4.4 Legal risk - Scor

11 RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, PATENTS AND
LICENSES
11.1 Research and development activities
Biometric risks such as mortality, longevity, disability and long term care are at the heart of underwriting in life reinsurance.
Since these risks are subject to shocks and various trends, SCOR Global Life closely monitors their current developments in
four Research & Development Centers which are:
• R&D Center for Longevity and Mortality Insurance: carrying out mortality studies on life and annuity portfolios and
providing support in pricing assumptions for new business, in particular new products.
• R&D Center for Long-Term Care Insurance: providing support in the development of LTC products (definitions,
pricing, guidelines) and the monitoring of LTC portfolios.
• R&D Center for Disability and Critical Illness: dedicated to the analysis of disability and critical illness risks; two
complex risks due to multiple definitions, cover types and socio-economic environments.
• R&D Center for Medical Underwriting and Claims Management: evaluating the consequences for insurance of the
new medical advances for both known pathologies and most recently discovered ones; advising clients in the
pricing of substandard risks.
The R&D Centers are part of SCOR Global Life’s range of services: analyses and risk projections produced by the Centers
are used by SCOR Global Life’s teams to advise their clients on the design and the monitoring of their life and health
insurance products.
The Centers provide input at the product development stage, giving advice on the definition, the underwriting standards, as
well as on pricing and reserving. They contribute to risk monitoring by carrying out experience studies on portfolio data and
by undertaking prospective risk modeling.
The R&D Centers report to the Chief Pricing Actuary of SCOR Global Life, its employees are based in Paris, Cologne and
Singapore and they are active world-wide on request of the local teams in charge of business development and client
relationships.
Theoretical research helps the Group to understand its environment better and to take decisions. SCOR supports research,
for example through the following organisations:
• The Geneva association, composed of insurers and reinsurers, which aims at supporting research related to risks
in insurance and reinsurance environment;
• The university Paris Dauphine via its Master 218 of and the Ecole nationale d'assurances (ENASS) with its MBA;
• Superior Institute of Reinsurance.
SCOR is also a member of conventions with the following partners:
• Risk Foundation, in collaboration with the universities of Toulouse and Paris Dauphine, is dedicated to risks market
and value creation. For SCOR, it implies costs of EUR 1.5 million allocated over 5 years.
• Finance convention, in cooperation with Jean-Jacques Laffont foundation based in Toulouse, deals with risk
management, long term investment, company governance and asset management strategy. For SCOR, the cost is
EUR 1.5 million allocated over 5 years.
• The Insurance Risks and Finance Research Centre in cooperation with Nanyang Business School (Singapore),
whose aim is to promote research in the field of risk management. For SCOR, the cost is SGD 2.5 million allocated
over 5 years.
In a more general sense, SCOR places great importance on scientific research, particularly in the field of risk, as illustrated
by its Corporate Foundation SCOR for Science, created at the end of 2012.
SCOR organizes Actuarial Awards in many countries: Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Portugal, Switzerland, and the
United Kingdom. The Group places great importance on the development of actuarial science in Europe and each year
rewards the best academic papers in the field of actuarial science with prizes. These prizes are designed to promote
actuarial science, to develop and encourage research in this field and to contribute to the improvement of risk knowledge
and management. The SCOR Actuarial Awards are recognized as a measure of competence in the insurance and
reinsurance industries. The winning papers are selected on the basis of criteria including an excellent command of actuarial
concepts, the use of high-quality analysis instruments, and subjects that could have a practical application in the world of
risk management.
In 2010, as part of the Group’s strategic plan for Strong Momentum, SCOR created the SCOR Global Risk Center which is
committed to the knowledge and science of risks in both the actuarial and other fields. The SCOR Global Risk Center is
devoted to life insurance risks, non-life insurance risks and economic and financial environment risks and brings together
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