2017 Retirement Industry Conference

Big data and predictive analytics can be used to enhance the marketing function, both to generate new leads and create new opportunities within an existing client base, by deploying cross-sell and up-sell programs. Attend this session to learn how the growing tools of predictive modeling can contribute to the success of your marketing function. Our panelists will present practical use cases, including categories of data used, successes that have been achieved, as well as considerations for implementation and other aspects.

Thirty-four percent of 114 million private-sector workers (39 million) do not have access to a retirement plan through work, which contributes to the overall projected retirement savings deficit of $6+ trillion. Inadequate savings not only creates stress for older Americans who may have to sacrifice supporting their basic financial needs, but it also leads to increased dependence on state and federal social welfare programs. Attend this session to learn about State Sponsored Retirement Programs, which are one avenue to assist private sector employers who may not be able to afford a qualified plan by giving employees access to alternative retirement savings arrangements.

It is no longer an option for an insurance company to become more digital. It is an imperative. The insurance ecosystem is facing massive changes and providers must produce solutions to improve customer engagement, reduce operating costs, and accelerate an insurer’s market growth. Start-up insurers are disrupting the market, shaking up standard insurance business processes, and offering attractive new products. In order to meet customer’s rapidly evolving needs and desires, digital change is needed to transform existing business and technology architectures. Carriers need a technology-enabled solution to rapidly offer innovative digital products, and to provide innovative digital operations. EY will present a forward looking view on the art of the possible.

Successfully meeting the needs of consumers, distributors, and insurance companies is always a challenge for annuity product developers. However, the new fiduciary world we live in is making the challenge even more difficult. Attendees will benefit from learning how companies are adapting their product strategies. Topics to be discussed include recent product changes, industry trends, and insights into future changes. 

For the first time in eight years, a new administration takes over the White House — an administration with vastly different policy goals than the one that preceded it. Andy Friedman, an expert in political and legislative affairs, will lay out the wide-ranging initiatives President Trump will seek to enact during his first year in office, including those involving financial services. He will consider the extent to which the new administration is likely to overturn or soften regulatory policies the Obama administration put in place, including the controversial Department of Labor regulation imposing new fiduciary obligations on financial advisors.

Doug French, FSA

Managing Principal, Insurance and Actuarial Advisory Services, EY

Hutch Schafer, FLMI

Vice President, Business Development, Retirement Plans, Nationwide Financial

James W. Kerley, LLIF

Managing Partner, Clearview Partners

What are the implications of the new administration on the retirement landscape? How should the industry respond and prepare to serve future generations of retirees? Come hear the informed perspective of senior industry executives on where the opportunities will be found and how business models must evolve in response to these new world realities.

Distribution firms are developing new product, business processing, and distribution strategies to meet the demands of regulatory requirements as well as today’s consumers. Learn about these strategies from various viewpoints — wire houses, banks, independent broker dealers, and independent marketing organizations. We will discuss how the retirement income industry needs to evolve to meet these demands including new fee-based solutions, simplicity, and transparency.

Recent population studies, news releases and technical research have shown a variety of new insights on current world trends in mortality, with much of the focus on the United States. This session will highlight recent work from the Society of Actuaries and its research partners on insured and population mortality trends, and work from the Human Mortality Database on U.S. causes of death. Results from these studies can help give participants growing insights on how future trends will evolve for insured populations and the impact of new underwriting techniques.

As the industry undergoes dramatic changes, what strategies are retirement plan providers pursuing with their distribution options and asset retention programs? In this panel discussion, hear how companies are adjusting to best meet the future needs of customers in this new and challenging environment. Topics will include contact center procedures, training, investments, marketing, and participant retention expectations, as well as the implications of the DOL fiduciary rule. Highlights from recent LIMRA Secure Retirement Institute research on plan distributions will also be shared.

Defined contribution (DC) plans have been introduced by employers en masse as the low cost and, theoretically, low risk alternative to traditional defined benefit (DB) pension plans. Unfortunately, as DC plans have matured over the years, one lesson that has emerged is that positive outcomes for members in a DC environment are not always easily achieved. As DC plans have experienced challenges, litigation surrounding their shortcomings has increased. Could the so called risk free retirement solution for employers be fraught with peril? This session will review current litigation trends in the DC area and explore the underlying fiduciary responsibilities.

This luncheon and interactive session will focus on current retirement topics impacting the Canadian market and is open to all attendees interested in Canadian-specific issues.

(Pre-registration is required.)

Sponsored by CANNEX Financial Exchanges

Individual retail annuity products are used to meet many different retirement savings objectives. Join us to learn about sales trends for accumulation and income focused retail annuity products, the similarities and differences in buyer profiles, and our assessment of the impact the DOL fiduciary rule will have on the annuity market.

A cross-industry, cross-IRA panel of Defined Contribution (DC) plan sponsors shares what keeps them up at night...and what their priorities are in managing their plans and employees for 2017. A moderated panel discussion will be followed by a question and answer opportunity for attendee engagement. Attend this session to hear directly from the DC industry’s most important stakeholders: the individuals responsible for selecting vendors and managing their organizations’ plans.

With the increasing focus on potential changes to U.S. Social Security and Medicare programs, and the recent expansion of the Canada Pension Plan, what will that mean for consumers in the years ahead? This session will review ways to evaluate how well these programs deliver retirement income adequacy, highlight the current environment of retirement security programs, review trends of individual retirement risks and decisions, and discuss future employer and financial institution products and services.

Americans often save for retirement today with 401(k) plans and IRAs focused on wealth accumulation. However, they face complex challenges, including longevity, interest rate, inflation, and cognitive risks, when turning an account balance into secure retirement income. Recognizing these risks and challenges is key in improving outcomes. Without improvements designed to convert retirement savings accounts into an income stream, participants face an increased risk of running out of money during retirement. This session will feature both public and private sector speakers, including a Government Accountability Office (GAO) perspective on how regulatory changes can improve 401(k) plan retirement income options and a discussion of other possible initiatives that could lead to enhanced retiree lifetime income outcomes.

In this session, panelists will share innovative approaches to retirement income planning. Learn how these are helping financial professionals, and the financial institutions that they represent, to capture, consolidate and retain assets, as well as provide better outcomes for clients. Innovation is taking place against a backdrop of shifting demographics, new technologies and regulation, making retirement income planning a new imperative.

While the final outcome of the DOL Fiduciary Rule remains unclear, opportunity exists for technology to significantly enhance advisor and client relationships. This session will feature thought leadership presentations from representatives of organizations that have successfully developed product analysis and needs analysis tools as well as financial planning tools that effectively establish and maintain a fiduciary status. Attendees in this session will learn why these types of tools are necessary for their organization to thrive in the new fiduciary world.

Sales in the pension risk transfer market have increased dramatically the last few years. Many corporate pension plan sponsors no longer want the responsibility of managing and funding a DB plan and are looking for ways to shed this risk. This session will focus specifically on pension risk transfer options by providing attendees with an overview of the current landscape, new and innovative risk transfer strategies and trends, and expectations for the future. Attendees will also hear firsthand accounts of insurer experiences in the small and large marketplaces.

The U.S. is struggling with increased life expectancies and low old-age support ratios caused by decreasing fertility rates. This puts pressure on the government to fund significant social insurance programs such as Social Security and Medicare. It also has put pressure on privately funded pensions causing outsourcing of pension plans and even company bankruptcies. As bad as this sounds, European and Asian countries may even be in more dire situations. But not all is bad. There are practical mitigating solutions that can be initiated if politicians and industries work together. Learn about the global pension gap epidemic and possible vaccines.

Learn how older Boomers are transforming their next stage of life in an informative, entertaining, and insightful keynote from the nation’s leading authority on marketing to Boomers, Matt Thornhill. He will share what drives their behavior today, how to better connect with them, and what messages resonate with them at this new life stage.

Exchange questions, ideas, and solutions with women leaders of financial services companies. (Invitation Only.)

Today’s retiree needs to fund a longer lifespan within a challenging low return environment. Drawing on recent academic research, Dr. Finke will discuss the implications of high asset prices and increasing longevity on retiree spending risk. Strategies discussed will include product allocation strategies compared with traditional investment portfolios.

Attend this session to hear perspectives on business, product, and analytical leadership for individual retirement savings and income products, including insights into recent changes in policyholder behavior across the industry, benchmarking versus peers, and outlook for the future. Also learn about the speakers’ experience in improving communication processes between actuaries and other business leaders, particularly with the increasing utilization of predictive modeling techniques.

In a world of evolving regulation, taxation, and products, hear how these changes have impacted annuity product design and led to some interesting trends in product development in Canada and the United States. Differences between the countries will be discussed, including rate adjustable products, contract structure, taxation and distribution strategies — and how they impact new product design.

McIsaac will provide an overview of the latest trends in technology including how and why carriers should rely more on technology to both serve existing clients and attract new clients while concurrently reducing costs. This session will also feature insight on carriers’ initiatives on the modernization and management of administration systems, agent and broker portal functionality, and other 21st century technology solutions carriers should be leveraging. Attendees in this session will learn about the technology trends their company should adopt to avoid getting left behind.

What is financial wellness? How do you make the decision to include financial wellness into your offerings? Where do you start and how can it accurately be measured? For some companies financial wellness has been part of the fabric of their organization, but many are just starting to think about incorporating such offerings. This session will look at the different elements of a truly successful financial wellness initiative and the tools that can make it happen. Our panel of experts will discuss what brought them to the point of implementing such a program, its challenges and successes, as well as thought leadership from an esteemed author on this topic.

The outcome of the DOL Fiduciary Rules remains unclear. During this panel, representatives from Groom Law Group will provide an update on the future of the rule, how it might change, and continued questions on how new regulatory oversight will affect compensation paid to brokers and financial advisers.

For many Americans, the amount of debt they are carrying has significantly increased. This stems from a number of sources including loans for higher education and real estate. Clearly, workers nearing retirement with significant debt can be impacted by this financial burden. Recently, the SOA sponsored a research paper examining the impact of increasing personal debt on retirement security for individuals throughout their working lives. The paper includes a special focus on the impact of student loan debt which has seen unprecedented increases in recent years. This session will present the results of this paper and related studies.

As the retirement system has continued to shift from a paternalistic environment to a participant-focused environment, individuals are increasingly being asked to understand and manage multiple risks in retirement. One of the most challenging risks for a participant to manage on an individual basis is longevity risk. Simply planning for average life expectancy is planning to fail when it comes to longevity. This session will discuss key aspects of understanding longevity risk and provide ideas and tools for helping participants.