MAPS Release Notes

MAPS 2.4 - October 1, 2015 View MAPS 2.4 Release Notes

Feature: added portfolio attribution facility and report. view details
We anticipate the new Attribution Facility will be of interest to any portfolio manager. The Portfolio model has always been capable of detailed analysis of the value of a group of policies at a point in time. This new facility allows you to understand what is driving changes in value between reporting periods.

The model produces a summary breakdown of changes in value due to changes in 5 factors:
- Valuation Date
- Pricing Assumptions (excluding Valuation Date and LEs)
- Policies Added To or Dropped From the Portfolio
- Projected Premium and Death Benefit Streams
- Life Expectancies
In addition to the summary report, the model produces a listing of each policy at each discount rate modeled showing changes in value for the policy by each of the above factors.

For each policy which varies as a result of a change to Premium, Death Benefit, LE or Policy Event (addition or removal of a policy), a report is produced showing the policy from the first valuation juxtaposed with the same policy from the second valuation so that you can examine expected (or unexpected) changes in detail.

The Attribution Facility is included with the MAPS Portfolio Extended version of the model and can be licensed for a modest additional monthly fee.
Feature: added ability to run a joint life case with one survivor. view details

The model now recognizes when one life of a joint life policy is deceased and adjusts the survivorship curve for the surviving life to be based on single life mortality rather than joint life mortality. This can have significant impact on the value of the contract as single life mortality will be higher than joint mortality in most cases.

Model Actuarial Pricing Systems, L.P.

Note that this change should not alter the valuation of previously priced policies. In prior versions of the model joint cases with one surviving life were correctly modeled by changing the case to a single life case with the surviving life as the Primary Insured.

The model now relieves you of the need to make these changes (including possibly moving the second life to the first life position). Record keeping is also more accurate as the policy type is retained as Joint Life case rather than being artificially modeled as a single life case.
Feature: added ability to run insured age less than 25. view details

The model will now value cases with insured attained age as low as 1 year. Previously the model would not allow a case to be processed if the insured was less than 25 years of age on the Illustration Date. Although we don’t anticipate widespread analysis of life settlement cases for younger individuals, it was cleaner to just remove the age restrictions rather than choose some new arbitrary minimum attained age.
Feature: added le date to the scenario results report. view details

We have added the LE Date to the underwriting section of the Scenario Results report. This is a handy addition which allows you to glance at the report and determine how recent the LE is relative to the valuation date.
Fix: average le for zero-weighted items. view details

We have corrected a small issue with the way average underwriting was calculated under some circumstances. If multiple LE values were used in valuation and if one of the values were assigned zero weight, the model was zeroing the LE value but was continuing to use the LE effective date in its calculation of average underwriting. This has been corrected so that the model now discards the LE date for the value with zero weight. This is probably not an issue that has widespread impact on users of the model since in most cases LE values will be assigned positive weight.
Cleanup: Updated loan and cash withdrawal reporting. view details

The Annual Income Statement and Monthly Income Statement reports have been modified to reverse the sign of the values shown in the net cash transaction fields. Previously, New Loans and Cash Withdrawals were shown as negative quantities while Loan Repayments were shown as positive. The signs have been reversed to correctly reflect the direction of cash flow from the point of view of an investor in the policy – e.g., a loan taken at the time of purchase is a positive cash flow to an investor receiving the loan amount.

Please note that this is a display issue only – the quantities used in the valuation of the contract have always been applied with the correct sign, and the final contract value produced by the model will not change after this reporting adjustment.
Cleanup: Enhanced portfolio import facility. view details

The existing portfolio import facility has been reworked to improve the user experience significantly. The initial file open and header examination step has been improved to allow the user to more precisely

specify what type of file is being examined. The model automatically recognizes the presence of a MAPS import template and no further intervention by the user is required. For non-MAPS files, the user may specify either a Vertical or a Horizontal format before executing the examine header step.

In addition, more detailed field descriptions have been provided in the mapping dialog. Significantly augmented error and informational warnings are now produced as the import process runs. This enables the user to much more easily determine when fields cannot be imported as well as to quickly see where the model has provided a default value for fields with missing data.

MAPS 2.3 - March 15, 2013 View MAPS 2.3 Release Notes

Feature: Added ability to specify a Term Rider Benefit. view details

The model now includes the option to explicitly model Annual Renewable Term riders in the COI calculation. The charge for term riders is applied during the monthaversary calculation as a fixed charge deducted from the fund before the net amount at risk is calculated.
Feature: Added Policy Lapse basis to policy level parameters. view details

The policy lapse basis, which has historically been specified as a premium projection parameter (Carrier Lapse Basis), may be more correctly modeled at the policy level if we assume that each carrier consistently follows their own rules about whether or not the policy lapses when the account value declines below the surrender charge. The model now includes the option to set this parameter at the policy level.
Feature: Added ability to store and utilize Guaranteed COI Rates and Loads. view details

The model can now store UL guaranteed COI rates and load charges. This allows the user to stress test the policy under guaranteed conditions. Guaranteed values are entered at the policy level and may be applied during the premium projection if desired.
Feature: Enhanced policy loan calculations. view details

The model now allows policy loan interest to be repaid in each year of the policy illustration. Payments occur annually on the policy anniversary. Interest payments are made using external cash (premium). When loan interest is repaid, loaned account value is reset to the new loan balance and any interest credited to loaned account value is swept into the un-loaned account value.

We have also added a drop-down box to allow the user to specify loan interest in arrears. The model traditionally assumed loan interest is accrued in advance, and the default value remains Advance. If Arrears is chosen, the input rate will be converted to a rate in arrears for use in the model.
Feature: Added ability to specify mode for per unit loads. view details

Per Unit loads have previously been entered as an annual amount and deducted on a monthly basis by the model. A switch has been added to allow the user to specify that the load be deducted at a chosen mode within the policy year.
Feature: Enhanced policy illustration grid. view details

In prior versions of the model, the Illustration tab of the user interface allowed values to be entered for UL cases only if both an Account Value (AV) and Death Benefit (DB) were supplied. For rows between the last row containing non-zero values and the maturity age, all columns were set to zero. This was done to emphasize the fact that the model could not calculate COI rates for rows without both AV and DB.

The illustration grid has now been opened to allow input beyond the last non-zero row and has also been enhanced to display extrapolated COI rates in red when applicable. The user is able to quickly review the pattern of calculated rates and extrapolated rates to verify that they look reasonable. In the event the user is not satisfied with the system generated rates, they retain the option of entering their own rates as an alternative.
Feature: Revised policy illustration loan repayment on next anniversary. view details

We have revised the way in which the model calculates the repayment of a policy loan at the next policy anniversary when the policy is illustrated as such.

In prior versions of the model, the loan was repaid by assuming a cash payment would be made from an external source rather than from the premium shown in the policy illustration. The model now deducts the loan repayment from the illustrated premium on the anniversary of the repayment. Premium loads are not applied to the loan payment portion of the premium. The remaining balance of the illustrated premium then flows through to the monthaversary calculation in the standard fashion.
Feature: Added additional policy termination options. view details

In MAPS 2.2 and prior, we collected a Claim Payment Date and Claim Payment Amount only. In the Policy model, this is informational only.

In the Portfolio model, the combination of Claim Payment Date and Collection Delay has been used to signal a death. The model inferred a date of death (thus halting premium payments) by assuming the death occurred on the Claim Payment Date less the number of months specified by the Collection Delay.

That approach did not provide sufficient detail for the Portfolio model to be able to accurately place the cash flows associated with policies that have terminated by death, lapse or sale prior to maturity. A number of additional fields and statuses have been added to more precisely specify the termination state of the policy.

When a status of Sold is selected, a policy sale date and amount are also required. Both expected and stochastic cash flows are deterministic with premiums and expenses paid through the sale date and the sale amount appears as a cash flow on the date specified.

When a status of Lapsed is selected, a policy lapse date is also required. Both expected and stochastic cash flows are deterministic with premiums and expenses paid through the lapse date.

When a status of Surrendered is selected, a policy surrender date and amount are also required. Both expected and stochastic cash flows are deterministic with premiums and expenses paid through the surrender date and the surrender amount appears as a cash flow on the date specified.

When a status of Matured is selected, a policy termination date is also required. Additionally, Claim Payment information can be provided. Both expected and stochastic cash flows are deterministic with premiums and expenses paid through the termination date. When claim payment information is supplied and the status of the claim is marked as Paid, the claim payment appears as a cash flow on the date specified. When claim submitted information is supplied and the status of the claim is marked as Pending, the claim submitted amount appears as a cash flow on the date specified or the valuation date, whichever is greater.
Feature: Added ability to customize view of Case List. view details

It is now possible to customize the columns that appear on the Case List displayed by the model. The additional fields of Face Amount, Birth Date, Internal Identifier, or Purchase Date may be added to or substituted for the default fields of Last Name, Case Description, Status, Carrier and Policy Number. The Case ID field must remain on the list and cannot be modified.
Feature: Enhanced COI Threshold options. view details

The COI threshold option can be useful when the user wishes to add a margin to each projected future premium to ensure that the policy does not enter the grace period due to insufficient premium to meet the cost of insurance. This threshold typically increases over the future lifetime of the policy as COI rates tend to rise with increasing age.

The model does not currently include policy loads or term rider charges when calculating the COI threshold amount. We have added a switch: Include Policy Loads and Rider Charges in Threshold so that the user can increase the threshold with these additional items.

Model Actuarial Pricing Systems, L.P.

We have also enhanced the COI threshold calculation, by adding the option to increase the threshold in the last policy month of each year based on the following month’s COI rate. This can have particular importance as the policy crosses anniversaries and the COI deduction increases.
Feature: Added ability to specify projected crediting rate by year. view details

The model now allows the interest rate used in the premium projection to vary by duration. This feature is probably not terribly significant for pricing, since the model tends to drive the account balance to low levels quickly which results in relatively small credited interest totals. However, it may model the actual fund behavior more accurately and eliminate the need to explain its absence to interested parties who expect interest rate bonuses, etc.
Feature: Added ability to run premiums only for a case. view details

There is now an option to run only the optimum premium projections for each case. The valuation assumptions are not loaded and a final valuation is not calculated. Any saved valuation cash flows are deleted from the database.

At the end of the run, the database will contain the projected premium and death benefit cash flows only. This option is handy for users who wish to generate optimum premium vectors without incurring the additional processing time required to complete the valuation.
Feature: Added additional portfolio override parameters. view details

Number of Months with No Deaths was introduced for single policies in MAPS 2.2. The Portfolio Model now has the ability to process each policy as input, or override all policies with a specific value portfoliowide.

Premium Multiplier was introduced for single policies in MAPS 2.2. The Portfolio Model now has the ability to process each policy as input, or override all policies with a specific value portfolio-wide.

The override defaults for Number of Months with No Deaths, Premium Multiplier, Average Underwriting Method, and Use Global Mortality Multiplier can now all be set in the Tools | Options | Portfolio screen.
Fix: Recognition of actual paid premium in a VOC month.
Fix: Ability to use actual premium paid when purchase date and illustration date differ.
Fix: Net of Loan switch is now interpreted correctly when imported from a single case Excel template.
Fix: Saving user input optimized premiums no longer shifts values by a month.
Fix: COI extrapolator no longer giving an error when policy illustration is within three years of maturity date.
Fix: Migrating cases from MAPS v8.1 no longer automatically sets the lapse basis to Cash Surrender Value.
Fix: Actual Claims option is now functional in the portfolio model.
Cleanup: Portfolio output file now details Underwriting values for each input underwriter used.

MAPS 2.2 - June 1, 2012 View MAPS 2.2 Release Notes

Feature: Added ability to specify VOC as either a beginning of month or an end of month value. view details

A new switch has been added to the interim premium tab of the Premium Projection form to allow you to more precisely control when VOC values are applied to the account value. When a VOC value falls on an off-monthaversary date, the model has traditionally applied the account value to the monthaversary just preceding the entered VOC date.

There is now an EOM switch that can be set to allow you to specify that the account value should be applied as of the end of the policy month in which the VOC occurs. The model still starts its projection as of the prior monthaversary, but it applies the VOC account value at the end of the first projection month rather than the beginning. The use of this option is appropriate when you receive a VOC value from a carrier and you know the account value is valid until the end of the month. When the switch is set, the account value is not reduced (or increased) by monthly processing of COI’s, fees, interest, etc. during the first month.
Feature: Added a new report displaying projected premiums for each policy by calendar month/year. view details

A new report has been added to the Policy model Batch Processing which displays projected premiums by policy and calendar month. This report can be handy when reviewing the monthly projected cash flows for a portfolio of policies. It allows you to see the monthly projected premium for the entire portfolio as well as examine the premium stream for individual policies.
Feature: Added ability in Portfolio CSV files to be specified as daily or monthly. view details

When exporting portfolio cash flows to CSV files, the model now defaults to monthly values instead of daily cash flows. This substantially reduces the time and disk storage needed to write the files and therefore speeds up portfolio processing.
Feature: Improved the ease of entering Paid Premiums for a policy. view details

When entering actual paid premiums through the user interface, you no longer have to manually create each new row to enter premiums. An input box and button have been provided to allow you to generate as many blank rows as needed to accept the premium stream. After the rows are created, premiums can be copied into the rows from Excel or where ever they are stored.
Feature: Improved the ease of entering Optimized Premiums for a policy. view details

When entering pre-optimized premiums through the user interface, you no longer have to manually create each new row to enter premiums. An input box and button have been provided to allow you to generate as many blank rows as needed to accept the premium stream. After the rows are created, premiums can be copied into the rows from Excel or where ever they are stored.
Feature: Added ability to run a portfolio with a global mortality multiplier. view details

We have added a global multiplier to the Portfolio Parameters screen. Enabling this parameter allows you to run a portfolio and apply a constant mortality multiplier to all cases. Formerly, the model executed cases only per the saved pricing assumptions – either LE or Multiplier.
Feature: Date Display in Policy Grids. view details

Grids on the user interface and in the Excel reports which display account values have been modified to display the End of Month policy date rather than the Beginning of Month date – i.e., the date shown now aligns with the Account Value rather than the Premium for each month.
Fix: Date Error When Issue Date Falls on 29th or 30th. view details

An issue with the dates which are calculated for Actual Paid Premium and User Input Premium streams has been corrected. This error occurred when the policy issue date fell on the 29th or 30th of a month and caused an error to be thrown on the Base Case form. Since the model does not use these dates internally in its calculations, final policy valuations were not affected.
Fix: Interim Premium Error – Actual Paid Premium Option. view details

When entering actual paid premiums through the user interface, you no longer have to manually create each new row to enter premiums. An input box and button have been provided to allow you to generate as many blank rows as needed to accept the premium stream. After the rows are created, premiums can be copied into the rows from Excel or where ever they are stored.
Cleanup: Default form size adjusted to reveal entire form.
Cleanup: Excel import template accepts Blank switch values as No or Off.
Cleanup: Premium multiplier defaults to 100% in portfolio parameters.
Cleanup: Batch processor now prompts for Excel file path only once.

MAPS 2.1 - March 1, 2012 View MAPS 2.1 Release Notes

Feature: Added ability to customize the list of Insurance Carriers, Underwriters, Case Statuses, and Diagnoses directly. view details

The Code Manager allows users to customize the list of Insurance Carriers, Underwriters, Case Status, and Diagnosis directly. Users can add, edit, and delete these codes within the model, quickly and easily. This negates the need to open MS Access to support these changes, and avoids the risk of corrupting the database when modifying tables directly in Access.
Feature: Added ability to update any person directly, allowing for faster editing when updating multiple people. view details

The Person Manager allows updates to any Person in the database through the Tools menu without having to open a case. The user can create a new Person record, edit existing Person attributes, or delete records not associated with a saved case.
Feature: Added ability to add/update Actual Paid Premium directly, allowing for faster editing when updating multiple policies. view details

Available with the Extended Edition, the Premium Manager enables direct updating of the Actual Paid Premium History through the Tools menu without having to individually open each case. This should lessen the time and effort in maintaining a portfolio of cases in which paid premiums are being regularly updated.
Feature: Added ability to add/update Underwritings directly, allowing for faster editing when updating multiple policies. view details

To facilitate more efficient Portfolio management, the Underwriting Manager enables direct updating of the underwriting for all insureds through the Tools menu without having to individually open each case. This should lessen the time and effort in refreshing the underwriting for purchased cases or a Portfolio. The Underwriting Manager is an Extended Edition feature.
Feature: Improved the assiging of people to policies which will help alleviate inadvertant clerical errors of changing the policyholder. view details

In the Base Case Insured tab, the interface for the Person list is strengthened to prevent inadvertent selections, attribute changes, or deletions that can occur when working directly in the full Person list. The Edit Life button is removed, and replaced by a Change Person button that opens the Person list with functions limited to selecting another insured or adding a new person. Different shading distinguishes the current life from the new selection. Existing Persons cannot be deleted or their attributes changed from this form. Changing an insured’s attributes will be done via the Person Manager.
Feature: Added ability to create a schedule of Seller Death Benefit Rates. view details

In addition to a single death benefit sharing percentage that applies to maturity, MAPS 2.1 allows the user to create a schedule of Seller Death Benefit rates. The user can define segments by year from purchase, with a different rate applying to each segment.
Feature: Added ability to import Optimized Premiums in the Excel Import template, rather than always requiring an illustration. view details

The facility to import a portfolio of cases from an Excel spreadsheet has been expanded. Optimized monthly premiums can be included in the spreadsheet and imported to MAPS 2.1. This allows pricing of cases imported without a carrier illustration. After importing the data, the user can then run a batch process to automatically create premium projections and pricing assumptions for those cases using default pricing assumptions from the Options screen. Optimized premium import is a feature of the Extended Edition.
Feature: Added more robust Portfolio processing status feedback to the user. view details

The MAPS 2.1 Portfolio Run form is enhanced to display the run’s progress through the processing steps. Cases in the portfolio that generate errors are logged to facilitate correction.
Feature: Added ability to price policies on insureds as young as 25 years old. view details

The minimum attained age for input of a carrier illustration for premium projection is lowered to 25. In theory, such cases could extend for 95 years (to age 120), although it is not reasonable to assume a life settlement case would have such a long duration.
Fix: Frasieration of Joint policies has been revised to a method which is more appropriate when insureds' LE dates are not very close together. view details

We have re-visited the way in which the survivorship curve is developed for joint life cases. Previously the model applied Fraserization to the two individual curves starting from the latest LE date and then aged the Frazerized curve to the valuation date. This process was done under the model’s original mortality logic in which the two LE dates were assumed to be equal at the latest date.

We have revised the above method to first age each of the individual survivorship curves to the valuation date, at which point the curves are Fraserized. This method recognizes that the analysis of a joint life case assumes that the two insureds are still alive as of the valuation date and includes that information in the calculation of survivorship. For joint cases that were previously valued with LE dates separated by time, the new methodology can result in decreased valuation results as the joint life status is reset at a later date.
Fix: Aged LE values have been corrected to display correctly for cases without extended death benefits. view details

In some cases the model was truncating the mortality curve prior to the end of the table if the policy did not contain the extended death benefit option. This was a display issue only – the contract value was correctly calculated using the entire curve.
Fix: The underwriting effective date is now used as the table origin date for Past Mortality Improvement. view details

The model now uses the underwriting effective date as the origin of mortality improvement when a survivorship curve is used instead of an LE to specify underwriting. The model formerly used the table origin date for the mortality table that happened to be selected, so changing the table could change the improvement results.
Fix: Cases starting the premium projection with VOC values and containing an outstanding policy loan now correctly extend the VOC loan balance into future years. view details

Formerly the model could revert to the illustrated loan balance if the premium projection started in a later policy year than the policy year of the VOC.
Fix: Expense schedules stop at the end of the contract, even if the schedule calls for longer than that. view details

We have corrected an issue with expense schedules in which the model could fail if the End Year for the last expense item was greater than the number of years remaining in the contract. The model now correctly stops the expense stream at the lesser of the End Year and the last year of the contract.
Fix: Corrected a situation in which the model could report an invalid non-zero value. view details

If the valuation date is set far enough after the LE date (not recommended) and the LE is short enough, the chance of survival to the valuation date can be essentially zero. In these cases, the model should report zero value (as of the valuation date). Prior to the correction, the model was reporting a non-zero price as it tabulated an initial death benefit and no benefits or premiums thereafter.
Fix: Corrected an error which occurred with policy issue dates on the 31st of the month. view details

The model was incorrectly extending the date stream for user input optimized premiums and actual paid premiums and throwing an error in the process. This error did not affect the date logic supporting the financial calculations and had no effect on valuation or premium projection results.
Fix: Corrected the switch that controls saving pricing output to the database from the Pricing Assumptions screen. view details

The model was ignoring the save output switch and was acting on the settings from the optimized premium switch on the Premium Projection screen. The two switches now work independently as designed.
Fix: Corrected a display issue with invalid fields on the Scenario Results report for non-UL policies only. view details

This issue did not affect the valuation results – the cells indicated an invalid value when they should have been displaying "n/a".
Fix: Corrected several issues in the Batch processor which could previously lead to aborting the processing. view details

1) When valuation assumptions were being deleted and re-created on the fly; 2) When premium projections were being created for cases with no illustrated values; 3) When pricing assumptions were being created for joint life cases; 4) When the valuation date was set beyond the point at which survivorship became zero.
Cleanup: Adjusted formatting in Portfolio Reports.
Cleanup: Adjusted the layout of the Input Parameters report for better readability.
Cleanup: Display 0 for all IRR calculations in the Portfolio Model when one or more policies are missing purchase dates and/or prices. view details

While there is actually an IRR, it is misleading to report it without including all cash flows including the purchases.

MAPS 2.0 - October 1, 2011 View MAPS 2.0 Release Notes

Feature: Added ability to maintain Actual Paid Premium for each policy. Actual Paid Premium will also flow through to the Portfolio Model as historical premiums.
Feature: Added ability to enter premiums paid between the illustration date and the premium projection date.
Feature: Added ability to specify that a policy has a No Lapse Guarantee and policy pricing will continue even if the cash surrender value drops below the imput surrender charge.
Feature: Added ability to set mode of RAP payments.
Feature: Added ability to specify that RAP is paid at the end of the year instead of beginning of year.
Feature: Added ability to split the lapse basis of the policy during the premium projection.
Feature: Added ability to enter and use pre-optimized premium streams, rather than optimizing the premiums from an illustration.
Feature: Added ability to apply statutory interest during the collection delay.
Feature: Added ability to grade mortality by attained age.
Feature: Added ability to use tabular or exact age.
Feature: Added ability to apply a linear transform to the LE or Mortality Multipliers.
Feature: Added ability to specify that a death will not occur for a specified period of time from the valuation date.
Feature: Added ability to specify the date at which the underwriting selection event should be anchored.
Fix: Corrected premium overfunding issue when policy transitions from zero cash value to positive cash value.

MAPS Release Notes

MAPS 2.4 - October 1, 2015 View MAPS 2.4 Release Notes

MAPS 2.3 - March 15, 2013 View MAPS 2.3 Release Notes

MAPS 2.2 - June 1, 2012 View MAPS 2.2 Release Notes

MAPS 2.1 - March 1, 2012 View MAPS 2.1 Release Notes

MAPS 2.0 - October 1, 2011 View MAPS 2.0 Release Notes

Software and Services for the Life Settlement Industry