This handbook presents the basic aspects of actuarial loss reserving. Besides the traditional
methods it also includes a description of more recent ones and a discussion of certain
problems occurring in actuarial practice like inflation scarce data large claims slow loss
development the use of market statistics the need for simulation techniques and the task of
calculating best estimates and ranges of future losses. In property and casualty insurance the
provisions for payment obligations from losses that have occurred but have not yet been settled
usually constitute the largest item on the liabilities side of an insurer's balance sheet. For
this reason the determination and evaluation of these loss reserves is of considerable
economic importance for every property and casualty insurer. Actuarial students academics as
well as practicing actuaries will benefit from this overview of the most important actuarial
methods of loss reserving by developing an understanding of the underlying stochastic models
and how to practically solve some problems which may occur in actuarial practice.
