Non-Life Reserving: Basics

Introduction & Programme

Non-life reserving remains a core actuarial activity, combining established triangle-based methods with increasing expectations around uncertainty assessment, inflation, granular modelling and risk management. While classical techniques such as Chain-Ladder and Bornhuetter-Ferguson remain central to market practice, actuaries increasingly need to understand when these methods require adjustment and how more advanced approaches can complement them.

This web session provides a structured journey from reserving fundamentals to advanced applications. It combines methodological concepts with practical examples and covers classical reserving techniques as well as different valuation frameworks, stochastic reserving, advanced adjustments for changes in claims development, inflation modelling, individual claims reserving and the risk-management view of reserves, including the treatment of reserve risk under Solvency II (claims development result simulations and the reserve-risk Standard Formula and USP methodologies).

This session is Part 1 of the full series 'Non-Life Reserving: From Basics to Advanced Methods', scheduled for 5/6 April 2027 (Basics) & 31 May – 1 June 2027 (Advanced Methods) and may also be attended as an independent part of the series. The training fee for the full series already includes a 10% discount. You can book the full series here.

Preliminary Programme

All the above times are given in CEST (Central European Summer Time).

Learning Objectives & Approach

After the web session, participants should be able to:

• Select and apply the main classical non-life reserving methods, assess their assumptions and limitations using appropriate diagnostics;
  
• Understand how changes in settlement patterns, case-reserving practices and inflation can be addressed through advanced reserving techniques;
  
• Understand the difference of reserve uncertainty between ultimate and one-year views;
  
• Understand the main reserve valuation principles between different frameworks (GAAP, Solvency II).

The sessions alternate between methodological explanations, actuarial judgement and practical examples. Examples are presented in both Excel and R where relevant, with emphasis on interpretation and applicability to real reserving situations.

Participants

The global training course (you can book the full series here) is designed for actuaries and other insurance professionals who wish to develop and refresh their knowledge of non-life reserving, as well as for seasoned professionals who wish to reinforce their knowledge with more advanced methods.
This Reserving Basics block is mainly addressed to participants seeking a structured refresher or wishing to gain knowledge. A basic knowledge of the R programming language is recommended in order to make the most of the practical examples.

Technical Requirements
Please check with your IT department if your firewall and computer settings support web session participation (the programme Zoom will be used for this online training). Please also make sure to join the web session with a stable internet connection.

Lecturers

Xavier Maréchal
Xavier is founder and CEO of Reacfin. Xavier is one of the co-authors of “Actuarial Modeling of Claim Counts: Risk Classification, Credibility and Bonus-Malus Systems” (Wiley, 2007). Xavier has obtained different academic degrees as MSc. Civil Engineer (Applied Mathematics), MSc. Actuarial Science and MSc. Management. Xavier has extensive experience in the actuarial field obtained during his 15 years as a principal consultant for many national and multinational insurance companies. He has gained complementary experience in various fields going from Non-Life ratemaking and provisioning to health modeling and ALM. After several years of intensive modeling activities in Health, Non-Life and ALM, Xavier now works mainly as reviewer, mentor for consultants, and trainer. He performed several validation assignments and holds the actuarial function for a health insurance company. Xavier is a qualified actuary of the Institute of Actuaries in Belgium (IA|BE) and is involved in the Data Science and AI workgroup of the IA|BE.

Geoffrey Feraut
Geoffrey Feraut is a director at Reacfin and is the current Head of the Non-Life Center of Excellence. He joined Reacfin in March 2020 after four years with the Cigna Europe Risk Management Team. During his time with Cigna, Geoffrey built up considerable experience in Solvency II Pillar 1 and developed his technical skills in R. As a Reacfin consultant, he had the opportunity to value his Solvency II experience through a general support mission (Best Estimate and SCR calculation on a quarterly basis) as well as support for the IMAP of an internal Non-Life reinsurance entity. Geoffrey is also involved in projects related to IFRS17. Geoffrey holds a Bachelor’s Degree and a Master’s Degrees in Physics as well as a Master’s Degree in Actuarial Sciences from the University of Louvain (UCLouvain). Geoffrey is a qualified actuary of the Institute of Actuaries in Belgium (IA|BE).

Maxime Doumont
Maxime joined Reacfin in October 2024 as part of the Non-Life Center of Excellence. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree and a Master’s Degrees in Engineering (with a specialization in Mathematics)  as well as a Master’s Degree in Actuarial Sciences from the Catholic University of Louvain (UCLouvain, Louvain-la-Neuve). He is also a Junior Member of the Institute of Actuaries of Belgium (IA|BE). Before starting as a full-time employee, Maxime performed a 1-year traineeship at Reacfin, working on pricing under ethical constraints (interpretability, non-discrimination and fairness). During his work experience, he developed valuable knowledge in Reserving (implementation of intra-year methodologies, stochastic reserving using GLM with an inflation component) and Pricing (implementation of a churn and customer lifetime value model).

Language & CPD Credits

The language of the web session will be English.

CPD Credits
For this web session, the following CPD credits are available under the CPD scheme of the relevant national actuarial association:

• Austria: 6.5 points
  
• Belgium:  6 points
  
• Bulgaria:  8 points
  
• Croatia: individual accreditation
  
• Czechia:  6.5 hours
  
• Denmark: 7 credits
  
• Estonia:  6.5 hours
  
• Finland: 5.25 points
  
• France:  39 points
  
• Germany:  7 hours
• Greece: 9 points
  
• Hungary:  7 hours
  
• Iceland: 6.5 credits
  
• Ireland: 6.5 hours
  
• Italy: individual accreditation
  
• Latvia: 7 hours
  
• Lithuania: 6.5 hours
  
• Netherlands:  approx. 6.5 points (individual accreditation)
  
• Norway: 7 points
  
• Poland: 6.5 hours
  
• Portugal: 6.5 hours
  
• Serbia: 5 hours
  
• Slovakia:  individual accreditation
  
• Slovenia:  individual accreditation
  
• Spain: CAC: 7 hours, IAE: 6 hours
  
• Switzerland:  individual accreditation
  
• USA: SOA (Section B): up to 7.8 hours

No responsibility is taken for the accuracy of this information.

Fees & Registration Details

Early Bird Registration Fee (until 22 February 2027):

• For private customers in the EU: €520.00 + VAT of the billing country (example Germany: €618.80 incl. 19% VAT)
• For private customers outside the EU: €618.80 (incl. 19% VAT)
• For businesses within the EU (excl. Germany, with valid VAT ID): €520.00 (net, reverse charge applies)
• For businesses in Germany: €618.80 (incl. 19% VAT)

Regular Registration Fee (from 23 February 2027):

• For private customers in the EU: €682.50 + VAT of the billing country (example Germany: €812.18 incl. 19% VAT)
• For private customers outside the EU: €812.18 (incl. 19% VAT)
• For businesses within the EU (excl. Germany, with valid VAT ID): €682.50 (net, reverse charge applies)
• For businesses in Germany: €812.18 (incl. 19% VAT)

Important VAT Information:

• For private customers with a billing address in an EU country: VAT will be charged at the applicable rate in the country of the billing address. The final amount, including VAT, will be calculated upon invoicing.
• For customers with a non-EU (third country) billing address: Only a non-company billing address is accepted for VAT compliance reasons. 19% VAT applies to all non-EU private customers.
• For businesses within the EU (excluding Germany), Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland, and the UK with a valid VAT ID: The reverse charge mechanism applies (net price; VAT will not be charged). Please ensure your valid VAT ID is entered correctly during registration.
• For all customers with a billing address in Germany: 19% VAT applies.

Please submit your registration using our online form below. Closer to the event, you will receive further login details to join the web session.

Your registration is binding. Cancellation is only possible up to 2 weeks before the first day of the event. If you cancel later, the full participation fee is due. You may appoint someone to take your place but must notify us in advance. EAA has the right to cancel the event if the minimum number of participants is not reached.

We will send you an invoice via email. Please allow a few days for handling. Please always give your invoice number when you effect payment. All bank charges are to be borne by the participant.

Registration is open until two working days before the web session. If registration has already been closed for this web session, please call us or send an email to contact@actuarial-academy.com in order to find out whether a late registration is still possible.