1 / 16

The Transformation of the UK Actuarial Profession

The Transformation of the UK Actuarial Profession. Or, Remaining Relevant in a Changing World? By Adrian Saunders. The Profession in 1980. Not much had changed in 30 years. Life Industry. With Profits and mutual offices Statutory Roles Status in Management

liza
Download Presentation

The Transformation of the UK Actuarial Profession

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. The Transformation of the UK Actuarial Profession Or, Remaining Relevant in a Changing World? By Adrian Saunders

  2. The Profession in 1980 Not much had changed in 30 years

  3. Life Industry • With Profits and mutual offices • Statutory Roles • Status in Management • Regulated by DTI, delegated to the GAD • Participation in the profession encouraged

  4. Examples from Life Industry -1 • 1974-75 Market crash

  5. Changing World 1986-1996

  6. Examples from Life Industry -2 • Mortgage Endowments

  7. Examples from Life Industry -3 • The Equitable

  8. Examples from Life Industry -4 • With Profits Bonds

  9. Reviews….The Lost Decade

  10. Impact on the Profession • Loss of Appointed Actuary Role • Losing status within companies (adviser to the Board rather than member of Board) • Increasingly technical modeling work replacing exercise of judgment • Lack of visibility as public champion

  11. Examples from Pensions -1 • Schemes in significant surplus • Revenue concerned that companies were sheltering excessive profits within schemes • Finance Act 1986 capped pension fund surpluses and introduced “Contribution Holidays” • Government saw an easy fund-raising target: 1997 “Gordon Brown’s Tax Grab” • Actuarial profession’s response muted.

  12. Examples from Pensions -2 • FRS 17 (2001) Introduced realistic costing of pension liabilities • Great work for actuarial consultancies! • Short term volatility for long term liability • Accelerated demise of DB schemes and adversely affected investment policy • Actuarial Profession’s response muted (strong differences of opinion amongst Council members)

  13. This Debate is Still Going On

  14. Where Did This Leave the Profession? • The fallout from Equitable damaged the standing of actuaries in management and in the eyes of the public • In pensions, the move away from DB reduced opportunities, individuals need increased support • Increased regulation replaced freedom and judgment with technical calculation

  15. Hope for the Future? • New Fields • General Insurance • Risk Management • Growing interest in Risk Management and the creation of CRO posts provides an opportunity • If we can rise above super-technical modeling and capture the CRO role by showing how it is relevant in practical ways to companies.

  16. A Case Study In The Making?

More Related