The Financial Crisis:
Updates and Perspectives for Our Clients

The Financial Crisis and the Captive Industry

Captives are uniquely positioned to help their parent organization manage through the current financial crisis and beyond.

Financial Crisis Survey #2: "It ain't over 'til it's over"

A new Towers Perrin survey finds that while the worst may be over, finance executives continue to worry about crucial financing and risk management issues, as well as their ability to carry out acquisitions and other strategic plans.

The Economic Crisis: How Has Hedging Changed?

The current economic situation is having a profound impact on companies' financial performance as well as investment and product strategies.

Despite Financial Crisis, Finance Executives Remain Committed to Defined Benefit Plans

Companies that completed mergers or acquisitions since the beginning of the downturn outperformed their non-acquisitive peers.

The Search for the Next Perk – Towers Perrin in Time Magazine

This Time magazine article, with commentary by Towers Perrin, highlights what's next for employee benefits in the face of the economic downturn.

Cost-Cutting Strategies in the Downturn

Companies are struggling to balance persistent pressures to cut costs with ongoing talent management needs in response to the sour economy, according to a recent Towers Perrin pulse survey.

EEV/MCEV: Coping with Extreme Financial Conditions

How is the life insurance industry approaching MCEV given current dislocated market conditions? Towers Perrin reviews and offers an opinion relevant to MCEV, EEV and potentially Solvency II.

Towers Perrin Testifies to House Panel on Government Regulation of Insurance

Patricia Guinn, Managing Director of Towers Perrin and head of the firm's Risk and Financial Services business, offered some recommendations to Congress on May 14.

Podcast Series: Hot Topics in Executive Compensation

As executive compensation has taken center stage in the global economic crisis, companies around the world have confronted growing questions about how -- and how much -- their top people are paid.

Benefits in Crisis: Continuity Amid Change

A Towers Perrin survey of close to 500 U.S. companies finds that, despite the recession and the ongoing pressures to cut costs, most employers continue to view their benefit programs as a vital part of their workplace relationship with employees.

Ten Steps to Fix Risk Management

While there are many actors to blame for the current financial crisis, poor management of risk is widely seen as an important culprit.

Pension Plans After the Meltdown

In a Webcast, Towers Perrin consultants discuss the actions companies should consider in 2009 in light of the impact of the capital market results on their pension plans and the funding rules set by the Pension Protection Act.

Ten Tips to Help Your Employees Manage Change in Uncertain Times

If your company is like most, the financial crisis has affected it in a variety of ways. Here are 10 tips to keep your workforce engaged during the downturn.

Cutting Costs and Engaging Talent: A Challenging Workforce Agenda

A Towers Perrin white paper describes a complete set of diagnostics and actions designed to get the most out of your workforce and reward programs, while making smart use of cash on hand.

Stimulus Legislation Widens Executive Pay Restrictions

The massive economic stimulus bill signed into law by President Obama on February 17 contains a far-reaching set of new restrictions on executive pay at banks and other financial institutions.

Transforming HR in an Uncertain Economy: Priorities and Processes That Deliver ROI

In this recorded Webcast, we explore changes to keep HR transformation alive in challenging times.

Companies Step Up Employee Pay Cuts

The deepening economic crisis is prompting most companies to take a number of steps to curb their workforce costs, according to a new Towers Perrin survey of midsize and large U.S. employers.

Towers Perrin Survey Highlights Critical ERM Issues in Insurance Industry

As the largest survey of its kind, this timely research details the state of enterprise risk management (ERM) based on input from over 350 insurance company executives.

Employee Anxiety Levels on the Rise

A Towers Perrin opinion survey shows how the recession is stirring widespread anxiety among U.S. employees about their job security and financial future as companies reduce or freeze headcount and take other measures to manage costs.

Lessons for Property and Casualty Insurers For 2009 From 2008

In this series of videos from Insurance Journal, Towers Perrin principal Joseph Lebens discusses a variety of topics for P&C insurers as we move into the new year.

Plunge in Interest Rates Brings New Stresses to Pension Plans

A Towers Perrin analysis discusses how the steep decline in market interest rates is bringing additional stress to company-sponsored pension plans — along with new challenges for CFOs and other financial managers — and offers suggestions for plan sponsors.

Employers Obtain Pension Funding Relief

Employers sponsoring pension plans secured some relief from funding requirements and benefit restrictions under the legislation signed into law by President Bush on December 23.

Rough Road Ahead For Variable Annuity Providers

Some of Life's Key Lessons

Companies Forced to Evaluate Compensation and Incentives

Granting Stock Options in Turbulent Times: Take Care When Choosing Valuation Assumptions

The Financial Crisis — Is Mark-to-Market to Blame?

While current market conditions motivate a rethinking of mark-to-market approaches for accounting and regulatory solvency, Towers Perrin encourages insurers to fully consider its objectivity and transparency for measuring value.

Life Insurance CFO Survey #21: Key Challenges for 2009

Even before recent financial crisis events, when looking ahead to 2009, life insurance CFOs reported their greatest concerns were the economic environment and growing sales.

P&C Insurers: Brace for Dramatic Drop in Q3 Surplus

Towers Perrin addresses industry findings on projected declines in U.S. P/C insurance industry's reported statutory surplus for the third quarter 2008 and the year's overall projected decline of 8%.

Towers Perrin Survey Highlights Critical ERM Issues in Insurance Industry

Towers Perrin's latest insurance industry ERM survey reveals six key findings and that ERM is influencing strategic decisions as respondents work on mastering the basics of economic capital calculations.

From Burden to Benefit: Making the Most of Regulatory Risk Management

Managing regulatory risk can bring plenty of headaches, but when it's done effectively, it brings important benefits that can contribute to company performance.

Managing in Tough Times: Advice for Business and HR Leaders

This new whitepaper offers practical, effective advice that can help your organization navigate through the current financial crisis and keep top performers on task and connected to the long-term agenda.

Financial Rescue Bill Raises Thorny Issues In Setting New Restrictions on Executive Pay

Towers Perrin experts discuss the new restraints on executive pay for financial institutions under the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008.

Surviving a Regulatory Storm:
Executive Compensation Issues in the Current Economic Crisis

One of the clear outcome of the financial crisis is a fast-moving storm of new restrictions on executive compensation that's barreling toward the U.S. coastline

Capital Market Updates from Around the Globe

The recent volatility in capital markets has been quite extraordinary. The series includes a special edition covering the market turmoil.

Market Turmoil Impacts Pensions Globally

The recent falls in global equity markets, instability in bond markets, rising inflation expectations and hugely uncertain economic outlook have shown just how much risk some employers carry.

New Survey: Senior Executives Views on the Financial Turmoil

Improved risk management is the top priority of CFOs in reaction to the current financial crisis, ahead of short- and long-term access to capital.

Dealing with Underwater Stock Options: Some New Twists on a Timeless Quandary

The issue attracts the most widespread attention during and after major market downturns such as the 1987 market crash, the 1992-1993 recession, the dot-com meltdown, the 9/11 aftermath in 2001 and again today, especially among financial services firms.

Finance Execs Shift Attention to Containing Pension Plan Risks

Amid uncertain economic conditions, North American companies with defined benefit (DB) pension plans are significantly more focused on risk reduction than returns on plan assets.

Managing Cost and Growth in Uncertain Times

In a Towers Perrin survey of more than 650 executives at North American companies, we found that companies are taking a more sophisticated and balanced view of what needs to be done compared to past economic downturns.

Measuring Insurer Exposure to the Credit Crisis

Efforts to estimate year-end insurer liabilities reveal a lot about exposure to the current credit crisis and the steps needed to fully address emerging exposures.

European Embedded Value:
Stable Accounting in Volatile Markets

This Update highlights how the impact of the recent credit crunch on 2007 EEV results depends on the approach to allowance for risk and describes some of the additional metrics companies have been using to help support the embedded value reporting.

Taking the Pulse of Business and Workforce Challenges

Most companies are pursuing a dual agenda of growth amid cost management and increased operational efficiency.

Staying Engaged in Turbulent Times

Even in a downturn, your company still has to make sure it is retaining and engaging top talent to keep the people and critical skills needed to drive your organization's performance and ensure continued growth.

Insurance Industry Executives Among the Most Confident in Their Ability to Manage Risks and Opportunities

In March of 2008, insurance executives were feeling very confident about their ability to manage risks and opportunities at the onset of the credit crisis, mirroring their counterparts in other industries.

From Emphasis, 2007/4:
Lessons From the Credit Crunch

Towers Perrin's Steve Taylor-Gooby discusses changing conditions.

The Financial Crisis and the Captive Industry

Captives are uniquely positioned to help their parent organization manage through the current financial crisis and beyond.

EEV/MCEV: Coping with Extreme Financial Conditions

How is the life insurance industry approaching MCEV given current dislocated market conditions? Towers Perrin reviews and offers an opinion relevant to MCEV, EEV and potentially Solvency II.

Towers Perrin Testifies to House Panel on Government Regulation of Insurance

Patricia Guinn, Managing Director of Towers Perrin and head of the firm's Risk and Financial Services business, offered some recommendations to Congress on May 14.

Towers Perrin Survey Highlights Critical ERM Issues in Insurance Industry

As the largest survey of its kind, this timely research details the state of enterprise risk management (ERM) based on input from over 350 insurance company executives.

Lessons for Property and Casualty Insurers For 2009 From 2008

In this series of videos from Insurance Journal, Towers Perrin principal Joseph Lebens discusses a variety of topics for P&C insurers as we move into the new year.

Rough Road Ahead For Variable Annuity Providers

Expert Point-of-View:
How Is the Financial Crisis Impacting the Insurance Industry?

Towers Perrin experts offer their insights into the current state of the insurance industry, and how developments on Wall Street and around the world will impact insurers in both the short and long term.

Some of Life's Key Lessons

The Financial Crisis — Is Mark-to-Market to Blame?

While current market conditions motivate a rethinking of mark-to-market approaches for accounting and regulatory solvency, Towers Perrin encourages insurers to fully consider its objectivity and transparency for measuring value.

Life Insurance CFO Survey #21: Key Challenges for 2009

Even before recent financial crisis events, when looking ahead to 2009, life insurance CFOs reported their greatest concerns were the economic environment and growing sales.

P&C Insurers: Brace for Dramatic Drop in Q3 Surplus

Towers Perrin addresses industry findings on projected declines in U.S. P/C insurance industry's reported statutory surplus for the third quarter 2008 and the year's overall projected decline of 8%.

Towers Perrin Survey Highlights Critical ERM Issues in Insurance Industry

Towers Perrin's latest insurance industry ERM survey reveals six key findings and that ERM is influencing strategic decisions as respondents work on mastering the basics of economic capital calculations.

Expert Point-of-View:
How Is the Financial Crisis Impacting the Insurance Industry?

Towers Perrin experts offer their insights into the current state of the insurance industry, and how developments on Wall Street and around the world will impact insurers in both the short and long term.

$700 Billion Bailout Plan is "No Excuse" to Forgo Fair Value Accounting

The most talked-about relief in regulatory circles is a temporary — or even permanent — suspension of fair value accounting for derivatives and other hard-to-value assets (HTVAs).

Measuring Insurer Exposure to the Credit Crisis

Efforts to estimate year-end insurer liabilities reveal a lot about exposure to the current credit crisis and the steps needed to fully address emerging exposures.

European Embedded Value:
Stable Accounting in Volatile Markets

This Update highlights how the impact of the recent credit crunch on 2007 EEV results depends on the approach to allowance for risk and describes some of the additional metrics companies have been using to help support the embedded value reporting.

Insurance Industry Executives Among the Most Confident in Their Ability to Manage Risks and Opportunities

In March of 2008, insurance executives were feeling very confident about their ability to manage risks and opportunities at the onset of the credit crisis, mirroring their counterparts in other industries.

From Emphasis, 2007/4:
Lessons From the Credit Crunch

Towers Perrin's Steve Taylor-Gooby discusses changing conditions.

Financial Crisis Survey #2: "It ain't over 'til it's over"

A new Towers Perrin survey finds that while the worst may be over, finance executives continue to worry about crucial financing and risk management issues, as well as their ability to carry out acquisitions and other strategic plans.

The Economic Crisis: How Has Hedging Changed?

The current economic situation is having a profound impact on companies' financial performance as well as investment and product strategies.

Ten Steps to Fix Risk Management

While there are many actors to blame for the current financial crisis, poor management of risk is widely seen as an important culprit.

The Financial Crisis — Is Mark-to-Market to Blame?

While current market conditions motivate a rethinking of mark-to-market approaches for accounting and regulatory solvency, Towers Perrin encourages insurers to fully consider its objectivity and transparency for measuring value.

From Burden to Benefit: Making the Most of Regulatory Risk Management

Managing regulatory risk can bring plenty of headaches, but when it's done effectively, it brings important benefits that can contribute to company performance.

Market Turmoil Impacts Pensions Globally

The recent falls in global equity markets, instability in bond markets, rising inflation expectations and hugely uncertain economic outlook have shown just how much risk some employers carry.

New Survey: Senior Executives Views on the Financial Turmoil

Improved risk management is the top priority of CFOs in reaction to the current financial crisis, ahead of short- and long-term access to capital.

Finance Execs Shift Attention to Containing Pension Plan Risks

Amid uncertain economic conditions, North American companies with defined benefit (DB) pension plans are significantly more focused on risk reduction than returns on plan assets.

Managing Cost and Growth in Uncertain Times

In a Towers Perrin survey of more than 650 executives at North American companies, we found that companies are taking a more sophisticated and balanced view of what needs to be done compared to past economic downturns.

Taking the Pulse of Business and Workforce Challenges

Most companies are pursuing a dual agenda of growth amid cost management and increased operational efficiency.

The Search for the Next Perk – Towers Perrin in Time Magazine

This Time magazine article, with commentary by Towers Perrin, highlights what's next for employee benefits in the face of the economic downturn.

Podcast Series: Hot Topics in Executive Compensation

As executive compensation has taken center stage in the global economic crisis, companies around the world have confronted growing questions about how -- and how much -- their top people are paid.

Cutting Costs and Engaging Talent: A Challenging Workforce Agenda

A Towers Perrin white paper describes a complete set of diagnostics and actions designed to get the most out of your workforce and reward programs, while making smart use of cash on hand.

Stimulus Legislation Widens Executive Pay Restrictions

The massive economic stimulus bill signed into law by President Obama on February 17 contains a far-reaching set of new restrictions on executive pay at banks and other financial institutions.

Companies Step Up Employee Pay Cuts

The deepening economic crisis is prompting most companies to take a number of steps to curb their workforce costs, according to a new Towers Perrin survey of midsize and large U.S. employers.

Companies Forced to Evaluate Compensation and Incentives

Granting Stock Options in Turbulent Times: Take Care When Choosing Valuation Assumptions

Surviving a Regulatory Storm:
Executive Compensation Issues in the Current Economic Crisis
 

One of the clear outcome of the financial crisis is a fast-moving storm of new restrictions on executive compensation that's barreling toward the U.S. coastline

Dealing with Underwater Stock Options: Some New Twists on a Timeless Quandary

The issue attracts the most widespread attention during and after major market downturns such as the 1987 market crash, the 1992-1993 recession, the dot-com meltdown, the 9/11 aftermath in 2001 and again today, especially among financial services firms.

Despite Financial Crisis, Finance Executives Remain Committed to Defined Benefit Plans

Companies that completed mergers or acquisitions since the beginning of the downturn outperformed their non-acquisitive peers.

Pension Plans After the Meltdown

In a Webcast, Towers Perrin consultants discuss the actions companies should consider in 2009 in light of the impact of the capital market results on their pension plans and the funding rules set by the Pension Protection Act.

Plunge in Interest Rates Brings New Stresses to Pension Plans

A Towers Perrin analysis discusses how the steep decline in market interest rates is bringing additional stress to company-sponsored pension plans — along with new challenges for CFOs and other financial managers — and offers suggestions for plan sponsors.

Employers Obtain Pension Funding Relief

Employers sponsoring pension plans secured some relief from funding requirements and benefit restrictions under the legislation signed into law by President Bush on December 23.

Market Turmoil Impacts Pensions Globally

The recent falls in global equity markets, instability in bond markets, rising inflation expectations and hugely uncertain economic outlook have shown just how much risk some employers carry.

Capital Market Updates from Around the Globe

The recent volatility in capital markets has been quite extraordinary. The series includes a special edition covering the market turmoil.

Finance Execs Shift Attention to Containing Pension Plan Risks

Amid uncertain economic conditions, North American companies with defined benefit (DB) pension plans are significantly more focused on risk reduction than returns on plan assets.

Cost-Cutting Strategies in the Downturn

Companies are struggling to balance persistent pressures to cut costs with ongoing talent management needs in response to the sour economy, according to a recent Towers Perrin pulse survey.

Benefits in Crisis: Continuity Amid Change

A Towers Perrin survey of close to 500 U.S. companies finds that, despite the recession and the ongoing pressures to cut costs, most employers continue to view their benefit programs as a vital part of their workplace relationship with employees.

Ten Tips to Help Your Employees Manage Change in Uncertain Times

If your company is like most, the financial crisis has affected it in a variety of ways. Here are 10 tips to keep your workforce engaged during the downturn.

Cutting Costs and Engaging Talent: A Challenging Workforce Agenda

A Towers Perrin white paper describes a complete set of diagnostics and actions designed to get the most out of your workforce and reward programs, while making smart use of cash on hand.

Transforming HR in an Uncertain Economy: Priorities and Processes That Deliver ROI

In this recorded Webcast, we explore changes to keep HR transformation alive in challenging times.

Employee Anxiety Levels on the Rise

A Towers Perrin opinion survey shows how the recession is stirring widespread anxiety among U.S. employees about their job security and financial future as companies reduce or freeze headcount and take other measures to manage costs.

Managing in Tough Times: Advice for Business and HR Leaders

This new whitepaper offers practical, effective advice that can help your organization navigate through the current financial crisis and keep top performers on task and connected to the long-term agenda.

Managing Cost and Growth in Uncertain Times

In a Towers Perrin survey of more than 650 executives at North American companies, we found that companies are taking a more sophisticated and balanced view of what needs to be done compared to past economic downturns.

Taking the Pulse of Business and Workforce Challenges

Most companies are pursuing a dual agenda of growth amid cost management and increased operational efficiency.

Staying Engaged in Turbulent Times

Even in a downturn, your company still has to make sure it is retaining and engaging top talent to keep the people and critical skills needed to drive your organization's performance and ensure continued growth.