The Geneva Association and the International Insurance Society Inc. collaborative insurance research program announced six winners who will each receive a $10,000 award for papers they have written.

Authors will present their research July 13-16 during the International Insurance Society seminar at the Grand Formosa Regent Taipei, Taiwan.

Awards, sponsored jointly by the two organizations, are designed to foster high-quality practical research on current issues, they said.

The winners are:

o “Mortgage Backed Securities and Capital of Life Insurers: Was the Industry prepared for the Credit Crunch of 2007-2008?” Dr. Etti G. Baranoff, Virginia Commonwealth University, Thomas W. Sager, University of Texas at Austin.

o “New Paradigm for International Insurance Comparison: With an Application to Comparison of Seven Insurance Markets,” Dr. Wei Zheng, Peking University, People's Republic of China; Yongdong Liu, China Academy of Sciences, People's Republic of China; and Yiting Deng, Peking University, People's Republic of China.

o “The Life Insurance Market's Response to Aging: Mega or Mini?” Dr. Gustavo Ferro, Universidad Argentina de la Empresa, Argentina.

Each year at the IIS Annual Seminar, some 400 executives are canvassed on their most pressing concerns, and their responses form the basis for next year's call for papers, the organizations said.

“We are looking for insurance industry-driven research,” said Patrick Kenny, IIS president and chief executive officer, “and what better way to accomplish this but to go straight to the source.”

“The delegates at the IIS seminars are top executives representing every part of the world and all sectors of the industry,” he said.

The Geneva Association, headed by Patrick M. Liedtke, secretary general and general manager, is a unique, nonprofit worldwide organization formed by a statutory maximum of 80 CEOs from leading insurance companies worldwide.

The association lists as its main goal research on the growing economic importance of insurance activities in the major sectors of the economy.

Founded in 1965 as a nonprofit corporation, the International Insurance Society Inc. provides a world forum for leading insurance executives, academics and others interested in insurance to share interests and ideas on timely global issues.

The Geneva Association/IIS Research program is underwritten by Kyobo Life, Korea; Munich Re, Germany; Partner Re, Bermuda; and The Starr Foundation, U.S.A.

More information about the research program is online at www.genevaassociation.org and www.IISonline.org.