Event recordings

Our second season of The Risk of Living Longer Series continued with the theme of prevention with a session focused on modellng gero-therapeutic interventions. We were joined by guest speakers from Crystallise Ltd who introduced their framework for understanding the impact of advances in gero-science. We addressed these key questions: what is gero-science and what are gero-therapeutics; how could we go about modelling the impact of gero-therapeutics; what is Crystallise’s framework for modelling the impact of advances in gero-science; how can practitioners use the outputs of this framework in practice.

In April 2024 we saw the first new release on mortality improvements from the Canadian Institute of Actuaries in seven years. Join Club Vita and a panel of industry experts as we roll up our sleeves and discuss the pros and cons of this release. The release from the CIA consisted of a report to the CIA’s Project Oversight Group on Mortality Improvements Research and an accompanying improvement scale named CanMI-2024. The CIA’s stated desire of harmonizing MI assumptions across pension and insurance disciplines means that the scale may soon form part of the basis for accepted actuarial practice. But how does this scale stack up? What do industry experts think of it? How does it compare to scales used in other countries? This webinar presented three distinct perspectives from industry experts: Kai Kaufhold (author of the new scale), Matthew Smith (reinsurance expert), and Shantel Aris (longevity modeling expert). Our panelists provided insights on key observations, important considerations for pension practitioners, and suggested possible model refinements.

After stellar engagement with our first series in Spring 2024, we are back by popular demand! It is our pleasure to announce the second season of our Risk of Living Longer webinars. Replay "Longevity science – advancing from cure to prevention" where we addressed these key questions: What is longevity science? Is prevention really better than a cure? What is preventative medicine (and why are we calling it medicine 3.0)? Should healthcare systems be spending more on prevention rather than cure? And how can this be encouraged? How can we encourage wider buy-in in society?

Our "Risk of Living Longer" webinar series focuses on the impact of achieving significantly longer lifespans. How well is the risk of living longer really understood? Research has shown that people have a tendency to underestimate life expectancy, and actuaries have traditionally based future projections on historical trends. Replay our last session of the series: Using Big Data and AI to Improve and Advance Longevity, to gain insights on the range of longevity-related AI use-cases: preventative medicine, accelerating drug discovery, establishing new genetic connections, and improving operational efficiency in health delivery. We also explored how the pace of change in longevity will be affected by AI developments, and which age groups are most likely to be affected.

Our "Risk of Living Longer" webinar series focuses on the impact of achieving significantly longer lifespans. How well is the risk of living longer really understood? Research has shown that people have a tendency to underestimate life expectancy, and actuaries have traditionally based future projections on historical trends. Watch session four of the series: Biological Clocks, to gain insights on how we can accelerate the feedback loop of medical interventions. We explored biomarkers: what they are, how accurate they are, and how they will develop. We also discussed implications from a life and health insurance perspective.

Our "Risk of Living Longer" webinar series focuses on the impact of achieving significantly longer lifespans. How well is the risk of living longer really understood? Research has shown that people have a tendency to underestimate life expectancy, and actuaries have traditionally based future projections on historical trends. Watch the replay of session three of the series: Cancer Research, to gain insights on the most exciting areas of cancer research, how close these areas could be to breakthrough, and how might such breakthroughs impact life insurance books.

Our "Risk of Living Longer" webinar series focuses on the impact of achieving significantly longer lifespans. How well is the risk of living longer really understood? Research has shown that people have a tendency to underestimate life expectancy, and actuaries have traditionally based future projections on historical trends. Watch session two of the series: The biology of aging, to gain insights on how we should think in terms of the aging process, if we could ever cure aging, and what we could achieve along the way.

Our "Risk of Living Longer" webinar series focused on the impact of achieving significantly longer lifespans. How well is the risk of living longer really understood? Research has shown that people have a tendency to underestimate life expectancy, and actuaries have traditionally based future projections on historical trends. Watch session one of the series: An introduction to the question, gain insights on key areas of research to monitor for potential breakthroughs in longevity, what should we follow to understand the risk of living longer, and how could these considerations filter through into actuarial modeling and risk management.

Replay "What happened in 2022? The Canadian excess mortality conundrum, what caused it and will it continue?" where we explored 2022 Canadian excess death levels which almost doubled compared to 2021 levels, surpassing US excess deaths for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic. What is causing these excess deaths? Are they all still due to COVID? Are there other significant drivers contributing to recent excess mortality? More importantly to those trying to understand future longevity: Will the pattern continue? And Is 2022 mortality data representative of the future?

Replay "Bill C-228 - Canada’s pension super-priority bill: Implications and potential risk management strategies for DB plan sponsors" where we explored Bill C-228, the controversial super-priority pension bill which received Royal Assent on April 27th, 2023, and is scheduled to take effect in 4 years time. The bill, which applies to pension plans across Canada regardless of jurisdiction, gives priority to pension plan deficits ahead of secured creditors during bankruptcy and insolvency proceedings and is likely to have an impact on commercial lending and corporate debt issuance.

Replay "Looking to the horizon: how should we set long term longevity improvement rates?" where we explored the theory and practice of setting long term longevity improvements. We first gave an overview of methods available for actuaries in setting long term rates and then heard from our expert panel about considerations and methods that have been implemented in practice in Canada, the UK and the US.

Replay "Balancing privacy and best price in the age of US pension risk transfer" where our expert panel explored how useful it is for pension plans to share certain data fields, such as ZIP+4, with service providers. We discussed how reducing uncertainty by providing extra data fields could improve prices during a pension risk transfer. We examined techniques for anonymizing personal data while retaining the potential for predictive analytics. Our panel also shared their latest thinking on the newly released American Data Privacy Protection Act and gave insight into how other countries have dealt with similar challenges.

Replay "Do you care enough? Behavioral drivers of longevity and retirement outcomes" where we explored some key behavioral drivers of longevity; presented the results of a new Club Vita survey; discussed behavioral nudges that could help to improve health and retirement outcomes; and learned how businesses can help improve health equality and resilience. Club Vita’s Longevity, Lifestyle and Retirement Perception Survey 2022 is available for download together with this event recording.

Replay the third in our series of educational webinars; Longevity 103 where we discussed the management of longevity risk.

Replay our uplifting webinar where we discussed reasons to be cheerful: exploring potential big-ticket drivers of future longevity improvements.

This is a recording of our webinar where we will focus on how mortality rates are expected to change in the future. These changes are commonly known as improvements, as we usually expect life expectancy to increase over time. To allow for the possibility that life expectancy may not always increase, we also refer to these changes as trends.

This is a recording of our webinar, during which we took stock of the current situation of the ongoing pandemic, and looked at vaccine roll out and emerging strains. We explored how scenario modelling, a cornerstone of risk management, can be used to explore the longevity risk arising as a result of the pandemic, and presented scenario analysis completed by Club Vita, that is also available in the whitepaper accompanying this webinar.

This recorded webinar was the first in a series of Club Vita educational webinars on actuarial techniques for calculating longevity/mortality rates. In Longevity 101, we focused on the building blocks of longevity assumptions: current, or “baseline” longevity.

In new research we analyzed Club Vita’s UK and Canadian data sets in search of evidence of a distinct public/private sector effect on longevity.

Whilst the grim advance of the COVID-19 pandemic has continued since our webinar on April 15th, the likely changes to our future world have also started to come into focus.

The COVID-19 pandemic is one of the most serious health emergencies of modern times. In the replay of our second special webinar, our distinguished panel of experts will speak about the topics at hand and answer your questions.

The COVID-19 pandemic is one of the most serious health emergencies of modern times. In this webinar replay, our distinguished panel of experts will speak about the topics at hand and answer your questions. A detailed Q&A from the session is also posted with the recording.

With equities hitting new highs, more and more Canadian pension plan sponsors are considering taking the opportunity to shrink or de-risk their pension obligations. But the business case depends on more than just the financial side.

In this webinar replay, we discuss communication and its effect on how people respond to issues of longevity, mortality, long-term planning and risk.

In this webinar replay, we'll discuss the basics about dementia, take a look at the outlook of current research and explore effects of future longevity.

In this webinar replay, Club Vita’s architect-in-chief, Steven Baxter will introduce the latest thinking on enabling index-based transfers of longevity and mortality risks.

What does the research tell us about differences in life expectancy that are attributable to things hard-coded into our DNA, rather than in our personal lifestyle choices? And with the first gene therapies becoming available, what is the outlook for the extension of human life? Actuary-turned-geneticist, Peter Joshi, nurse-turned-medical-researcher, Nicola Oliver and Douglas Anderson, Founder of Club Vita discuss the big issues.