Work of GIROC, the General Insurance Reserving Research Group

Working Parties

GIROC is currently supported by the following key working parties. The remit of these working parties is to contribute to the overall output of the group.

• Better sensing and responding to change
• IFRS 17
• Measuring uncertainty qualitatively (MUQ)
• Pragmatic stochastic reserving
• The good actuarial report
• Toward the optimal reserving process (TORP).

If you have an idea for a working party to tackle an emerging issue in general insurance reserving, please get in touch with GIROC via the contact details at the bottom of page. GIROC also runs workshops and other smaller targeted interactions, so if the idea is current but not large, please do still contact the group.  

 Former working parties that have had a large contribution to the committee and its overall success include:

• Investigating the herd mentality amongst actuaries (disbanded 2017)
• Reserving functions survey (disbanded: April 2015)
• Solvency II technical provisions (disbanded: November 2013)

Other non-active working parties include those below. If you would like to develop any incubating working partlies let us know so we can get them started. Click the links to find out more about the initial ideas. You should be expecting to volunteer to chair the working party or take an actie leading role (please note tha the usual volunteer vacancy process would apply to any permanent volunteer appointments).

• Clarke Cape Cod (incubated ready for volunteers: June 2018)
• Peril based reserving (disbanded 2018)

Work of GIROC

The General Insurance Reserving Research Group is highly active, producing a large number of outputs annually. Along with the former General insurance Reserving Issues Taskforce (GRIT), GIROC has produced a number of papers and presentations, with selected outputs listed below:  

2018

• GIROC: Reserved For You, GIRO 2018, Workshop E
• Reserve Uncertainty Framework: Linking Risk to Reserving, GIRO 2018 , Workshop A
• IFRS 17: Are Reserving Processes and Systems Heading for the Rocks?, GIRO 2018, Workshop B
• A Holistic Process for Producing Good Actuarial Reports, GIRO 2018, Workshop D
• 3D Diagonostics Towards Better Reserving, GIRO 2018, Workshop F
• A Period of 'Inflated Actuarial Confidence'? - First GIROC workshop on inflation, GI Reserving Seminar 2018
• IFRS 17 General Overview, GI Reserving Seminar 2018
• IFRS 17 Model Choice/ PAA Eligibility, GI Reserving Seminar 2018
• A Reserve Uncertainty Framework, Update on the website by the Measuring Uncertainty Qualitatively (MUQ) working party
• IFRS 17 Risk Adjustment, CIGI 2018
• A Reserve Uncertainty Framework - Finalising the framework and starting new work on reserve-risk assessments, MUQ working party, LMAG 2018
• Clark Cape Cod summary for potential working party - a stochastic claims reserving model based on the Cape Cod method by GIROC 2018

2017

• Reserving in the pressure cooker, Towards the Optimal Reserving Process (TORP) working party
• IFRS 17 for General Insurers, GIRO 2017
• What will IFRS 17 mean in practice?, GI Reserving Seminar 2017
• General Insurance: The wide-ranging implications of IFRS 17 - Article by the IFRS 17 working party, The Actuary
• Signal vs Noise, from the Better Sensing and Responding to Change working party

2016

• Messaging and Framing Uncertainty - Findings from the MUQ Working Party, GIRO 2016
• TORP: SII TPs – Sharing the Pain, GIRO 2016
• The Good Actuarial Report, GIRO 2016
• Better Sensing and Responding to change, GIRO 2016
• Peril Based Reserving ,GIRO 2016
• Towards the Optimal Reserving Process – Survey, April 2016, GIRO 2016
• IFRS 4 Phase II – will you be ready for 2021?, GIRO 2016
• Reserving in a soft market - Response to risk alert from GIROC
• A practitioner's introduction to Stochastic Reserving - paper by the Pragmatic Stochastic Reserving working paty

2015

• Toward the Optimal Reserving Process Working Party
  • Sessional Paper: The fast close process
• Investigating the Herd Mentality Working Party
  • CIGI presentation
• Managing Uncertainty Qualitatively Working Party
  • CIGI Presentation
  • A Tried and Tested Framework for Reserve Uncertainty
  • Measuring Uncertainty Beyond Bootstrap

2014

• Reserving Functions Survey Working Party
  • Paper: GIROC UK Reserving Survey 2014
  • Reserving Seminar: Reserving practice market survey results
• Toward the Optimal Reserving Process Working Party
  • CIGI presentation: Update from the working party
  • Reserving Seminar presentation: Update from the working party
  • GIRO presentation: Update from the working party: How to fit a quart into a pint pot
• Pragmatic Stochastic Reserving Working Party
  • CIGI presentation: Outline and progress to date
  • Reserving seminar presentation
• Solvency II Technical Provisions Working Party
  • Reserving Seminar: IFRS II/Solvency II technical provisions - What does the future state reserving look like?
• The Good Actuarial Report
  • GIRO presentation: Update from the Working Party: Interim Report

2013

• Solvency II Technical Provisions Working Party
  • GIRO presentation
  • Paper: Solvency II Technical Provisions for General Insurers
  • Solvency II Seminar: Responsibilities of the Actuarial Function
• Toward the Optimal Reserving Process Working Party
  • GIRO presentation: A vs E: A curse or a blessing?
  • GIRO paper: Actual vs Expected Techniques
• The Good Actuarial Report
  • GIRO presentation: The Grizzled Actuary
• Peril Based Reserving Working Party
  • GIRO paper: AF Workshop slides consolidated

2012

• Toward the Optimal Reserving Process WP
  • GIRO plenary presentation: A practical guide to building your own teepee
  • GIRO workshop presentation: Best practice in the new world
• Solvency II Technical Provisions
  • Sessional roundtable discussion: What Actuaries will be doing differently
  • Sound File; Sessional roundtable discussion: What Actuaries will be doing differently
  • CIGI: What actuaries are doing differently
  • Reserving Seminar: The current challenges for the reserving actuary and how to address them
  • GIRO: Things we should be thinking about
• Reserving Research Workstream
  • GIRO Presentation

2011

• Solvency II Technical Provisions WP
  • Reserving Seminar: Practical examples
  • GIRO: 2011 Survey

2010

• Solvency II Technical Provisions WP
  • GIRO Presentation: Dealing with the risk margin
  • Momentum Conference: What you need to be doing now

2009

• GIRO 2009: Reserving debate General insurance actuaries at the crossroads
• Effectiveness of reserving methods working party
  • GIRO presentation

2008

• Effectiveness of reserving methods working party
  • Presentation of initial findings GIRO 2008 [pdf]
  • Workshop presentation GIRO 2008
• Underwriting and reserving cycles working party
  •  Working party paper GIRO 2008 [pdf]
• Best estimates and reserving uncertainty working party
  •  Working party update GIRO 2008 [pdf]
• General insurance reserving: actuarial best estimates and proxy methods Jan 2008 [pdf]
• Commentary from GIROC: General insurance reserving: Actuarial best estimates and proxy methods [pdf]

2007

• Reserving: Making allowances for changes in terms and conditions and other coverage issues Working party paper GIRO 2007 [pdf]
• Quantification and reporting of uncertainty for GI reserving [pdf] Aug 2007
• Effectiveness of reserving methods working party Interim report GIRO 2007
• Underwriting and reserving cycles Interim report (handout/slides) GIRO 2007 [pdf]
• Best estimates and reserving uncertainty Working party paper GIRO 2007 [pdf]

2006

• A change agenda for reserving [pdf] (Executive Summary)
• Presented to the Institute of Actuaries on 27 March 2006
• A paper produced by the reserving oversight committee of the Actuarial Profession, the GRIT report (A change agenda for reserving, presented to the Institute of Actuaries on 27 March 2006) recommended that 'an actuary should be required to show a numerical estimate of uncertainty in any formal report wherever a point of estimate of reserves is supplied' (para 1.5.2). The purpose of this paper is to set out the views of the members of ROC on how this recommendation should be implemented in practice.