From life-insurance loan arbitrage in the 1980s to today’s private-asset boom, Principal CRO Ken McCullum distills decades of asset-liability management lessons into a roadmap for actuaries.
Asset-liability management (ALM) is a foundational topic for actuaries working to align long-term promises with financial realities. To underscore its relevance, we invited Ken McCullum, Executive Vice President and Chief Risk Officer at Principal Financial Group, to share his perspective. With deep experience in risk and actuarial leadership, Ken provides a clear view of how ALM supports financial stability and long-term value.
This is the second article from Ken on the topic. Actuaries interested in learning more about ALM can explore the SOA’s CP-351 ALM course.
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Over the course of my career, I’ve seen firsthand how asset liability management (ALM) can be pushed to its limits—sometimes by forces we expected, and sometimes by those we never saw coming. History offers no shortage of examples where the assumptions behind ALM strategies were tested and often rewritten.
Demonstrating the Importance of ALM
The following cases serve as reminders that sound ALM is never static. This practice must constantly evolve to keep pace with changing markets, shifting behaviors, and emerging risks.
1. Life insurance policy loan provisions
In the late 1970s and early 1980s the U.S. experienced a dramatic spike in interest rates. Whole life policies typically contained a policy loan provision that allowed policyholders to borrow against their cash values at a fixed rate of interest.
Financial media picked up on the arbitrage opportunity and helped fuel a sudden spike in policy loan activity. Insurers’ general accounts felt stress, as they had to liquidate low yielding bonds at considerable market value loss.
In response, life insurance contracts have subsequently been written with variable loan interest rates to better adapt to changing market conditions.
2. Junk bond and real estate illiquidity
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, several life insurers experienced liquidity crunches as their investments in the booming market of below investment grade bonds and commercial real estate became highly illiquid. Large and well-respected insurance companies such as Executive Life, Mutual Benefit, and Confederation Life all went into receivership.
3. Mortgage prepayment features
As interest rates fell in the mid-1990s, the mortgage refinancing market boomed. Insurers’ asset portfolios thus received principal repayments much sooner than their liability obligations were due, leading to spread compression and even losses.
4. Guaranteed minimum interest rates
In the 2000s, many life and annuity contracts contained minimum credited interest rates of 3%, 4%, or 5%, while portfolio yields declined. Future contracts have since included lower and dynamic minimum rates.
5. Periodic premium products and investment uncertainty
Contracts relying on recurring premiums over decades faced profitability challenges due to the long-term decline in interest rates, particularly for products like ULSG and LTC.
6. Dynamic policyholder behavior and basis risk
Hedging efforts are challenged by unpredictable policyholder actions and mismatches between hedging instruments and actual liabilities, often leaving residual exposures.
Looking Ahead: Emerging ALM Stressors
While hindsight makes past challenges appear obvious, foresight is much more difficult. It demands critical thinking and a willingness to question assumptions. Future stresses may feel unprecedented, influenced by factors such as:
- Government debt levels and trajectories: Government balance sheets are burdened with growing debt and off-balance sheet risks.
- Policy instability and partisanship: Increasing political polarization creates long-term policy uncertainty.
- Growth of private assets: The boom in private equity and credit adds illiquidity to insurance portfolios.
- Evolving competitor landscape: Mutuals, public companies, and private firms are diverging in practices.
- Financial engineering and offshoring: Complex offshore transactions are expanding, often driven by new, less experienced market players.
A Final Analogy and Call to Action
In summary, insurance companies provide important benefits to consumers by offering risk protection and investment guarantees. But those benefits carry complex ALM obligations. It is not enough to comply with regulation or rely on legacy models. ALM must be built for the future—with imagination and evolving analysis.
To close: If you are looking for a fast car, what’s the most important feature? Most will say the engine. But good risk managers focus on the brakes—what gives you the confidence to drive fast. ALM is the brakes of the insurance vehicle. It is fundamental, critically important, and must be done right. I am confident in our continued success in this endeavor.