices.

Most companies are already working with predictive analytics or are considering doing so in the near future. But, how do you effectively integrate the analytics into appropriate areas of the company and processes? Are there measures that should not be used even though they are predictive? This session will provide some suggestions for effective collaboration between stakeholders, along with ethical considerations of what should be incorporated.

Life insurance products must continually evolve to respond to regulatory changes, revised accounting regimes, consumer expectations, advancing technology, a fluid economic environment, and shifting demographics. Join us for an interactive discussion of life insurance products in today’s market and in the market of tomorrow.

The financial services industry has traditionally been the conscientious guardian of consumers’ highly vulnerable personal information, and yet the landscape is radically shifting. The technological revolution is changing the way we collect and use data and the highly publicized public policy debates on privacy are being driven by the business models of newly emerging tech companies. As our industry embraces the changing technological landscape, leans into adaptation, and reaffirms our industry’s commitment to appropriate use and safeguarding of consumer information, this session will dive into a debate about the current and future regulatory framework on the state, federal, and international levels and ways to navigate the future.

This session will highlight results from a recent LIMRA and NEOS study examining current customer experience practices. The study was conducted to better understand the challenges and opportunities that life insurance and annuities carriers face, the effectiveness of their efforts, and how these efforts are being prioritized to shape the organization’s future state. Examining results through the lens of a customer experience maturity model, recommendations will be made to guide companies in the evolution of their programs.

This presentation will cover how AI is transforming underwriting, marketing and sales, and reserve estimations in life insurance. With regard to underwriting, this session will address the use of medical data, digital insights from social media, and clickstream analytics, as well as the use of smart workflow to improve the insurance underwriting process and the digital experience. We will also discuss the use of a cognitive assistant during the sales and marketing process, and the use of machine learning for better reserve estimation for life insurance products.

Non-medical mortality scoring models have become more prominent in the life insurance underwriting process in recent years, revealing an effective dimension of risk assessment that was previously unknown. But do you understand why they work and their consequences? And how has the industry and state regulatory entities reacted to the emergence of these scores? This session is intended for life insurance professionals of all backgrounds who are interested in learning what non-medical based scores measure, what insights they reveal, and how to incorporate them into the pricing and underwriting process.

The wellness economy is flourishing as consumers increasingly seek to understand the implications of their lifestyle on their overall health. New fitness accessories and health data sources are augmenting the ways consumers manage their own wellness. Insurance companies can harness this momentum by more closely aligning the incentives of the insured with the insurer. Based on consumer research and conversations with insurers and sales professionals, learn how companies that flip the switch to prevention and longevity (from death and mortality) can deliver better outcomes for their customers, increase engagement, and deliver stronger business results.

Artificial Intelligence is used in many different applications in the life insurance industry from underwriting to chat bots and customer service. This session will help attendees gain a better understanding of the relationships and differences between artificial intelligence, machine learning, and robotic process automation, as well as how life insurance companies consider how these tools are being deployed in today, tomorrow, and their potential use in the future.

Critical to every life insurance company is the ability to accurately assess and predict risk. Yet never before has that task been more challenging. We’re in an age of increased innovation in the underwriting space with the introduction of new data sets, the advent of accelerated underwriting, InsurTech, omni-channel distribution, a consumer experience focus and changing regulatory and societal standards. In this session we’ll explore various topics impacting underwriting today, share insights, and discuss the dynamics and new developments in this evolving landscape that promises more change yet to come.

Modernization of legacy policy admin systems appears to be an ongoing challenge and opportunity for many life insurance companies.  Or is it?  This session will provide an overview of how the industry is addressing legacy system modernization challenges and the strategies that may be successful.   Attendees will also gain an understanding of the appropriate advice to seek and questions to ask prior to beginning a modernization project as well as what leaders need to know about increasing speed-to-market through PAS modernization. 

The insurance industry is focused on the consumer experience, but many carriers have a variety of consumers to satisfy, not the least of which is the agent/advisor/broker channel. By making it easier to sell products, savvy insurers are also making it easier to increase sales. This interactive session will examine how an understanding of the advisor experience can revitalize distribution channels. Has your organization taken steps to improve the advisor experience? What were the results? Share your experiences with an insurer and a customer experience expert who will share their perspectives too.

Magie Cook transformed herself from an orphan from Mexico into CEO of Maggie’s All-Natural Fresh Salsas and Dips, a company that grew into a multi-million dollar business within four years. At the height of success in 2015, Maggie’s Salsa sold to Campbell’s Soup. Shortly after, Cook went back to Mexico and helped rescue 31 orphaned children from a drug cartel. Recipient of a Nobel Entrepreneurial Prize in Mexico and the Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award from the Small Business Administration, Cook will show you how to spark your creative genius, embrace change, and find meaning while living at your highest potential.

Three leaders of the regulatory community will share their insights into how innovation is transforming the insurance marketplace through the lens of a state insurance commissioner. In an interactive session with the audience, they’ll share their perspectives on big data/accelerated underwriting, consumer information privacy, risk classification, and a best interest standard of care for annuity sales.

Consumer groups seek a broadly applied fiduciary standard for recommendations regarding securities, insurance products, etc. Eight Attorneys General are suing the SEC over Regulation Best Interest, arguing the SEC was directed by Congress to adopt a fiduciary standard. This session will review efforts to adopt an enhanced, non-fiduciary, uniform best interest standard of care in the states, review recent best interest amendments to the NAIC Suitability in Annuity Transactions Model Regulation, and provide an update on challenges in Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Nevada as these states work to impose a fiduciary only standard.

A consumer’s level of life insurance knowledge relates to their likelihood to own coverage and have adequate coverage levels. It can be difficult to educate consumers about life insurance, so it is important to understand the key life insurance concepts that distinguish owners from non-owners. In this workshop, LIMRA researchers reveal how awareness levels relate to life insurance attitudes and behaviors. The information feeds a knowledge-based segmentation framework, which profiles the consumer population and provides market sizing for each knowledge level.

The competitive landscape of the life insurance industry pushes carriers to be innovative in their promises to customers. Whether it’s a system conversion, regulatory changes, or other initiatives, insurance companies strive to cater to their customers in an efficient manner. This session will feature a panel with a variety of experiences discussing topics including technology, product/system implementation, outsourcing considerations, and other obstacles.

Life insurance products are increasing in complexity causing a need for carriers to be more proactive in managing policies post-issue. Come hear directly from companies on the underlying philosophies and approaches used to address the ever-evolving product space.

Electronic Health Records are among the many sources of data in the ever increasing supply of data which may be useful in the life insurance industry. But how useful is it? This session will include an overview of EHRs, what they are and what they aren’t, sources of EHR information as well as how the data may (or may not) lead to a faster, more cost effective and accurate approach to underwriting and issuing a life insurance policy.

U.S. suicide rates have increased in nearly every state over the past 20 years. But how do general population suicide trends translate into life insurance claims statistics? When faced with early duration suicide claims, how can insurance companies make the appropriate claim decision to ensure fairness to the beneficiary while protecting themselves against fraud and future litigation? Two presenters, representing an actuarial and claims background, will compare the increasing population suicide trends against reinsurance experience in the U.S. and Canada, and offer best practices insurers can implement from a claims processing perspective.

Let a seasoned insurance veteran who is now working in the Insurtech space update you on how online and electronic applications as well as e-delivery of policies and online service in the life insurance is nearly commonplace in the industry. Or is it? This session will provide an overview of how the life insurance industry has evolved and continues to evolve in automating and streamlining processes from E-app to E-delivery and E-service from a Digital Online Provider. 

Marketing to people from diverse backgrounds is an enormous opportunity and challenge. No longer a niche market or a “nice to have” option, insurance carriers are investing considerable resources to reach and build business with new consumer populations. This session will focus on what every insurance professional needs to know about developing practices to meet the unique needs of these growing markets.

Demonstrate your knowledge of the Code of Professional Conduct, Actuarial Standards of Practice, Qualification Standards, and ethical behavior to your fellow attendees as you participate in a team competition. The winning team will receive accolades and bragging rights. No prizes with any meaningful monetary value will be awarded. What do you really know?

FLMI and FSRI Designees: Your dedication to professional development and excellence in our industry deserves a celebration! You are invited to attend the LOMA Conferment Ceremony luncheon being held in conjunction with the conference. Your attendance at the luncheon is complimentary with your registration.