ManuLife (1986-87), Citibank Life (1987-90) and Black Horse Life (1990-98) were all primarily unit linked insurers, so I had a lot of exposure to unit linked business in my early years. This included profit testing new products, calculating non-unit reserves and replicating the unit accounts for individual policies on spreadsheets.
While with Black Horse Life (1990-98) I managed the unit pricing team for about three years. During this period, I developed a deep understanding of unit pricing. I documented all the assumptions within the unit pricing and the processes for reviewing these assumptions. This resulted in a more formal process for determining whether funds should be priced on bid or offer bases or something in between. I reviewed the pricing process, identifying and eliminating a large operational risk within the maintenance of the unit register. With my support, the team leader built a new, more user-friendly friendly suite of programs to replace the existing unit pricing system.
Still with Black Horse Life (1990-98) I project managed the introduction of policy reviews for unit linked PHI and unit linked mortgage endowments. On the actuarial side of the project, I recommended suitable assumptions for the rate of increase of unit prices and suitable cash switching schedules for mortgage endowments approaching maturity.
While with the FSA (2010-2013) I participated in the thematic review of unit pricing practices. I was a member of the teams that visited three firms as part of this exercise and identified serious deficiencies within the unit pricing processes of two of them.