FCAS, MAAA, CSPA Director and Consulting Actuary
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California Homeowners Insurance – Availability and Affordability as Wildfires Burn Jan 7, 2021
Pandemic and Apocalyptic Skies – 2020 in the Bay Area Oct 13, 2020
Autonomous Vehicles and the Future of Auto Insurance Mar 27, 2018
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Laura Maxwell is a director and consulting actuary with Pinnacle Actuarial Resources in the firm’s San Francisco, California, office. She holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Moravian University. She has worked in the property/casualty insurance industry since 1987 and has provided consulting services since 2003.
Laura currently serves the Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS) as a member of the Casualty Loss Reserve Seminar Planning Committee, E-Forum Committee and syllabus vice chair of the Syllabus and Examination Committee. She is a member of the American Academy of Actuaries (AAA) Cyber Risk Task Force.
Prior to consulting, she was a product manager for a direct auto insurer and held actuarial positions with a state insurance department and a national rating bureau. Her background includes personal and commercial lines pricing and reserving.
December APEX Webinar ASOPs: Practice Makes Perfect Authored by Laura A. Maxwell.
Pinnacle Promotes Laura Maxwell and Jordan Paszek Authored by Laura A. Maxwell and Jordan R. Paszek.
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Capital Allocation
A reinsurer wanted to compare technical treaty prices using varying capital allocation methodologies. A Pinnacle actuary assisted in the design of a model that used standard allocation methodologies, capital allocation based on marginal impacts to rating agency required capital, and recent ideas in capital consumption / utility theory. The result was a pricing model that highlighted the sensitivity of expected ROEs to the chosen capital allocation method and allowed underwriters to make more informed decisions.
Product Management
One of our long-standing regional carriers had entered into a new market and asked for Pinnacle’s assistance in bringing their product and processes up-to-date. With Pinnacle’s product, pricing and product management expertise, we were able to provide a wide range of services to our client. Not only did we develop a new rating plan, we also drafted a completely new rate manual and rate pages. Pinnacle also reviewed their Underwriting guidelines and worked with the client to draft new guidelines consistent with the new rating plan and client risk appetite. Pinnacle followed the review through to reviewing system specifications, forms and competitive position and preparing the rate filings. In addition, Pinnacle was able to provide suggestions on customer notifications, agent notifications and ways to track the progress of the new program.
Rate Filing Review
Pinnacle typically provides state regulators expert review of company and bureau rate change filings. In a recent review of a Company’s automobile rate filing Pinnacle was able to confirm that the filed rates met the State’s rating laws and Department’s filing requirements. Using a procedure developed by Pinnacle specifically to review rate filings, the Company filing was reviewed against generally accepted actuarial principles. The Company was questioned on certain rating procedures and was able to support their procedures and selections with additional documentation to the filing. Pinnacle was then able to affirm to the Regulator that the filed rates were not excessive, inadequate, nor unfairly discriminatory and that the new rates would not produce any major policyholder dislocations. The Regulator was then able to acknowledge the Company’s filing with confidence that the Regulator had carried out his charge of providing service and protection both to consumers and to the insurance industry.
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July 17, 2022 Farm Bureau Actuarial Conference
July 21, 2022 July APEX Webinar - Causes of Recent Adverse Development