4 Editorial The prompts behind this issue’s content, by editor Yiannis Parizas
17 Data: Free for all Yiannis Parizas delves into the rewarding and collaborative world of open-source programming
20 Careers: Figuring it out
For Wendy Johnson, actuarial training provided an unusual onward career path
22 Data: Brain power
Is neuromorphic computing about to revolutionise risk management?
By Amarnath Suggu24 COVER STORY
Careers: Take your pick Job-hunters have the upper hand right now, says Austin Brislen
27 Insurance: Seek cover Marco Spagnuolo on boosting customer engagement during times of high inflation
38 Soft skills: Is anybody out there? Effective communication begins with good listening, says Tan Suee Chieh
40 Extra-curricular Reema Uppal tells us about her work with the Met Police
41 People/society news
The latest updates and events
44 Puzzles
7 IFoA news
The latest IFoA updates and events
14 Interview: Tony Burdon
The head of the Make My Money Matter campaign on the power of putting your pension where it counts
30 Environment: Data detective How artificial intelligence could help spot greenwashing. By Arjun Brara
33 Careers: Rising in the East Three women working in Asia share the career journeys that have taken them to the top
36 Pensions: By halves Alexandra Miles investigates why women are retiring with smaller pensions than men
Did you know you can also read The Actuary magazine on any tablet or Android phone? Click through to read more online, download resources, or share on social media via our links in the app. It’s an exclusive free benefit for our members. Download on the App Store at: www.theactuary.com/ipad Visit: www.play.google.com
46 Student Ciara Izuchukwu on how behavioural science principles could impact the insurance space
Global economy focus
We put a spotlight on reinsurance in today’s global context. Plus, we meet systems engineer Anthony Finkelstein
Additional content including daily news can be found at www.theactuary.com
Weekly newsletter: for the latest actuarial news, features and opinion direct to your inbox, sign up at bit.ly/1MN3bXK
PUBLISHER
Redactive Publishing Ltd
9 Dallington Street, London EC1V 0LN
PUBLISHING DIRECTOR
Anthony Moran
MANAGING EDITOR
Melissa Walton +44 (0)20 7880 6246 melissa.walton@redactive.co.uk
SUB-EDITOR
Kate Bennett
DISPLAY SALES
theactuary-sales@redactive.co.uk
+44 (0)20 7324 2753
RECRUITMENT SALES theactuaryjobs@redactive.co.uk +44 (0)20 7880 6234
ART EDITOR
Sarah Auld
PICTURE EDITOR
Akin Falope
SENIOR PRODUCTION EXECUTIVE
Rachel Young +44 (0)20 7880 6209 rachel.young@redactive.co.uk
PRINT PCP
EDITOR
Yiannis Parizas editor@theactuary.com
FEATURES EDITORS
Kimberly Chimsasa: Pensions and investment
Travis Elsum: Environment and sustainability
Alex Martin: Environment and sustainability
Blessing Mbukude: Life
Fiona Neylon: General insurance
Ruolin Wang: Life and health Rajeshwarie VS: General insurance
STUDENT EDITOR Adeetya Tantia student@theactuary.com
IFOA EDITOR Kate Pearce +44 (0)207 632 2118 kate.pearce@actuaries.org.uk
EDITORIAL
ADVISORY PANEL
Peter Tompkins (chairman), Chika Aghadiuno, Nico Aspinall, Naomi Burger, Matthew Edwards, Jessica Elkin, Richard Purcell, Sonal Shah, Nick Silver
INTERNET
The Actuary: www.theactuary.com
Institute and Faculty of Actuaries: www.actuaries.org.uk
I wonder if the cover has prompted you to consider your options? Now might just be the right time for your next move, given the promising climate for actuarial job hunters (p24).
Find more inspiration along these lines in our feature highlighting the stellar careers of three women who have been making their mark in top actuarial jobs across Asia (p33). It’s also a fitting nod to International Women’s Day on 8 March – as a magazine, we look forward to seeing more women in senior positions.
It can be hard to listen to others. We all think we do, but… really listen. For the second article in our new soft skills series (p38), former IFoA president Tan Suee Chieh describes his experience of how beneficial and career advancing this underrated art can be.
Subscriptions from outside the actuarial profession: UK: £110 per annum. Europe: £145 per annum. Rest of the world: £175 per annum.
Contact: The Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, 7th floor, Holborn Gate, 326-330 High Holborn, London WC1V 7PP.
+44 (0)20 7632 2100 kate.pearce@actuaries.org.uk.
Changes of address: please notify the membership department. membership@actuaries.org.uk
Delivery queries: contact Rachel Young rachel.young@redactive.co.uk
Published by the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA).
The editor and the IFoA are not responsible for the opinions put forward in The Actuary. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form, or by any means, without prior written permission of the copyright owners.
While every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the content, the publisher and its contributors accept no responsibility for any material contained herein.
© Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, March 2023
All rights reserved ISSN 0960-457X
Listening is also the thrust of Marco Spagnuolo’s piece ‘Seek cover’ (p27). He argues that life insurers must engage with their customers more than ever right now, to keep up their premia while they’re feeling the pinch. Indeed, the European Central Bank has raised interest rates by three percentage points since last summer and markets expect at least another percentage point before rates peak. With the economic situation these days, it’s understandable that people are increasingly mindful about where they invest their money. On page 14, Tony Burdon, the CEO of campaign Make My Money Matter, urges us to think about how our pension savings impact on the world.
Finally, something totally gratis – and close to my heart. In ‘Free for all’ (p17), I share my passion for contributing back to the profession through open-source software. Happy reading!
YIANNIS PARIZAS EDITOR editor@theactuary.com
When the IFoA was formed in 2010, our two predecessor bodies agreed the governance arrangements that we retain today: an elected governing Council, a Management Board that bridges our organisation’s strategy and operations, and an Executive that advances the IFoA day by day. Add on committees, practice boards, working parties and others, and we have a large group of well-intentioned, dedicated leaders. However, this is also a group whose visions and desires sometimes conflict. The system brings both challenges and opportunities.
Council has decided it’s time to consider the system that will lead us into the future, and has instigated a comprehensive governance review with that aim. As president, I have heard from those who take comfort in our community and prioritise the connections they have made. I have heard from those who love the IFoA’s ambitious aspirations and pour their energy into securing our future. We must consider what kind of leadership structure and culture will reflect our common aims and support future generations.
This structure and culture must serve our members’ diverse wants and needs. It needs to reflect our purpose and values, strategic direction, public interest role and accountabilities, and commitment to diversity and inclusion. It should reinforce our ambition to be not just a leading professional body, but a leading global body, growing in influence and scale. Our governance must enable all these things.
Each member’s vision for how these aims should come to life will be as unique as their contribution to the IFoA. Along with Council, I look forward to recognising the IFoA’s rich history, considering its future opportunities and charting a course for our governance that will serve our members, our organisation and our profession well into the future.
When the IFoA launched its latest strategy in early 2020, we also launched a fresh organisational purpose: to be the voice of actuaries, and to support, develop and be the voice of our members.
Listening to members – through our annual member survey, at events, catching up over coffee – I see your passion and pride in being actuaries. I hear your hopes for the profession’s future. While all members genuinely want the best for the IFoA, everyone’s view of what ‘the best’ entails is different.
During the past three years, despite challenging circumstances, we have adjusted, adapted and made gigantic leaps together. The IFoA offers members more value than ever before. Our voice is heard and well-regarded in the public sphere. Financially, we are strong. While appreciating that there is always room to grow, particularly in the service experience that we offer members, I am proud of what we’ve accomplished: not just for its own sake, but also for the commitment, resilience and willingness to dare that our volunteers, members and colleagues have demonstrated in accomplishing it.
As our leadership structure and culture evolve, any change in this regard needs to be meaningful. Radical change can dazzle and inspire, but incremental change reassures and stands the test of time. True leadership requires a balance of both – and effective governance, strategy and culture along with it.
The world is changing, and we are grateful for the members who cherish our heritage and have stewarded the IFoA into the organisation it is today. We appreciate our risk-taking members who push the profession to greater heights. Whatever your hopes for the IFoA, we value what you bring to it – and I look forward to what you will bring to it next.
The Quality Assurance Scheme (QAS), the IFoA’s voluntary, outcomes-based accreditation scheme for employers of actuaries, was reviewed last year to optimise value to members. It now operates with streamlined digital-first processes, offers access to exclusive QAS insights and best practice, and supports the latest diversity standards.
Here, some actuaries from accredited organisations describe some of the benefits that QAS membership has delivered for them.
“Clients, especially those who are themselves global, want to see global accreditations, global benchmarks being met – even in regional work. It’s important to them to see that their service providers are meeting those benchmarks. QAS accreditation is well recognised.” Raghav Ohri, senior consulting actuary at Lux Actuaries & Consultants
“When we achieved QAS accreditation, I had great feedback from senior stakeholders in the organisation. It demonstrated that, even though they weren’t all actuaries and may not have been familiar with the scheme before, they did recognise that this was an important achievement, and that it was a sign of the high standards that my team and I aspire to.” Matthew Byrne,
head of actuarial function at NFUMutual
“The QAS provides reassurance on the fitnessfor-purpose of our processes from an external party. We’ve found the auditor’s recommendations on best practice and things we can do better helpful in considering how we might further improve our processes. That continual improvement, getting an external party’s view rather than just our potentially biased internal view, brings value to the accreditation.” Scott Cameron, head of actuarial and investment function at Spence & Partners
Bespoke continuing professional development (CPD) scheme
“As part of our QAS accreditation, we have chosen to opt out of the IFoA CPD programme and run our own, which I’ve helped to design – so that means we are able to directly influence the CPD carried out by colleagues to ensure their ongoing competence is maintained and is highly relevant to their role.” Jane
Curtis, senior partner at Aon
To learn more and begin the process of earning accreditation for your organisation, visit actuaries.org.uk/qas
26-27 JUNE
Following the success of 2022’s inaugural cross-practice IFoA Conference, we are delighted to announce it is returning to London this year, in person and online.
Last year saw a schedule of more than 50 sessions, panel discussions and workshops, attended both in person and virtually by more than 500 people. With so many of you telling us how valuable you found the access to cross-practice content, we’re looking forward to doing it all again this year.
This year’s conference will highlight such topics as:
The cost-of-living crisis
Life after covid
The future of pensions
The Edinburgh Reforms
Climate risks and sustainability.
Attending gives you the opportunity to extend your domain expertise and expand your knowledge of subjects beyond your field, meet and connect with peers both inside and outside of your practice area, engage in thought-provoking discussions on issues that affect us all, and feel part of the actuarial community.
Here’s a taste of the positive feedback from attendees of last year’s event:
“The conference seamlessly brought together the global actuarial community across specialisms, enabling us to grow together, using technology to its best advantage.”
“It was fascinating to see how many different fields of work colleagues had expanded into. Very inspirational and encouraging to step outside of my comfort zone and see where that leads!”
“Good to see high-quality, interesting cross-discipline content.”
Every year the IFoA recognises excellence in research by awarding prizes for outstanding research papers in actuarial science or related disciplines. These awards continue the IFoA and its predecessor bodies’ tradition of awarding excellence.
Named after a former president of the Institute of Actuaries, thePeter Clark Prize is awarded for an outstanding paper presented to or published for an actuarial audience. For 2022, this went to Tim Berry and James Sharpe for their paper ‘Asset-liability modelling in the quantum era’, published in the British Actuarial Journal in July 2021 (bit.ly/BAJ_quantum_ALM).
The judging panel agreed that the paper was original, well-structured and highly relevant, being one of the first instances in which our profession has exploredthe potential of quantum computing. Actuaries can use the paper to start developing quantum solutions to wider financial problems.
“We are honoured and grateful that our work has been recognised in this way,” said the co-authors. “There is a long history of actuaries using quantitative methods to match assets and liabilities, since the very start of the profession. The emergence of quantum computing provides another step forward in what actuaries can do. It has been a joy applying a fascinating area of science into the actuarial field.”
The Geoffrey Heywood Prize, named after another former Institute president and originating from a bequest in his will, is awarded for excellent communication and engagement with a general actuarial audience. For 2022, this went to Samal Abdikerimova and Runhuan Feng for their paper ‘Peer-to-peer multi-risk insurance and mutual aid’, published in the European Journal of Operational Research in June 2022 (bit.ly/EJOR_p2p_aid).
The panel agreed that this well-written paper developed original actuarial techniques that are theoretically sound and practically useful. It contained a high level of clear and accurate mathematical detail and had an extensive bibliography. This paper presents several seminal results in peer-to-peer insurance and mutual aid pools, and could serve as a guideline for risk allocation for peer-to-peer insurancefocused fintech start-ups.
Both of these awards are funded by the IFoA Foundation and have prize money of £1,000 each.
In addition, Benjamin Avanzi, Greg Taylor and Melantha Wang’s paper ‘SPLICE: a synthetic paid loss and incurred cost experience simulator’, published in Annals of Actuarial Science in May 2022, was Highly Commended (bit.ly/AAS_ SPLICE). This high-quality technical paper described simulation models that can be used to test estimation procedures.
The IFoA is consulting on proposals to introduce a revised Actuarial Profession Standard (APS) Z1 on ‘Duties and responsibilities of members undertaking work in relation to UK trust-based pre-paid funeral plans’. APS Z1 sets out specific ethical and professional obligations that apply, in addition to the Actuaries’ Code, for members providing advice relating to funeral plan trusts.
The proposed revised APS Z1 reflects the new regulatory framework for the pre-paid funeral planning market, overseen by the Financial Conduct Authority. For more information and to take part in the consultation, which closes 8 May at 5pm, visit bit.ly/IFoA_CurrentConsult
Are you an experienced pensions actuary who is keen to be involved in responding to pensions industry consultations? Do you have technical expertise in UK defined benefit and/or defined contribution occupational pensions, and an interest in broader social and regulatory policy? If so, the Pensions Consultations Sub-committee of the Pensions Board is looking to appoint a new member.
The sub-committee helps to shape the IFoA’s responses to parliamentary inquiries and consultations from government departments, regulators and other public interest bodies.
You will provide technical and policy input and assist with drafting and reviewing. You will work collaboratively with sub-committee members, the Pensions Board and other IFoA groups to produce consultation responses that are based on rigorous and independent analysis, that represent the views of the IFoA and that support the public interest.
For more about the role, including time commitments and how to apply, visit bit.ly/Volunteering_pensions_consult
In the January/February issue of The Actuary, we told members about our recently launched consultation on embedding diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) values into the Actuaries’ Code. Here, chair of the Regulatory Board, Neil Buckley, explains the reasoning behind this.
The Actuaries’ Code is the ethical code that sets out the expected behaviours and conduct for all actuaries who are members of the IFoA. One of its tenets is that members must show respect for others – and an important aspect of respect is how we react and respond to people who are different from us. Such differences can manifest themselves in many
forms – not just gender, race or sexuality, but also background and education.
The IFoA also recognises that diversity of thought leads to new ideas, improved approaches and enhanced outputs.
Diversity of thought comes from a diversity of people. To ensure the IFoA’s membership and our workplaces are diverse, we as individuals, groups,
companies and a society need to actively remove barriers and encourage inclusion. Only then can we harness our differences, which will provide opportunities to broaden our horizons and start thinking and acting in new ways.
For these reasons, we feel it’s appropriate to embed DEI in the Code. The proposed changes amplify existing obligations to make it clear that members, when
showing respect for others, should consider how this manifests itself in the context of DEI.
To find out more, join Neil Buckley to discuss these proposals at our consultation webinar on 29 March. Or visit bit.ly/IFoA_CurrentConsult if you would like to take part in the consultation.
IFoA Conference: 26 – 27 June 2023, etc. venues, London
Asia Conference: 12 – 13 September, KL Convention Centre, Malaysia
GIRO Conference: 1 – 3 November 2023, EICC Edinburgh
Life Conference: 22 – 24 November 2023, ICC Birmingham
“As an exhibitor you’re never sure if you’ll get the footfall at a conference but the IFoA run a superb event. Great speakers and well organised means they run smoothly and have a great atmosphere. This ensures we get loads of networking time, a chance to spot the people we want to see and probably arrange more follow-up meetings in two days than we get from the rest of the year.”
HFG, Exhibitors at the IFoA Conference, GIRO and Life 2022.
IFoA communities is a place for you to link up globally, discuss emerging topics, learn from experts, meet like-minded individuals and collaborate in an organic, easy-to-navigate environment.
Our practice area boards, committee members and volunteers have spent the past few months building a rich and active community, ready for you to join hot-topic debates and access a range of engaging actuarial content.
“Through IFoA communities, I have made connections with actuaries from different practice areas and locations. The platform has created a vibrant community where we are more able to engage in idea sharing – something that was not possible without it. I have had insightful discussions with student and qualified actuaries about non-exam related topics, such as sustainability.”
Simbarashe Manzungu, data analytics consultant at Deloitte (Zimbabwe) and research volunteer in the IFoA Sustainability Volunteer Group
“The communities platform is a really easy way to be in touch with actuaries I have known for years, and also to liaise with actuaries that I am meeting for the first time now.
“I have joined the Life and Sustainability groups, both of which are going to be useful in my work. The Sustainability group provides easy access to a weekly news update newsletter and other great resources.
IFoA communities is a space built by members for members, where you can quickly and easily find relevant practice area information, events and resources, and share your views on IFoA initiatives and activities.
“I have already exchanged messages and had meetings with people who work in different actuarial disciplines and indeed different continents from me. I expect that the platform will enable connections easily.”
Patrick Cleary, senior actuary at the Prudential Regulation Authority and member of the IFoA Sustainability Board
You can start or join a discussion on any subject in our all-member forum or take part in topic-based discussions in our community group forums. The forums are great places to collaborate, learn and problem-solve with your peers, as well as keep up with emerging topics and debates in your areas of interest. You can also start your own discussion on topics you want to hear about.
It’s easy to find and connect with your peers and colleagues in IFoA communities. Click on the Members tab to see who else is online, or search for community members by geography, job title or shared areas of interest.
Once you have connected with someone initially, you can then contact them by direct message.
Visit our community groups to find out more about our practice areas and discuss hot topics and the latest research in the community group forum. You can explore topics in depth through the community collection of The Actuary articles, new blog posts on developments in the field and links to relevant community resources.
IFoA communities is your new online digital community. Here’s how to get started on the platform
You can also subscribe to daily or weekly email digests so you don’t miss any new community publications, discussions or activities – a great way for you to stay up to date. By joining community groups, you can connect with like-minded individuals and collaborate on topics that are of interest to you. You can share interesting resources and updates by posting on the community group home page or run polls to get a snapshot of your peers’ views on emerging issues.
You will be able to read the latest practice area board updates, which cover recent board initiatives and activities, and stay abreast of volunteer vacancies and opportunities to get involved. Meanwhile, in our IFoA highlights area, you can explore the latest IFoA news, updates and events.
If you haven’t already joined IFoA communities, simply log into your members’ area on the IFoA website (actuaries.org.uk/user) and click on the IFoA communities logo.
Once you have logged into IFoA communities, the platform instructions will explain how to set up your profile and get started. As soon as you set up your profile, you’ll be able to create a new discussion or join an existing one, and contact other community members directly.
You can learn more about IFoA communities by signing up to any of our platform events and demonstrations. All our IFoA communities support events are listed under ‘communities events’ in our IFoA highlights area; simply click on the event you would like to attend and then on ‘register’.
Join
For links to IFoA events and IFoA news, find them in the announcements section.
In one click you can navigate to a range of resources that will support your career development, including our virtual learning environment, the IFoA buddy system, careers blog content and The Actuary jobs board.
You can also keep up with the latest IFoA press releases, social media posts and podcast feed, all in one place.
Now you have the details, why not go and find out all about it for yourself? Don’t forget to spread the word to your friends and colleagues in the industry. This initiative really offers something worthwhile for everyone.
our new actuarial digital community. We look forward to welcoming you
In April, the Climate Risk and Sustainability course will be one year old. During its first year, we welcomed 155 participants and awarded 148 certificates. Members from more than 19 countries came together at the seminars to discuss and share what they had learnt.
Before the course was launched, a team of volunteer members worked with the IFoA for more than a year to devise, curate and create the content for the nine modules.
From the moment we opened the course for bookings, we saw huge interest from members and, after the first one, we were quickly able to double the cohort size to meet the demand.
Participant Sian Eltman told us that the key takeaways for her were “just how serious and imminent an issue combatting climate change is, and how actuaries can play a key role in encouraging and assisting our clients, members, policyholders,
regulated entities and related stakeholders in a smooth transition to a net-zero world.”
The opportunity for members to learn in diverse groups is also a benefit of this online course; Sian said that it opened her eyes to “people living in areas that are already experiencing the consequences of climate change and how they are working to combat the issue”.
The course has appealed to a wide range of members and is a unique opportunity to come together and think about the impact of climate change.
The three course dates that we ran last year have given us great insight into what members want from taking part in it, and it is pleasing to see that more than 94% of participants would go on to recommend it to colleagues.
Given the pace of change in the climate change arena, our team of volunteers came together to review and refresh the materials for the coming year, and take into
Explore views from across the profession at blog.actuaries.org.uk
How did the COVID-19 pandemic impact accelerated critical illness and the causes of claims?
Chris Reynolds, chair of the CMI assurances committee, discusses the recently published Working Paper 167 bit.ly/Covid_ACI_claims
account comments we’d received from the first three courses. Their insights were that there is a balance to be struck between information overload and enabling members to grow their knowledge, apply the lessons to the workplace and feel encouraged to undertake further learning, as the subject is complex and so vast.
For this year, we will continue to build on the success of the course. The first of our 2023 courses began in January, with more to follow in April, July and October. For information, including how to book, visit: bit.ly/Climate_risk_sust
The Climate Risk and Sustainability course is one way in which the IFoA is supporting its goal in making climate-related risk understood and generally considered by members – in the same way that we understand and consider other major life risks, such as interest rates and mortality.
IFoA Conference 2023: collaboration to bring wider perspectives
Sophie Wright and Shuyan Liang, co-chairs of the IFoA Conference 2023 organising committee, preview the event. bit.ly/IFoA_Conf_2023
How actuaries are using artificial intelligence and machine learning
Chris Paterson, who works at the Government Actuary’s Department, explains its research into this area. bit.ly/Actuaries_AI_ML
In the ‘Project New Horizon’ article in the Jan/Feb 2023 issue, we incorrectly billed the initiative as an IFoA programme. Project New Horizon is separate from the IFoA, and is an independent group comprising a number of IFoA members.
P22 Brain power
Processors that work like the human brain could be about to expand the possibilities of risk management
P30 Data detective
Artificial intelligence is all over the news – but how could it help investors?
P38 Is anybody out there?
Actuaries have a duty to speak up, says Tan Suee Chieh – but we need to start by listening
COVER STORY
The balance of power in the jobs market has tipped in favour of employees, says Austin Brislen P24
P27 Seek cover
Boosting life insurance engagement in tough times
Overleaf
Interview with Make My Money Matter’s Tony Burdon
P17 Free for all
Sharing the benefits of open-source programming
P20 Figuring it out
How qualifying led one actuary to psychology
P33 Rising in the East
How three women from across Asia rose to the top
P36 By halves
What can be done to close the gender pensions gap?
ony Burdon’s career has long been driven by his desire to make a positive impact. This has been the north star that has guided him across the world, from poor villages to disaster zones and back to the UK, each role building on the last. As CEO of Make My Money Matter, he steers a successful campaign that engages and empowers UK pension scheme members to demand positive change for a better future.
Burdon got his start with development charity Voluntary Service Overseas. Fresh out of university, civil engineering degree in hand, he was sent to Malawi to work on projects bringing water to villages. Seeing the impact of running water on the villagers’ lives was formative. “That was it – I could use my skills to help people,” he explains. “I decided I was going to work in international development for the rest of my life.”
On returning from Malawi, he joined Oxfam as a humanitarian engineer, working to establish water infrastructure and sanitation in refugee camps and war zones from Angola to Rwanda, Somalia to Iraq. He enjoyed the work, but found it relentless: “You go from one disaster to another, one emergency to another, unable to tackle causes.”
Facing burnout, Burdon undertook a master’s degree in development studies before returning to Oxfam to manage overseas programmes. He then moved to policy work and represented Oxfam on the board of Jubilee 2000, a campaign that drove the cancellation of more than US$100bn of debt owed by 35 of the world’s poorest countries. Seeing the power of finance to achieve “impact at scale” was another watershed moment.
His next move was to the Treasury, where he joined a team advising the then-chancellor Gordon Brown on international development. He worked
there for five years, with highlights including working with Sir Nicholas Stern on the prime minister’s Commission for Africa. He then tried a core Treasury job in taxation, but did not find the work motivating and ended up moving to the now-defunct Department for International Development (DFID), working in Nepal and Nigeria, as well as in London.
It was while he was leading DFID’s private sector department, grappling with the challenge of mobilising investment into developing countries, that Burdon started talking to screenwriter and director Richard Curtis about “a campaign to let investment ‘make poverty history’”. Curtis and former government special adviser Jo Corlett developed these ideas, consulting widely, including with industry, to co-found Make My Money Matter (MMMM). Burdon later joined as CEO and launched the campaign in 2020.
MMMM aims to “give people more voice and choice around how their money is invested”, Burdon explains. An influence on the campaign was a TED talk by Dr Bronwyn King, an oncologist who saw the impacts of the tobacco industry first-hand while working on a lung cancer ward. After meeting her pensions representative, she was horrified to discover that her pension was invested in tobacco companies.
UK pension scheme members collectively have £3trn of savings but many people are not engaged with their pensions. Burdon believes this lack of engagement is a key driver of the misalignment between people’s values and their investments, as in King’s case. “People know they are not saving enough, they’re scared, and when they’re scared, they freeze,” he says. He thinks a lot of people avoid looking at their pension, but this only leads to worse outcomes.
TYears working in international development showed Tony Burdon, head of Make My Money Matter, that sustainable pensions can harness trillions of pounds to build a better world – at a scale governments and charities can’t. He talks to Travis Elsum
A good way to increase engagement, he argues, is “to help pension members understand what impact their investments have on the world around them, and then try to align that in a way that meets with their values.” The climate emergency is one area over which pension scheme members have deep concerns, and they are often shocked to realise that the money in their pension has contributed to the problem.
MMMM’s impressive level of success during its three years of existence shows that it is possible to engage people with their pensions, and the financial services industry would do well to learn from it. Brand recognition has reached 42%, and is even higher among the under-30s, at 60%. This has been helped by witty and shareable social media messaging and videos.
One such message is the ‘21x challenge’: the idea that greening your pension is 21 times more effective at cutting carbon than other lifestyle tweaks, such as stopping flying and going vegetarian. This figure is based on analysis supported by Aviva and sustainability consultancy Route2, Burdon explains: they compared a conventional global investment fund’s emissions with those of a sustainable fund for a £30,000 pension pot, and then compared that difference with the emissions savings associated with lifestyle choices.
He acknowledges that the analysis has limitations but explains that it is primarily designed to get people thinking about the impact of their savings. “No one talks about pensions, and it is your second biggest financial asset after your house, if you’re lucky enough to own one.”
MMMM has conducted surveys to better understand what is important to pension savers. The general message is clear and simple: “They want their money to be doing the right things, and are shocked when they find out it isn’t,” says Burdon.
According to surveys carried out by MMMM, 60%–70% of pension scheme members want their pension to be invested in sustainability. Deforestation and climate change are the top two issues but they are also concerned about gender equality, diversity and workforce conditions.
Burdon argues that aligning with pension scheme members’ values is not a trade-off but a prudent approach to optimising risk-adjusted long-term returns, considering the commitments and momentum behind a sustainable transition. He points out that more than 50 leading schemes in the UK –totalling some £1.5trn in assets – have committed to net zero. “Where do you want to be?” he asks. “Do you want to invest in the companies of the future or the dinosaur industries of the past? If we know that all companies will eventually align with net zero, that’s where you need to be heading.”
Once people are aware of their pension’s impact, MMMM helps them understand how to use it to drive positive change. It has focused on getting default funds to align with net zero. “We’re saying to people, demand that your fund changes,” says Burdon.
To this end, MMMM has email templates on its website for people who want to contact
their pension fund. If their fund has not made a net-zero commitment, pension scheme members are encouraged to pressure it to do so. If it has, MMMM encourages members to hold it to account by asking for further details, including short-term emissions reduction targets, better stewardship and plans for eliminating deforestation.
MMMM is planning to release a consumerfacing report this year that will rank how well funds are performing on climate change and deforestation. It will consider emissions targets, deforestation policies, proxy voting records, changes in portfolio emissions intensity and stewardship, among other criteria. Burdon believes the report will provide “the sort of information consumers should have. And then I think people –as well as employers – can start to make more informed pension choices.”
He acknowledges that it will take time to get the balance right in providing accessible and beneficial sustainability information to pension investors. He points to progress on reporting initiatives, such as the Taskforce on Climate-Related Finance Disclosures and the International Sustainability Standards Board, and believes we will eventually see “impact information, such as climate disclosures or workforce conditions, routinely coming from companies as part of their financial reporting”.
Burdon mentions that a fellow MMMM board member has a T-shirt that says ‘accountants will save the world’, and wonders if it should say ‘actuaries’. He recognises the profession’s sustainability commitments and work in this space, and acknowledges that actuaries have “a deep understanding of risk and the management of it”. The profession could be more vigorous in clarifying what the risks are to finance and to people and planet, he notes, and needs to play a leadership role in moving financial institutions forward.
He reflects on his time as a humanitarian engineer, thrown into disaster situations where everyone would work relentlessly to save lives. With the impacts of climate change set to become more pervasive, frequent and severe, he asks actuaries and the finance sector as a whole to treat their work on sustainability risks and managing the net-zero transition with the same urgency and effort. “What’s the use of retiring in a world on fire?”
Greening your pension is 21 times more effective at cutting carbon than stopping flying or going vegan
Coding: those who love it can benefit those who don’t by creating open-source tools. Yiannis Parizas outlines two popular data science programming languages, and the simulator he devised and shared
An open-source programming language is one that is not proprietary; the source code is accessible for the public to view, modify and redistribute. R is an example of one such language. It is specialised in statistical analysis, and rich in packages for data visualisation, processing, analysis and reporting. It is one of the IFoA’s ‘preferred’ programming languages and is now included in the CS1 and CS2 exam curricula.
The IFoA’s official guide to installing and using R can be found at bit.ly/IFoA_RGuide
Insurers can use R to perform analysis in all areas of pricing, reserving and capital modelling, and there are already specialised R packages that support our work. There are significant benefits in creating and sharing such packages with the public.
Alongside R, Python is the other open-source language that is popular in insurance. While R is specialised in statistical analysis, Python is a multipurpose programming language. Users occasionally opt for Python because it is considered more robust for production and has a larger community of users –and therefore more resources – for non-statistically specialised tools. An example is when deploying a machine learning model or pricing infrastructure as an application programming interface (API); here, Python wins out over R. Moreover, R is perceived as harder for a beginner to learn, and IT department colleagues are more likely to have knowledge of Python. Both languages have a large community of users but R has a larger academic community. This means that newer technologies from statistical research are likely to appear in R before Python.
In general, Python is faster than R, but both are slow compared to languages such as C, C++ and Rust. The insurance industry uses R and Python because they have many of the tools we need built-in, providing a degree of programming ease that outweighs the loss of speed.
The most widely used data analysis tool in our industry is still Microsoft Excel, whose main benefit is that everyone can use and understand it. Traditionally, analyses and tools have generally been run through Excel – but this has started to change, with external programming languages being better in terms of scaling and automation.
Excel’s capacity shows its limits as datasets get bigger. Users can access more powerful tools, such as PowerPivot in Excel x64 and PowerBI, but not everyone has experience with these. Excel can be automated with VBA, the programming language embedded within it, but this is slow compared with R and Python. A simulation of 250,000 years with a high claim frequency could take VBA a couple of hours to run, while R or Python would take a few minutes. Considering this, a commercial business may opt to upskill its employees in R or Python to benefit from time savings in the medium term.
Another issue with VBA is that it does not have as big a data science community as R or Python, so there are not as many packages and resources available for actuarial use. R and Python are easily reproducible, enable connection to multiple data sources, and can share reports or tools with other users through tools such as Markdown or Shiny, or an API. In addition, VBA’s syntax is not as clean as those of R and Python.
However, it should be noted that while use of Excel is declining for more complex work, we will still use it for a long time because of its ease, transparency and flexibility for simple calculations.
R packages are extensions of the R programming language. Packages may contain code or functions, data and documentations in a standardised format. The author can also set automated tests to spot bugs in the code. Documentation can be per function or vignette (longer guides in which the authors may include proofs, use case studies etc). Documentation per function is summarised in the reference manual and you can access it in R while you have the package loaded by typing “?function_name”.
R contributors can share their code through centralised software repositories. The most common repository for R is the Comprehensive R Archive Network (CRAN), which is supported by the R Foundation. This is where the packages come from, by default, when you run “install.packages(package_name)”. Alternatively, users can share their code with software development services that offer both internal and public access, such as GitHub and GitLab.
The ability to publish and share code internally means companies can reap the benefits of an open-source language while keeping developments confidential, internally controlled and secure. Developments are secured by file keys, and permissions are centrally governed. Backups are made for every change to the code and changes can easily be reverted. Python works in the same way. CRAN’s benefit for open-source contributing is that the package will install easily with the standard command and must conform to a relatively strict specification, ensuring a better user experience. The requirements include a standardised documentation format, a directory structure and metadata. When R is installed, it comes with 15 base packages and an additional 15 recommended packages.
For those who love coding and enjoy giving back to the profession, there are many benefits in contributing to open-source projects. You can develop your coding skills and learn about technical aspects in a practical way, both of which are valuable for employers looking to make internal developments.
In collaborating with others, you learn from them and their perspectives, and improve your teamwork and communication skills. You learn to accept and understand feedback in order to improve. The more you get involved with projects, the more confident you become in your skills, which can help in interviews and work presentations. You can also make a reputation for yourself in the open-source community, meeting people and forming a network that could help you land a job that utilises your coding abilities, if that is something you are interested in.
Another benefit is that you will stay up to date with the industry’s latest technologies and tools. You will have access to open-source tools in every job (unless IT security does not allow it), which is not the case with licensed software, and the skills you develop through your contributions will be available to your employer. It really is a win-win.
Companies can reap the benefits of an open-source language while keeping developments confidential
I published the R package NetSimR in CRAN (bit.ly/CRAN_NetSimR) to accompany two previous articles I wrote for The Actuary, ‘Taken to excess’ (March 2019) and ‘Escaping the triangle’ (June 2019). NetSimR has been downloaded by users around 14,000 times so far, which I don’t think is bad for an actuarial product!
The first version of the tool included functions that calculated the analytical mean of capped severity distributions, expanding to increased limit factor curves, exposure curves from severity distributions, and pure incurred but not reported claims functions. Here, I will focus on the latest update to the package: adding a claims simulation tool.
Many (re)insurers have Excel versions of tools to run analyses and simulate claims, usually using VBA. As we have already noted, such tools are slow and cannot handle hundreds of thousands of simulations or a very high claims frequency. Proprietary tools such as MetaRisk can handle more complex setups, but actuaries do not always have a licence, or indeed the experience and training, to use such tools. In addition, many practitioners, especially those from the older generation, are not familiar with coding in R. An R tool with a front end would allow them to use this language without having to code.
The aim was to set up a claims simulation tool with a user interface that could be used by people without coding experience. It would not capture every complex scenario but basic cases; more complex cases could be handled through external manipulation and multiple simulation analyses.
Initially, the tool was set up using CUDA (Nvidia’s programming language that runs on graphics processing units) and C#.net. The implementation and production set-up were complex and could not easily be shared with other people. Simulation speed was therefore sacrificed and the tool rewritten in pure R, with the front end in Shiny – an R package
that allows the functions to be used via a website using buttons and other inputs, thus turning the code into an app.
My claims simulation tool, the NetSimR simulator, is a website that can be used by those without any coding knowledge, using the following R commands: install.packages(“NetSimR”) (only when using the simulator for the first time, to
install or update the package) library(“NetSimR”) run_shiny_simulator()
Once the user runs the simulator, two buttons appear so that they can export the results – either by saving the simulation data as a CSV file or outputting an HTML report produced by a markdown file.
Yiannis explains his open-source tool, NetSimR
Wendy Johnson recalls how qualifying as an actuary and running her own consultancy in the US allowed her to overcome shyness and gave her essential skills for life
is a professor of psychology at the University of Edinburgh
From an early age, my mother had figured I’d become a scientist. Not just any scientist, either, but one worthy of a Nobel Prize. With that came expectations of A-grades all the way – but also constant scoldings, my behaviour always wrong, wrong, wrong. In my second undergraduate year reading maths at Occidental College in Los Angeles, I got a B in my organic chemistry module. “Wendy,” my mother said, “you have ruined your average!”
It hit me like a cold, dirty rag across the face: I realised I’d grown up under ridiculously high standards, and dumped them there and then. I didn’t quit school, get into drugs or take off hitchhiking – but I did disengage, spending hours staring at my dorm room wall, my mind a jumble. B-grades accumulated.
Gradually, though, I pieced together my life story, helped by my mother’s chest of mementoes, which included letters from her family and former beaus. She’d always said I was like my father, not her, but two things became clear: she and I were more alike than she claimed, and she’d been similarly wrong, wrong, wrong, according to her father.
I realised that I had my own life to lead and that it didn’t matter what she thought. Driven by curiosity, I resumed active study, but I knew that my next step would be the workplace, not academia.
When I graduated in the late 1970s, the US economy was wretched: high inflation, high unemployment and jobs scarce as hen’s teeth. Especially the kind of job I wanted: challenging, interesting, using my degree in pure maths. No one was looking for people to do abstract maths with no practical use.
Lowering my horizons, I managed to get two offers: one as a trainee design engineer and one as an insurance underwriter. I took the latter because I liked the people better, despite it paying much less. While fun at first, it became boring as soon as I’d mastered it. Now what?
I ran into a friend who said the pension consulting group he worked for was hiring. I’d always known that the actuarial profession was an option for mathematical types, but had never pursued it because it didn’t involve the pure maths I loved. But, I thought, why not for now? I applied. They took me on. Later, they told me that I’d appeared shy and uncertain in the interview, but so determined that they’d hired me anyway. That was me then – painfully socially hesitant but dogged when pursuing something.
I quickly rose up the ranks, first in pensions and then in casualty work, mostly for public agencies that had formed self-insurance pools – all of which had been cancelled by the global insurance industry in the late 1970s. The demands to convey myself with ‘executive presence’ increased. It isn’t something I can do, but I figured out my own way – to the point where my husband (also an actuary) and I set up and ran our own consultancy for a decade in the 1990s.
The abilities to come across as competent and to help others are some of the primary skills I gained while working in the profession. It also showed me that my insistence on conceptual understandings makes me creative in addressing problems and coming up with insights. Both are valuable in life.
What makes us tick?
I had two children and, boy, were they different, despite their shared home and genetics. Psychology had always interested me, and now I was dying to know how genes and environments intertwine to make us who we are. I did background courses and swapped actuarial work for a PhD at the University of Minnesota, studying behaviour genetics and individual differences. When I finished, a post opened at the University of Edinburgh, where I have been a professor since 2015.
Now, when I come to understand all that can be done in one area, I move to another, expanding on theories, so there’s always a new challenge. I have found that my experience in actuarial business and with clients has enriched my interpretations of psychological and practical realities.
What have I learned? I believe our genes are ‘toolboxes’ that we’re born with, blunt instruments but highly flexible, like Lego bricks that can be put together in any number of ways, to create anything from wasps to spaceships. And that’s how we live – constantly cobbling our tools together to meet what is thrown our way.
If you can slog through the actuarial exams, you’ve got wide horizons. Put your genetic toolbox to work and explore them!
Microprocessors are the heart and soul of modern-day computing. Their processing power has grown exponentially over time, while their size has diminished. While this processing power has been adequate for most general purposes, the advent of the fourth industrial revolution has set the bar higher. Models and machines powered by artificial intelligence (AI) require more powerful and energy-efficient processors with smaller form factors, but traditional processors have reached their limits in terms of miniaturisation and energy consumption. This has resulted in the need for a new chip design that can cater to the present-day requirements of smart devices and autonomous vehicles.
Neuromorphic computing tries to mimic the functioning of neurons in the human brain, using biologically realistic computational models. It achieves a brain-like function by using electronic nodes that act as neurons and electrical signals that act as synapses connecting
the neurons. An input from a sensory organ triggers the brain through a series of electrochemical reactions. Similarly, neuromorphic processors are triggered by discrete events and powered by a series of electrical impulses or spikes. These spike trains, as they are known, are propagated by the third generation of neural networks, called spiking neural networks.
What’s the advantage?
Neuromorphic computing co-locates both the memory and processing together, made possible by the use of special electrical components known as
memristors. This architecture eliminates the Von Neumann bottleneck (the idea that computer-system throughput is limited by the ability of the processor), greatly improving the processing speed and reducing power consumption. Event-driven computation makes these processors all the more energy efficient. The neurons’ architecture enables a high level of parallel processing. All neurons and synapses can work simultaneously on the same or different activities. Multiple neuromorphic processors can be scaled to form one single large network of neurons and
cere Sllftdffiit Thlttihiii
The latest microchips mimic cerebral function. Smaller, faster and more efficient than their predecessors, they have the potential to save lives and help insurers, argues Amarnath Suggu
synapses, drastically increasing computation power.
Studies carried out by Intel showed neuromorphic processors outperforming traditional processors in terms of processing times and energy efficiency: they were nearly 100 times faster and 1,000 times more efficient. They also learned subtle differences in images, including different human gestures, very quickly when compared with existing processors.
Use in insurance
Risk management is inherent to the insurance business. With the advent of the Internet of Things (IoT) (everyday objects with WiFi capabilities built in) and the abundance of data coming from
connected devices, insurers have shifted to risk prevention. By analysing the data from IoT devices, insurers can alert customers to risks in a timely manner, or trigger actions to prevent loss of life or property damage.
Unfortunately, most IoT data is analysed by power-hungry AI models that are hosted on servers. Owing to their size and energy needs, they are usually hosted in the cloud or on the edge (at or near the user or data source’s physical location). As a result, the data has to be transmitted from the source to the cloud or edge. Data analysis outcomes are then transmitted back to the source to trigger an alert or a necessary preventive action. The use of traditional computing processors thus involves delays to the triggering of alerts or preventive actions.
Due to their smaller form factors and power efficiencies, neuromorphic processors enable AI models to be hosted at the source of the data itself. This eliminates the transit delays that exist in earlier models. More importantly, it opens the doors to newer business models and encourages insurers to explore innovative ways of preventing risks and saving lives.
Some of the many possible everyday uses of neuromorphic chips
All vehicles – Connected cars and trucks are equipped with cameras, Internet of Things (IoT) sensors and telematic devices. The data from these is transmitted to a server, where an AI model senses distracted or reckless driving and sends a response back to alert the driver and the authorities. Given the speeds at which cars travel and the possibility of a no-signal zone, the alert can sometimes be too late.
Autonomous cars – Self-driving cars generate nearly 40 terabytes of data per hour and navigate using camera footage. A fully autonomous car (with Level 5 Advanced Driver Assistance Systems) performs nearly 4,000trn operations per second. Neuromorphic processors can make onboard AI engines a reality, helping to process the data faster and prevent accidents in real time while conserving power.
AMARNATH SUGGU is a senior consultant in the BFSI Technology unit at Tata Consultancy Services
Neuromorphic computing has come a long way since its inception in the early 1980s. Many organisations have successfully conducted experiments demonstrating that these new processors are computationally more powerful and energy efficient than traditional ones, as well as requiring a much smaller footprint.
Neuromorphic processors have improved AI’s processing capabilities and allowed it to be deployed at source. As a result, it can identify unknown and known risks much more quickly than earlier models. Insurers should recognise the advantages of neuromorphic processors and adopt them to prevent accidents – and, more importantly, to save lives.
Drones – Insurers use drones to inspect roof and crop damage, and determine the extent of flood damage. A drone’s flight is usually limited by data storage capacity and visibility, necessitating multiple trips and making it difficult to assess damage quickly. Neuromorphic processor-based AI engines on board can help drones to auto-navigate and process the feed in-situ, so damage can be seen in real time. This could expedite claim processing or underwriting.
Accessories – IoT wearables collect vital statistics from the human body and upload this data to an edge server (usually a mobile phone) for analysis by an AI engine. Neuromorphic computing enables this data to be processed within the item itself, without draining the battery. This eliminates transit and processing delays, and can let a user know, for example, that they need to see a doctor immediately. This could improve the survival rates of patients with critical heart illnesses.
Long-term care – Patients in care are monitored, either in person or via a camera, and help is dispatched when required. Neuromorphic processors can identify subtle human expressions, gestures and positions in footage to determine whether a person needs assistance. They can also be incorporated into a robot, which can remind the person to exercise or take medication. This could reduce medical claims and lower premia.
easier we th become accustome even monumental c become the
It’s easier than we think to become accustomed to change; even monumental changes quickly become the ‘new norm’. It’s only when we contrast these new norms with the past that we fully comprehend the shift
The past few years have been turbulent for the UK, from covid to economic and political turmoil – 2022 alone saw us go through four chancellors and three prime ministers. The economic fallout hit the profession in September, when highly skilled actuaries saved pension schemes from the liability-driven investment crisis.
The actuarial market has not been immune to this volatility and in my view, having recruited actuaries since 2010, employees’ influence has never been greater – representing a power shift away from employers.
Five to 10 years ago, a ‘typical’ recruitment process would involve candidates attending a minimum of two or three face-to-face interviews. The client would invite at least three candidates for a final-stage interview, with the decision often taking more than a week, and they would nearly always secure their first-choice candidate. If they were to lose this candidate to a counter offer, they would revert to the second choice. In short, they would, nine times out of 10, fill the role at a pace that suited them. Searching for a role was tough for candidates, although there were still some great opportunities in the market. However, competition was intense, and while I would not say employees were ‘on the back foot’, it was certainly not an equal power dynamic.
Fast forward to 2023 and the tables have turned. It is now the candidate who
has a minimum of three employers lined up for final interview, the candidate who knows they are likely to come away with three offers, and the candidate who knows they are in the driving seat.
What tipped the scales?
No single factor caused the imbalance of power; rather, it was widespread market pressures and a few issues specific to the profession. Demand for talent has simply outstripped supply, and actuaries know how to use this to their advantage.
Demand for actuarial talent has been unprecedented during the past few years, following a long period of sustained growth. The Actuary Jobs, for example, had 787 live job vacancies at the start of Q1 2023 – a 48.5% increase on the figure at the start of Q1 2013, which was 530. This insatiable demand is not limited to the actuarial profession; the overall UK labour market is witnessing off-the-scale demand, and reached a record number of vacancies in 2022.
The immense value that actuaries provide to employers has seen most firms increase headcount on a net positive basis, year on year. The 48.5% increase in demand between 2013 and 2023 is encouraging. The number of actuarial employers did not increase by anywhere near this figure during that period, indicating that growth in demand has been driven by existing firms expanding their actuarial headcount.
All areas of the profession have been implementing regulatory reforms (such as guaranteed minimum pension equalisation, IFRS 17 and the Financial Conduct Authority Pricing Review), and this has placed a huge burden on employers. These programmes are resourced through external hires and by
The upheaval of the past few years means life is sweet for job-hunters, who now have top choice, says recruiter Austin Brislen
The u few y sweet f now ha recru
seconding internal employees from their business-as-usual (BAU) roles. These programmes have directly fuelled demand by recruiting straight onto the programme, as well as indirectly, by backfilling secondees’ BAU roles.
Regulatory reforms aside, there has been plenty of additional demand from employers’ own internal programmes. The profession has been a hive of ingenuity and modernisation, with many employers establishing internal transformation programmes that cover systems, digitalisation and the embedding of machine learning and artificial intelligence.
On top of this, we’ve now started to feel the impacts of Brexit, which has cut off a constant and easy-to-access supply of European talent. While there are still ways to secure overseas actuaries, not all employers have taken to this, citing the cost and complexity involved.
It can feel as though people blame covid whenever something isn’t working in any part of society. However, two specific consequences of covid have impacted both ends of the actuarial profession. First, 2020 saw reduced levels of graduate intake, for obvious reasons. The impact of this reduction will bite later, although it is important to recognise the employers who went above and beyond to onboard new starters during lockdown.
A less talked-about consequence is the delayed retirement plans of many actuarial professionals – who would want to retire in the middle of a pandemic? The knock-on effect of this is that we are seeing higher levels of retirement in 2022-23, further reducing supply and valuable expertise.
Finally, we must acknowledge that the profession has started to suffer a greater level of attrition to ‘non-traditional’ actuarial fields – anything from gaming or gambling to data science. Notwithstanding the changing supply and demand dynamic, employees have capitalised on this, and it is partly why the shift in power has been so evident.
When I first started recruiting actuaries in 2010, LinkedIn was in its infancy, with a mere 65 million users. Fast forward to the end of 2022 and the site had 850 million users worldwide, including a large actuarial
membership in the UK, all engaging with recruiters, employers and content around careers and their value.
Post-pandemic, many employees have refreshed their attitudes towards work. Some have a new perspective on work-life balance, and renewed expectations of what employers should offer. In general, actuaries are more assured of their value than ever before, and have embraced the job-rich market with optimism and opportunism.
The implications are far-reaching for employers, who have been navigating an unusually complex market for the past two years. In 2023, the biggest threat to employers’ talent strategy will not be failing to hire on time or to hire enough staff, but failing to retain their current workforce.
To remain on the front foot, employers should initiate conversations around employee rewards, career progression and skill development goals.
The impact of lower intake levels during the pandemic will be seen in 2023–24, especially for employers that predominantly recruit at the part-qualified level of three to five years. We have seen graduate recruitment increase dramatically across the market, driven by a greater degree of succession planning around key skills, predicted attrition rates and future projects.
The market will also see upward pressure on salaries – particularly external hires. In 2022, we saw permanent employees achieve an average pay increase of 16.1% by changing employer.
One person who has seen the shift from an employer’s perspective is Jay Stewart,
pricing and underwriting director at AA Insurance, who notes that market changes are forcing employers to engage with talent in a more agile way. “Employers used to see several strong candidates in a multistage interview process,” he says. “They now need to be fleet of foot to respond to the best candidates before they lose out to their competitors.”
The implications for employees, on the other hand, are overwhelmingly positive. They’ll have a better choice of roles, a better choice of employers, better remuneration, better flexibility, better interview processes and a better negotiating position with both new and current employers.
Those who are on the fence about changing jobs should be aware of the pitfalls. The market is busy and fast paced, and if you are not fully committed to your job search it may be overwhelming. Before investing time and energy into an external recruitment process, it is first advisable to talk with your current employer to resolve any concerns –rather than doing this when sitting on three or four offers from other employers.
Contractors have also benefited from an increase in employee power, although not on the scale of their permanent counterparts – the competition to secure a contract role is higher and, due to their project-led nature, roles often come in peaks and troughs. It is worth noting, however, that day rates have climbed steadily during the past few years, post-IR35.
The advice I would give to employees considering making a move in 2023 is: make the most of these unusual dynamics while you can, and set out on your search with clear objectives.
My top tips for employers recruiting in 2023 are: speed up and simplify your recruitment process, think of alternate ways to fill roles, and remember that candidates are interviewing you as well.
Employers need to be fleet of foot to respond to the best candidates before they lose out
Inflation dominated headlines around the world in 2022. The magnitude of its increase caught many by surprise and the double-digit inflation rate, largely driven by energy and food costs, has brought back memories of the 1970s for many. The latest reports suggest that price pressure is easing, with inflation in Europe expected to fall to 6.3% in 2023 as current drivers fade and monetary policies kick in. Nevertheless, the consensus is that inflationary pressure is here to stay, with headline inflation expected to remain above the European Central Bank’s target of 2% until 2025, according to Issue 8 of the Bank’s Economic Bulletin (EB8) in 2022.
Due to rising interest rates (caused by central banks’ restrictive monetary policies), the Eurozone’s economic activity is also cooling. The second half of 2022 saw GDP slow down compared to the first six months of the year, and that trend is expected to continue at least during the initial part of 2023. Projections for the Eurozone have been revised downwards and set real GDP growth at 0.5% in 2023 according to EB8, with a mild contraction at the beginning of the year and a rebound into positive territory expected from mid-2023.
Inflation is generally seen as a concern for non-life insurers due to the rising cost of claims, but the risks to life insurers should not be underestimated. In fact, the combination of high inflation, rising interest rates and an economic slowdown can negatively impact customer behaviour through the erosion of purchasing power, which drives people to partially lapse or cancel their policies. Those same factors can also make new business acquisition difficult, as might the public’s decreasing perception and awareness of life risk as the pandemic starts to fade from view.
In short, life insurers could be affected in their profit and loss by a dual impact: lapse-driven reduced value of the in-force portfolio, and lower sales volumes.
It’s no surprise that the economy and interest rates are now among the top five challenges for European insurers, according to NMG Consulting’s L&H Reinsurance Study Continental Europe 2022 Of particular concern, it says, are inflation’s impact on consumer purchasing power and the effect of interest rate increases on asset values and capital management. Meanwhile, the cost of living is
number one in the top 10 global risks (ranked by severity over a two-year period) according to the World Economic Forum’s Global Risk Report for 2023.
Faced with this macroeconomic and risk environment, one toolkit that can help life insurers from the bottom up is customer experience and engagement (Cx&E). Investing in Cx&E knowledge and capability can help insurers to retain policyholders, enhance their persistency and optimise sales volumes and quality.
Investment in the customer journey is showing results, but the customer experience is far from reaching its full potential. Enhancing Cx&E requires a multidisciplinary, cross-functional approach that takes in business processes, communication, data and technology. In my April 2021 article for The Actuary (bit.ly/Lets_stick_together), I elaborated on the first three components. Along with the fourth component – technology – these Cx&E aspects take on increased relevance in a high-inflation environment.
Adapting business processes to new circumstances is key to providing an optimal customer experience throughout a policy’s lifecycle. Insurers can make it easy, quick and intuitive for customers to reinstate missed premium payments, and amend products to reduce potential lapses due to affordability issues. Such amendments might include a reduction in the sum assured and/or scope of cover, or a premium holiday. In addition, incoming requests for policy cancellations could be diverted towards more retention-friendly channels.
Turning to the sales slowdown, an optimal re-engagement journey for lost leads and ‘not take-up’ customers can drive the ‘not take-up’ rate down by double digits and benefit new business volume. This can be achieved by:
1 Understanding the reasons: before you can effectively engage with lost leads and those who have not taken up the policy, it’s best practice to investigate and understand why they did not enroll. This can be done through surveys, focus groups, drop-out analysis and so on.
When it comes to sustaining your products’ performance in a ‘polycrisis’, customer engagement is key. Marco Spagnuolo outlines how life insurers can weather today’s economic storm
2 Personalising outreach: (potential) clients are more likely to engage with personalised and targeted messaging. This can be done by segmenting the audience and tailoring your messaging to specific groups, using behavioural economics and data analytics.
3 Leveraging multiple channels: different people like to receive and engage with information in different ways, so use multiple channels and do so when it’s most convenient for the client. For example, scheduling and appointment booking capabilities can be leveraged for efficient interactions with agents.
4 Simplifying the enrolment process: make sure the enrolment process is as simple and straightforward as possible. This includes a frictionless journey, concise and easy-to-understand information, and a dedicated support team that answers questions according to a specific service-level agreement on quality and performance metrics. Make the subsequent onboarding process optimal to reinforce the purchase decision.
5 Following up: lost leads and those who have not taken up a policy may need extra encouragement. Following up in a timely manner can help overcome the initial hurdle or resistance.
6 Monitoring and evaluating: keep track of your engagement journey, measure the effectiveness of your strategies and adjust as needed.
Behavioural economics can help to make communications engaging and relevant for clients. In addition, communication must be regular. Policyholders often only hear from their insurer at the point of sale and then when making a claim. It’s critical to remind policyholders regularly why they have bought insurance protection – otherwise they tend to forget its benefits. This is particularly important in a tough
macroeconomic environment, with customers tending to overestimate the present cost of insurance relative to its future benefits.
When it’s call centres that are dealing with customer queries and cancellation requests, it’s important to give agents the relevant tools and techniques. Discovering the real cause of cancellations is not a trivial exercise, and affordability is one of the trickiest causes to unearth. Embedding behavioural economics in agents’ conversations and scripts improves the efficiency and efficacy of such conversations. Our experience of working with clients around the world shows that such interventions, if well designed and implemented, significantly increase call centre performance, in terms of save or conversion rates, in a matter of weeks.
By analysing data on customer behaviour, preferences and satisfaction, life insurers can identify where they can improve the customer journey, personalise interactions and increase loyalty. Data analytics can also track the effectiveness of customer engagement initiatives and adjust them as needed. It allows insurers to identify which products, features and services are most in demand and adjust accordingly.
One example of how data analytics can be used is in upselling and cross-selling, which can increase revenue and maintain profitability. Counterintuitively, a high-inflation environment can be a good opportunity for this – in fact, high inflation calls for upselling to ensure clients continue to benefit from adequate protection. As life benefits are usually set at the point of sale, higher inflation means lower real-terms benefits are paid out (except to those with inflationlinked policies). Data analytics can identify customer segments that are most likely to be interested in upselling or cross-selling initiatives, and track the effectiveness of these initiatives.
New technologies facilitate more effective engagement with customers. With expense management set to remain on the agenda for the foreseeable future, technology can also make operations more cost-efficient and resilient to future change. This is the case for ‘conversation intelligence’ (CI), which leverages artificial intelligence and machine learning for speech and text analytics to provide actionable insights from spoken or written conversations. It improves the customer experience by enabling richer conversations to be had with customers, stakeholders and partners.
The adoption of insurance-relevant CI technology can provide automated analytics and dashboards (visualising, for example, agent performance and interaction statistics) and customised scorecards, as well as agent-assist technology and agent-coaching modules. Imagine a technology that enables:
Improved customer service, through monitoring the quality of customer interactions and identifying areas for improvement. Moreover, CI analyses customer interactions and provide agents with real-time insights such as sentiment analysis and key topic identification, which helps them to understand customer needs better and respond more effectively.
Increased efficiency, through automatic transcription and analysis of every call centre conversation, removing the need for manual transcription, random selection and sample listening from supervisors. This saves time and resources.
Higher agent performance, through real-time metrics (such as call duration, sentiment, talk time versus listen time) and feedback that help agents identify areas for improvement and become more effective.
Greater insights, through the identifications of trends in what customers say and in their behaviour, preferences and buying patterns (think of new products launched by competition, and the impact of new regulation or economic conditions). This can be used to improve products and services, and make more informed business decisions. Quality assurance and compliance, through screening the entire corpus of calls and automatically flagging those that may violate regulatory or compliance requirements.
The current environment has been referred to as a ‘polycrisis’, alluding to the unprecedented number and severity of challenges that the world is facing. This is testing many businesses’ ability to stay relevant, and life insurers must be ready to mitigate the impact of price pressure on purchasing power and prevent it from denting profitability. In this context, Cx&E investment helps to protect against changing customer behaviour. While this is ‘playing defence’ in the immediate term, it will allow insurers to use the current difficult environment as an opportunity for future growth – hence ‘playing offence’ in the long run.
Investing in Cx&E is ‘playing defence’ in the immediate term, but offers an opportunity for future growth – ‘playing offence’ in the long run
The significance of environmental, social and governance (ESG) is growing for actuaries. And as its effects in the stock markets become more pronounced, even the procrastinators are finding it harder to ignore.
In 2020, a Sunday Times investigation into Boohoo hit the headlines, having found that the online fashion giant was exploiting its factory workers. Despite receiving largely positive ESG ratings from multiple sources, the company was found to be paying factory workers £3.50 per hour and failing to adopt covid social distancing guidelines. After the scandal broke, its share price almost halved.
This is just one example of many, showing how important ESG considerations are to investors and the wider markets. It is also becoming clear that ESG investments tend to outperform the rest of the market –for example, Morgan Stanley’s 2020 Sustainable Reality
Heard about the chatbot ChatGPT?
Artificial intelligence is advancing rapidly, says Arjun Brara – and could soon be used to refine ESG ratings and expose greenwashing
report found that sustainable funds in the US outperformed traditional funds by 4.3% in that year. This is further increasing investor confidence and interest in ESG.
However, there are concerns over ESG ratings and the way they are derived. The ratings are currently unregulated, so there is little scrutiny over how they are calculated. A study in 2020 by the University of Zurich found that there is, on average, a correlation of 0.54 between the ESG ratings given to the same companies by different providers. This relatively low correlation shows that the ratings in themselves cannot be relied upon in the same way we rely on credit ratings, which have a correlation of 0.99.
One reason for the low correlation is that providers weight various ESG elements differently. An example of this is Tesla, which scores higher among providers that weight ‘environmental’ parts of ESG more highly, and lower among those that weight ‘social’ parts more highly. ESG strategies such as ‘best-in-class’ or inclusionary/ exclusionary investing may be less affected by this issue than thematic or impact investing, as they are relative measures. However, it still raises questions over the reliability and comparability of the ESG information that drives the ratings, especially given the lack of regulation.
Other considerations might be bias – ESG ratings are still gaining traction, and if an agency upgrades a well-known company’s ESG rating, the company may promote the agency by advertising the fact that it has been certified by it. There have been similar issues around greenwashing, such as companies releasing plans relying on technology that is yet to be invented and may not come to fruition.
The availability of relevant and credible structured data is cited by asset managers as one of the most significant challenges in ESG investing, according to EY’s 2020 Global Institutional Investor survey. While there is a shedload of unstructured data out there, the structured data that we typically use for analysis is not available in large quantities, or over a longer period. This is improving as time goes on and companies become eager to disclose their ESG credentials, but there is a long way to go before we have the kind of data quality and quantity that we have with, say, historical mortality data. Confidence in this data is not helped by stories of companies trying to ‘greenwash’ their products.
The rate of data production is increasing exponentially – 90% of the data currently in existence was created in the past two years. Every minute, almost half a million tweets are
sent on Twitter, and more than 800,000 comments and status updates are posted on Facebook. Every day, 300m new Facebook photos are uploaded and 100 million people use Instagram Stories.
A lot of this data is public, but too unstructured and impractical for any human or classical computing algorithm to work through. Artificial intelligence (AI) may be able to help us digest it and start making sense of the noise using ‘sentiment analysis’. This can be done in a way that allows us to compare how people feel about the ethics of different companies. Such data mining is increasingly being explored in the general investments space, including by large institutions such as Goldman Sachs, and is starting to be picked up more widely.
More and more investment companies are incorporating AI into their decision-making, as it helps guard against a major financial risk: the risk that they have invested in a company that engages in heavy greenwashing, which then becomes public and causes a significant hit to the share price.
Tokyo’s Government Pension Investments Fund –the world’s largest pension fund – is already basing a lot of ESG investment decisions on AI-powered analysis, with AI models constantly watching the markets and unstructured online data. This means the fund can get updates daily, as opposed to quarterly or annually, and catch in real time any evolving situations that might have a significant impact on a company’s ESG profile.
Some companies are even developing specific AI tools that look only for greenwashing. While AI is effective at pulling out significant information, this will likely be used to highlight key pieces of information so that an expert can review them and decide how they could affect market prices.
Towards the start of this year, the news was awash with ChatGPT3, a generative model that is capable of simulating human speech. It can summarise large volumes of text data and pick out the key points that are relevant to a specific area of concern, and is evolving further. This is a good example of how far AI has progressed in terms of understanding the unstructured language data around us, and the speed at which it is progressing.
The problem of limited structured data could be tackled by using AI techniques to leverage the large volume of unstructured data, and structuring it so it is more interpretable for humans. AI is evolving, and quickly – so while these are some of the things making inroads today in ESG, this could change or develop rapidly, and both actuaries and data scientists should be ready to evolve alongside, to meet the challenge.
I became an actuary by chance: towards the end of my Msc in information systems in London, I was doing my thesis on artificial intelligence and wondering what I should do after graduation. I picked up a career guide and started flicking through from A to Z. ‘Actuary’ was the second career listed, after ‘accountant’ – and I didn’t bother to read the rest!
I was lucky enough to find an entry position with Coopers & Lybrand as a trainee. Training to be an actuary helped me to develop my critical thinking and problem solving skills. What it didn’t encourage was thinking ‘out of the box’ and a willingness to tap into unknown territory; both strands are needed to make good things happen.
My journey through the exams was not exactly smooth; it took me longer than usual to qualify. I moved from London to the US and started a family in the middle of it, which probably did not help. I did not have to be an actuary, but eventually I decided to finish what I had started; maybe I was destined to be one. Looking back, I never regret the times when I have tried and failed at something – what I regret are the times when I have not even tried in the first place.
Having spent nine years in London and four years at Chubb in the US, I returned to
Asia in 2004 (I’m originally from Shanghai). I now lead the business acceptance function at SCOR, covering pricing, underwriting, claims and risk management for the Asia-Pacific region. My team validates major business opportunities and ensures our portfolio has healthy and sustainable growth. Our success and job satisfaction are reflected in the portfolio’s top and bottom lines.
I am not swayed by my job title, the number of people I manage or the regions I cover. What I am interested in is the wider cause: building a sustainable portfolio, supporting the growth of the business, and, more importantly, supporting the growth of its people. I believe that if you do the right things, the results will follow eventually.
As with any career, there have been periods that seemed boring and repetitive – but then a breakthrough always comes, like when the
ugly duckling finally turns into a swan. These have been times of great clarity, when I’ve been certain about what drives me.
I am not too conscious of my gender in the workplace; I don’t feel intimidated walking into a room full of men, and feel neither disadvantaged nor favoured as a woman. What matters is whether you can deliver. Equality is when you are judged on your skills and capability, not on what you look like, the colour of your skin or your gender.
Where will I go from here? It’s a question I often ask myself. If I have an ambition for the future, it’s that I would like to bring insurance back to its basic functions: supporting people going through life’s uncertainties, supplying an umbrella for a rainy day, providing protection. As an industry, we are still quite a way from that goal. As actuaries, we need to be on this journey together.
I never regret the times when I have tried and failed – I regret the times when I have not tried in the first place
A booming sector in Asia is providing opportunities for more women to succeed. Three female high-flyers from across the region outline their career path and tips for the top
I came to know about the actuarial profession purely by good fortune. The training has taught me to look at problems from various perspectives; there is no standard answer to a problem, and actuarial training has developed my ability to question, dissect and find the best solution for the situation or issue at hand.
I started out in the actuarial team at a Singapore life insurance company. It was a small firm, so I was given many opportunities outside of regular actuarial work, including overseeing the end-to-end launch of new products, and supporting marketing and training. As I developed my career I found myself regularly getting involved in non-actuarial work, as the company was working on multiple strategic initiatives; this work included reviewing bancassurance models, rebranding, and re-mapping the customer journey.
One day, my boss threw me a new challenge – to move out from the actuarial function and into a distribution role. Years later, I found out that the distribution partner had requested this change, wanting someone who could connect all the dots from marketing to system implementation and had a good understanding of product financials. They believed that this would provide the best possible outcomes for manufacturer and distributor.
After this challenge I moved from distribution to marketing, where I developed my understanding of customer behaviour and sharpened my focus on seeing things through the customers’ lens. I was also exposed to our industry’s digital and technological aspects, leveraging them as tools to scale up rapidly. For every role that I have undertaken, I adopt a consistent approach: to unlearn, relearn and challenge what has been done before.
I am currently CEO of HSBC Life, HSBC’s insurance business, in Singapore. I joined as HSBC’s acquisition of another insurance firm was announced – its first major acquisition in 10 years, and a step in achieving its ambition to be a leading wealth manager.
For the past year, my focus has been on integrating the two companies – it is important to me not only to look at the legal and operational integration, but also to build a strong team with a shared culture. I’ve challenged my teams to take transformation seriously, combining the best of our shared experiences to achieve better outcomes and create impact for our customers, partners, the community and shareholders.
I enjoy and appreciate our profession’s ability to create positive impact in people’s lives –whether that’s helping them to be successful or benefit from financial planning, or driving action to impact societies and communities. The challenge is in developing the profession’s agility so we can cope with today’s everchanging environment.
I have never felt that being a woman has made it harder for me to succeed – it is all about mindset. With the right mindset, you can overcome challenges. It often takes a while, and it is important to make time to recharge while you are on that journey.
My ambition for the future is to continue to be a multiplier. I believe in seizing the opportunities that come my way and making the most of them. Similarly, I want to help the people around me ‘multiply’ – I hope to create opportunities for my employees to take leaps in their personal and professional growth, to create sustainable impact for communities, and to deliver strong growth and performance.
I believe in seizing the opportunities that come my way and making the most of them
My career has not been without trials and trepidations – but I have thoroughly enjoyed the experience and welcomed the challenges along the way.
I grew up in a small town 70km south of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where my interest in numbers was piqued and I became keen to pursue a maths-based degree. The decision to take up actuarial science was down to a cousin based in New York – I hadn’t heard of the field at the time.
I graduated from the London School of Economics with a First in actuarial science, and completed my masters in actuarial science at Cass Business School in 2007. Eventually, I obtained my IFoA Fellowship. During my 15 years in the industry, this foundation has allowed me to get involved in various fields, such as investments, pensions, insurance, finance, strategic planning and digital transformation.
After starting as an executive in investment advisory at KPMG London, I joined Great Eastern in Malaysia and became involved in insurance. I worked my way up to a managerial position within an actuarial department before becoming an appointed actuary; I am now CFO, managing more than 50 people. My portfolio encompasses finance, strategic planning, digital transformation initiatives, actuarial pricing, property and investment operations.
Something that has helped me reach this position is my interest in deeply understanding my work and its impact. I’ve always felt it’s important to attempt the work from scratch so I could understand the reasons behind the results. This helped to guide attempts to improve the process, or generate ideas about how things could be done differently. Soft skills played an important role, especially when communicating with other departments so they understood the implications of the figures and actions required.
None of this was doable without peer and mentor support. Staying humble and taking constructive criticism has helped me work on
my weaknesses and address problems efficiently and reasonably. I appreciate everyone I’ve worked with, and cannot thank them enough for not just guiding and teaching me, but also trusting me to take on critical functions.
I enjoy my role because it allows me to get involved in both technical aspects and overall business strategies and issues. I also like working with colleagues who have different backgrounds and expertise, as we can learn from each other.
Outside of my professional life I am a wife and mother, and I think it is a misconception that your work–life balance needs to be a challenge. The pandemic taught me how to harmonise my professional and personal lives so neither is compromised.
Nothing comes before family but work allows me to discover myself. When you have equipped yourself with a set of skills, it is only in your career that you can measure yourself and discover your potential – and a better me benefits those around me. My work also allows me to touch many lives, and I hope my
passion for it will inspire others to achieve great things. I believe hard work and results take you forward.
That said, my journey would have been impossible without my support network of family and friends. My husband and I enjoy travelling, tennis, cooking and music, and find time to do these together. My advice is to surround yourself with people who align with you – it makes tough days easier to deal with. That’s what it’s all about: happiness.
In your career you can measure yourself and discover your potentialCFO at Great Eastern Takaful Berhad, Kuala Lumpur, MALAYSIA
Apensions gap is the difference in pension savings between two distinct groups, such as men and women.
There is not yet an official or strict definition for ‘pension savings’; some reports use levels of prospective income in retirement. In this article, we are looking at differences between the average pension pot sizes of men and women.
A pensions gap between men and women, caused by the gender pay gap, exists from day one; on average, the pensions gap is 16%. The gender pay gap has been shrinking over time, but work is still required.
Since 2017, all employers in the UK with more than 250 employees have been required to report on their gender pay gap. The Office of National Statistics (ONS) has been collecting data on the gender pay gap since 1997, with its latest report showing a gap of 14.9% for all employees (part-time and full-time) –down from 27.5% when reporting started.
Based on the underlying data, the average pensions gap between men and women across all ages is 38%. This means that women’s pension pots are, on average, 38% smaller
than those of their male peers. The gap never closes, and only grows wider on the journey towards retirement. On average, women retire with less than half the pension of their male peers, with pots that are 55% lower.
According to research from L&G, the pensions gap exists regardless of industry sector, although its size varies between sectors. The six industries with the biggest gaps include the top three industries for female employment: healthcare (59%), pharmaceuticals (46%) and care (45%).
The gender pay gap is just one reason for the gender pensions gap. These reasons are well documented, and many of them are interconnected…
Unaffordable childcare: The UK has the most expensive childcare in the world, according to a recent OECD report. More affordable and accessible childcare is key to getting more parents back to work after they have had children. A trial in Quebec, Canada, that fixed childcare costs at C$10 a day, ‘A Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care Plan’, has yielded impressive results, showing an increase of 1.7% in the province’s
Lower salaries
Career breaks
Unaffordable childcare
Part-time work
Auto-enrolment Menopause
Divorce
State benefits
Financial confidence
Reducing the pensions gap between men and women is a work in progress – and there’s still a long way to go, with women retiring on 50% less than men, says Alexandra Miles
GDP. In the UK, charity Save the Children’s analysis of the Department for Education’s childcare and early years survey of parents found that 870,000 mothers – more than half of all ‘at home’ mothers in the country – want to work but cannot because household finances will be worse off if they do.
Part-time work: Many women who return to work after taking time out to care for newborns will do so in a part-time capacity, so that they can support their families from both home and work. According to the ONS, 36% of women work part-time, compared with 11% of men. Going part-time has a significant impact on projected pension provisions in retirement, as highlighted by a recent article in the Sunday Times that quotes L&G research: “Taking on two part-time jobs after having two children could leave the typical woman with a pension worth £219,425 at 65 – less than a quarter of the size of a man’s pension if he worked full-time without taking a career break.”
Auto-enrolment regulations: The current regulations do not help those who are earning less across multiple jobs. The impact of scrapping both the current £10,000 autoenrolment threshold and the lower and upper qualifying earnings limits (£6,240 and £50,270 respectively for the 2022/23 tax-year), as well as reducing enrolment age from 22 to 18 years, could be significant. According to the same recent Sunday Times article, “the typical man working without career breaks could have £1.34m saved into his pension by the age of 65. Comparatively, a woman working two part-time jobs after having two children could save £620,415, according to L&G.” Changing the current regulations would boost savings for everyone, but would provide a boost of 2.8x to those currently disadvantaged, compared with 1.5x for the base case of a man who works full-time without a career break.
Divorce: It is not mandatory to take pensions into account when divorcing, so many miss out at a time when it matters most. The latest ONS data shows that 113,505 divorces were granted in England and Wales during 2021 – a 9.6% increase on 2020. Pensions are typically the second most valuable household asset after the family house.
On average, women retire with less than half of men’s pots
Applications for pension sharing orders (where the value of the assets is properly calculated by a qualified actuary, and pension providers are instructed to divide the value of a pension fund) fell by 35% between 2017 and 2021, according to figures obtained by Nockolds Solicitors. Many instead use an approximate offsetting calculation where, typically, women keep the house and men keep their pensions; as a result, many women miss out.
Ideally, everyone should be independently financially secure – but the current pensions gap means women are more likely than men to face poverty in retirement. L&G research shows that for those retiring in 2021, average pension pot sizes were £26,000 for men and £12,000 for women. While no one is saving enough for retirement, women are left with fewer opportunities for retirement choice, with pot size significantly driving their decisions over what to do. Women are less likely to benefit from protecting themselves against longevity risk by purchasing an annuity or retaining investment growth post-retirement by choosing drawdown, simply because their pots hardly make these choices viable.
There is no simple answer, and no change will fix inequalities overnight: this will be a marathon, not a sprint. Stakeholders including regulators, individuals, employers and providers need to work together. Potential solutions can be categorised under the ‘three Ps’ – policies, product and people – with changes to the status quo being required. The IFoA has recently launched a cross-practice working party, the Pensions Gap Working Party, which is investigating potential solutions to the problem. The actuarial community is well placed to provide expert insight into the issue, as well as resolutions. Making the economic case for change, and balancing the books between the cost and benefit of new solutions, will be key in gaining traction for progress. The working party is looking for passionate new members from a diverse range of backgrounds to join and help move the agenda forward. Is that you?
As a young person, I tended to confuse effective communication with good oratory. Effective communication, I thought, hinged on speaking well.
Over the years, I learned that I had it the wrong way around. To speak is one thing, to be heard and understood is another. Creating the psychological conditions for listening requires us to listen first and listen well. This is the art of leadership –the key to communicating effectively and creating change.
Actuaries have a lot to say: about our planetary crisis, the future of defined benefits, the outlook of our profession, and more. The stakes of effective communication are high, and there never seems enough time or attention to go round. As a result, we often feel the need to speak, regardless of who – if anyone – is listening.
How many times have you asked a question and started thinking of your riposte before the other person has even answered? This kind of speaking is ‘broadcasting’ or, at best, ‘talking’. It might get things off our chest but is unlikely to yield the results we are looking for. For our message to be heard, we need ‘committed speaking’ – and that starts with listening to the other person.
A recent meeting of senior actuaries exemplifies what this looks like in practice. Two senior actuaries, Charles Cowling (presidentelect of the International Actuarial Association) and Ashok Gupta (chair of Mercer UK) had opposing views on a complicated pensions matter, and their top priority, before firing ahead with their arguments, was to understand one another’s perspective. We often skip this step because of our time poverty, but it is precisely this step that can prevent us from going round in circles, our messages falling on deaf ears.
The meeting ended with each having an understanding of the other’s position, and agreement on
There’s no point speaking if no one hears you. Effective communication starts with silence – this is the understated art of listening, says Tan Suee Chieh
Is anybodyout there?
the issues. The techniques used are explained well in the chapter ‘Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood’ in Steven Covey’s book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Effective communication starts, counterintuitively, with silence and paying attention. We have to show up in an attentive and mindful state.
A shared context
Why does listening work so well? Because it signals respect and understanding.
Our views and opinions are ‘path-dependent’. We all got to where we are through the places we’ve been. By listening and paying attention to the speaker, we signal that we value their map of the world. This generates the ‘shared context’ needed to unlock their trust.
We often see this in highperforming teams. These teams spend a lot of time with one another and have high levels of trust and a common purpose. Building such trust and purpose can be difficult in our time-poor lives. However, when we view communication as a long game – not just something that happens in a meeting or presentation, but something that depends on the qualities of our relationships – then time spent creating and cementing a common purpose is not wasted. Shared context comes to the rescue, particularly when the content of the communication is complex. Working through tasks need not be difficult or controversial, but more critical communications often require a mutual understanding of the ‘why’, as well as the ‘what’. Why should this be our strategy? Why should we allocate our resources in this way? Shared context and purpose enables participants to put their needs and personalities aside and focus on the common vision. It helps reduce stonewalling, rationalisation and defensiveness.
The role of mindfulness
Mindfulness and meditation have become popular in the West in recent decades, and are a welcome antidote to our busy lifestyles. Just as we don’t spend enough time listening, we also don’t spend enough time reflecting, simply ‘being there’ and ‘showing up’ in a quiet way.
When we are mindful, we no longer identify so strongly with our views and preferences. For example, our taste in food changes over time. (Sandwiches have grown on me over the years!) The food is the same, but we view it differently. The same can happen to our views on music, people, politics and philosophy.
Although this is not difficult to understand, it can be difficult to live by. Part of the reason we find it so hard to listen, and so easy to attack, is that we hold onto our views so strongly. Those with whom we disagree are often subjected to our inner critic and prejudice before we give them the time of day.
Mindfulness can help us realise that our preferences and beliefs are impermanent and don’t define us. Our views have a path dependence and can change. Understanding this makes it easier to appreciate the path dependence of others.
I don’t always practise my own advice, but when I am in a mindful state, I rarely say anything I later regret, and difficult conversations become easier.
If listening is about creating the psychological conditions for effective communication, what do we do once those conditions have been created?
The world has no shortage of high-quality tips on speaking and writing well: clarity, the order of presenting ideas, and so on. One thing I find particularly useful is framing.
How often have you listened to someone speak and wondered, “What do
they expect from me?” Or, worse, how often have you got to the end of a delicately crafted presentation only to be asked, “What’s the ask?”
Framing, or ‘labelling’ the conversation, helps the speaker set the scene, signal what is coming and set out what they expect of their interlocutors. For example:
A request for decision
Together
by William Isaacs
Expands on the four elements of true and effective dialogue: Listening, respecting, suspending (judgment) and voicing
A request for action
A request for exploration or brainstorming.
Fernando Flores, in his book Conversations For Action and Collected Essays, identifies different types of conversations and the art of building commitment. Clear framing can make sure everyone is on the same page, creating a ‘shared context’ in a narrower, conversational sense.
A psychological exploration of our inner life. The references to ‘wide’ and ‘narrow’ attention are particularly insightful
Communication is not just about when we want to say something – it is also about when we have a duty to say something. ‘Speaking up’ is one of the six principles in the Actuaries’ Code. Although we tend to think of speaking up in the context of regulatory or conduct matters, or on issues such as climate change, it also applies in day-to-day meetings.
We would expect a decision reached by a group to be better than decisions of individual group members, but this is often not the case. Why? Because individuals fail to speak up. This can be for several reasons, including introversion, caution and conflict avoidance – all common traits among the actuarial profession. To those who are reticent, I say: when someone who is normally quiet speaks up, they tend to be taken seriously. Exercise this privilege!
Expands on the enormous pay-off of good listening and how to do it properly
We can make it easier for ourselves to speak up: speak sooner rather than later in meetings, before the opportunity is lost; seek people out in private if you want to avoid public conflict; or speak to someone more senior who would understand your point of view. And, of course, practise, practise, practise!
How did you choose your career?
I discovered my love of maths as a teenager and studied it for my degree at Royal Holloway, University of London. Anyone would think that this was enough to know I wanted to become an actuary… But this was when my policing career started. I joined the Metropolitan Police while a student; I’d go to maths lectures during the week and study criminal law at the weekends. Once I’d completed the training, I attested in 2014.
It was during my Master’s degree that I discovered actuarial science. I joined Swiss Re, focusing on life and longevity valuation (and continuing my weekend work at the Met). I have since moved to EY, where I am involved in a wide variety of projects.
I left the Met last year, because I moved away from London, but I plan to join another constabulary close to my new home soon.
Why did you join the police?
My father was a career policeman and had worked for the police in India. When he saw that I had little idea of what I wanted to do, he put me in touch with his friend Raj Kohli, chief superintendent at the Met at the time, who quickly became a role model for me. He gave me the confidence to be a police officer. The conversation we had in June 2012 is the reason I applied – a decision I’ll never regret.
What kind of police work have you mostly done, and what have been some of the highlights?
I began in neighbourhood policing before transferring to the Vehicle Recovery and Examination Service, which focuses on identifying vehicles used in violent crimes, and uninsured drivers.
My favourite part of the job is interacting with people. I have met some of my best friends through the force, and some fantastic members of the public, too. The fulfilment you gain from knowing you have made someone’s day somewhat easier is unbeatable.
My proudest moment was completing my advanced driving course – the qualification that allows me to drive an emergency vehicle. The level of concentration involved in driving at excessive speeds on British roads, with added environmental distractions, is higher than you would think! The fatigue you feel afterwards cannot be underestimated.
What life lessons have you taken from policing?
As a police officer, you deal with people from all walks of life, so communication is the most important skill. The more you communicate, the more you understand how to adapt the way you speak to people or tackle a situation, depending on who is involved. I have been complimented for my confident approach to speaking with people in the actuarial workplace, and believe I have developed this from my time in the police.
Policing has also taught me not to live my life on ‘what ifs’. Why stress yourself out over something that doesn’t yet exist or hasn’t yet happened? There is nothing more important than your mental health.
On the other hand, my emotional response to certain things can be muted. Some of this is because I have witnessed things that most people have not.
Do you have other interests?
I have a beautiful German Shepherd dog called Blaze who keeps me extremely busy with exercising and training. I recently developed a love of water and completed some sailing courses with the Royal Yacht Association. As I enjoy being outdoors, I am currently looking into visiting ‘Iceberg Alley’ in Canada.
How do you find the time for everything?
I would like to tell you that I have a fancy planner or a virtual assistant, but I don’t! If you really want to do something, you’ll just do it, without making excuses.
In a new feature highlighting the wide-ranging pursuits actuaries do outside their day job, we meet Reema Uppal, who trained with the Met
An unexpected trip to Nepal last year afforded Donald Macleod, appointed actuary, IFGL, the opportunity to link up with a local actuarial community. Here, he tells us about his adventure.
The Himalayas is a fitting backdrop for a profession that is on the up in Nepal, and it was a delight to spend a day in beautiful Kathmandu with the Actuarial Society of Nepal (ASN).
The ASN was founded in 2019 to assist the burgeoning Nepalese actuarial community. In a country where most actuarial work has traditionally been outsourced to firms in India, it is encouraging that more locals are considering this career. Given the ASN’s fledgling state, it is unsurprising that most of the 60 or so members have less than two years’ experience, but that is countered by their enthusiasm and determination. It was a pleasure to meet so many bright and talented individuals, and I have absolutely no doubt that the profession will flourish in Nepal, given the right help.
Much of the ASN’s corporate governance has been established – committees have been formed and key positions filled, and links with kindred associations are being developed. It cannot be easy establishing a new actuarial society in a country, and huge credit must go to current ASN president Prechhya Mathema, an experienced actuary who moved back to Kathmandu after several years in the UK. Her energy and vision are invaluable but she is also aware of the challenges involved in developing
the profession in Nepal. In particular, her role as an actuary for the local regulator means she cannot provide as much support to students and recently qualified actuaries as she would like. The ASN would therefore like to issue a plea – if you are an actuary with the passion, skill and time to help the ASN, perhaps by acting as a mentor, Prechhya and her colleagues would love to hear from you –contact info@actuariesnepal.org
One of the ASN’s immediate ambitions is to become an Associate Member of the International Actuarial Association (IAA); the ultimate goal is to obtain Full Member status. Following my trip, it was tremendous to link up with my friend Ibrahim Muhanna, founder of the Muhanna Foundation, which supports actuaries in areas where the profession is underdeveloped – particularly the Arab world and East Africa. Ibrahim, who is a member of the IAA Education Committee, is keen to discover how best to advance Nepal’s profession. We have since met up with Prechhya to discuss this, and it is fantastic to work together for this cause. Influencing our profession’s development in a country is an opportunity we are not often afforded. I can only offer personal insights about getting involved, and consider myself fortunate to have spent time with Nepal’s aspiring actuaries. It was a humbling, educational and inspiring experience, and one I would massively encourage – I was quite literally on top of the world.
The Actuarial Post has announced that Amerjit Grewal is its 2022 Actuary of the Year.
Despite her busy day job as deputy chief actuary at AEGIS London, Amerjit has been an active IFoA volunteer for nearly a decade. She currently serves as chair of the General Insurance Pricing Actuaries Considerations Working Party, and is also a member of the General Insurance Practice Board.
The IFoA Executive Team offers its warm congratulations to Amerjit on this achievement, and looks forward to working with her throughout 2023 and beyond.
Volunteering can make a real impact, not only for the IFoA but also for the volunteer. If you are interested in volunteering, do take a look at the volunteer vacancy webpage (bit.ly/IFoA_Volunteers) or email a member of the Engagement Team at engagement.team@ actuaries.org.uk to find out how you can get involved. We would be delighted to hear from you.
The Worshipful Company of Actuaries’ (WCA) 2022 Phiatus Award has been presented to Saida Chakkor for her outstanding work with Luton Council of Faiths (LCoF). As a result, LCoF has received a contribution of £5,000 from the WCA charity. On 26 January, Saida was presented with the Phiatus Award silver salver, her name engraved alongside those of previous winners.
Saida works in general insurance in London and is a member of both the IFoA and the Spanish Institute of Actuaries. She was nominated for the award by a colleague at a previous employer, and was completely taken by surprise when she learnt that she had won!
The LCoF has made a huge impact in its local community, winning local, regional and national awards. It has been recognised by visits from government ministers and members of the royal family.
At the ceremony, Saida spoke briefly about the charity, a small local endeavour that has had a huge impact. She was attracted to its activities by the way in which members worked to achieve community harmony; making Luton a Fairtrade Town was just one of the many team projects in which she was involved. In addition, a personal initiative of hers was to become an archery instructor and coach, running six-week courses to make the sport more accessible.
Saida was also part of the charity’s Peace Garden Initiative to help families who had lost loved ones to Covid; the project won one of the ceremonial trees from the Tree of Trees living sculpture outside Buckingham Palace.
A highlight each year for Saida is LCoF’s International Peace Day, during which hundreds of people gather locally to meet and greet at different places of worship, learn about different religions, ask questions and share hospitality. The most important part for her is the buses of schoolchildren who join in, providing the hope that the next generation will promote a more harmonious society.
Each year, the Phiatus Award is presented to an actuary who has made an impressive contribution to charity. It does not recognise just fundraising,but all forms of charitable work and activity. To submit an entry for the 2023 Phiatus Award, email ianafarr@gmail.com
One morning last summer, Milliman UK principal Jo Buckle (right) caught the bus from her office in the City of London to a secondary school in Tottenham, feeling some trepidation. Encouraged by the IFoA Foundation, she had volunteered to speak on a panel at an event entitled: ‘Why would you NOT study Maths?! A chance to hear about the rocky journeys that often accompany the study of maths, from women who have been there’.
The audience consisted of nearly 100 female students aged 14-15 from schools across London and south-east England, all capable of studying maths post-16 but unsure about whether they wanted to do so. Along with Jo, the panel comprised three other successful women from diverse professional backgrounds.
The aim of the day was to give the students credible examples of the usefulness of maths in working life, and offer role models for pursuing the study of maths.
“It was fantastic to see so many girls enthusiastic about maths A-Level and to be able to give them an idea of the types of careers that would open up for them if they continued their maths studies,” Jo reflected. “I found it really interesting to hear the other speakers and to listen to the questions posed by the students and understand their ideas and aspirations for the future. It was a very rewarding experience and I felt that I had made a real impact on the students’ lives at a key point.”
The organising teacher gave equally positive feedback about the session. “It was amazing to have four such inspirational women presenting their stories to Year 10s with such honesty and dynamism. The role models stayed for lunch and engaged with individual students and groups throughout. A really high impact event! When asked what their students found most inspiring, they said: hearing the role models talk about their trajectories in maths.”
The event was made possible by Founders4Schools, an award-winning charity that is supported by the IFoA Foundation. Its online platform connects young people and educators across the UK with a network of volunteer role models who share their career stories, in order to better inform school students about the world of work.
The IFoA Foundation encourages more actuaries to volunteer as role models and share their career histories. You can help us introduce young people to actuarial careers early in their educational journey, raise aspirations and help to drive diversity in the profession. Interested in sharing your professional journey with students in schools? Find out more by emailing gmfoundation@actuaries.org.uk or register at founders4schools.org.uk/partners/ifoa-foundation
Council member and former Pensions Board chair Mark Williams is running a halfmarathon on 12 March for his friend Richard; he explains why.
In 2020, as the world was grappling with the onset of the pandemic, my friend Richard’s daughter Mabel was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, a type of blood cancer, at just two-and-a-half years old. The treatment was punishing but Mabel got through it, beat the cancer and was able to start school in September 2022.
This difficult chapter should have been enough for Richard and his family but, heartbreakingly, just as Mabel’s treatment was drawing to a close, Richard was diagnosed with a high-grade brain tumour called a glioblastoma. He has had chemotherapy and radiotherapy, but these are not cures.
However, there are other treatments available: Richard has just started cutting-edge immunotherapy treatment in Germany, with the creation of a personalised cancer vaccine.
Peter Wright, who died on 14 October 2022, began his career working for an insurance broker, studying for the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) exams. He became a CII Associate and won its HJ Greening prize for best result in the long-term business unit. This encouraged him to become an actuary and in 1977 he joined Prudential, becoming a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries in 1979.
In the late 1980s, Peter was seconded from Prudential to the Life Assurance and Unit Trust Regulatory Organisation, where his strong sense of right and wrong came to the fore as he tried to get the industry to abandon some of its more questionable practices.
Peter then returned to Prudential, becoming Number 2 in the central actuarial team under chief actuary Peter Nowell.
Peter made a huge contribution to his profession, contributing his expertise in life assurance and general insurance. He had the knowledge, experience, credibility and willingness to get involved, becoming a member of the Life Board and the General Insurance Board for four years, the last two of which he served as chair. He was also on the Institute’s Council from 1996 to 2008, and was its vice-president 2004-06.
His long and consistent service to the profession was recognised by his fellow professionals in 2010, when he was a recipient of the President’s Award.
In the late 1990s, Peter chaired a working party looking at, among other things, proposed changes to reserving methods for certain with-profits contracts. The proposals would have increased the reserves required by many insurance companies. Actuaries working at some of
These vaccines have had incredibly positive results – some people have gone into remission or long-exceeded their initial prognosis – but they cannot be obtained on the NHS or through private health insurance. They are only available in Germany and America, and are very expensive.
I’m running a half marathon to help raise money for Richard’s treatment. If you feel moved to donate, please visit my fundraising page: justgiving.com/crowdfunding/ runforrich. Any donation of any amount would be most gratefully appreciated.
these companies argued strongly against the proposals when they were debated, but they were ultimately implemented by the regulator – once again, Peter had been ahead of the crowd in recognising the need for change.
Peter left Prudential in 1999 and brought his knowledge of regulation and accounting issues, his skills in producing written material and making speeches, and his sense of humour to Tillinghast, becoming a principal there in 2004.
As a consultant, Peter started working as appointed actuary to Countrywide Assured in 2001. After retiring from Tillinghast at the end of 2007, he became a non-executive director to its parent company Chesnara.
Peter was a keen bridge player and played tennis up until last summer. He is survived by Ginny, his wife of 50 years, his son Will, daughter Alice and their families.
It is with great regret that we announce the death of the following members. We offer our condolences to their families, friends and colleagues.
David Johnson, a Fellow who joined in 1973, died aged 71
Roger Eddleston, a Fellow who joined in 1971
Colin Morrison, a Fellow who joined in 1962, died aged 89
Kenneth Hartwell, a Fellow who joined in 1962, died aged 84
Albert Spedding,a Fellow who joined in 1953
Paul Bunzl, a Fellow who joined in 1988, died aged 60
Courtesy of Aktoro
Across
1 It can change in here covering what’s passed down (11)
7 Large – not small – supply of wine (3)
9 I call out for shade (5)
10 Artist’s dream state starts in before retiring tired (9)
11 Flyer did go to Munich, ends back at airport (5,4)
12 Let request be not so quiet (5)
13 Discredit practical arrangement to make money (7)
15 Head not heart is what’s needed to prepare lunch (4)
18 Cuts head off charges – there’s six here (4)
20 The well-rewarded, sort of, act fast (3,4)
23 Tomorrow’s bridesmaid takes hold of bible that provides sanctuary (5)
24 Interpret excuse for missing meeting I missed (9)
26 Made an anagram of an egg dish (9)
27 Profit from saving arrangement has no value (5)
28 BE BEHIND AS LOWER CASE IS MISSING (3)
29 Wow! Work back to share this sort of body (11)
Down
1 Give one for any number of spoilt children who might be 1ac beneficiaries (4,4)
2 Welcome jazz sounds extra-terrestrial (4-4)
3 Unlimited pricing that can lead to fatalities (5)
4 Rum arrangement in work is chaos (7)
5 Dominic changed one and turned to wandering (7)
6 Number in class revised Rome – alternatively
meant Latin (9)
7 Man or woman have captured unbottled genie – that’s excusable (6)
8 10%s – not all these have it! (6)
14 Class-related charge on over half of strain (9)
16 Composer of an eggshell sandwich (8)
17 Introduces queue-jumpers who’ve lost first place (6,2)
Mensa puzzle 849
Which one does not fit in the sequence?
19 I take in Louisiana’s first colonist (7)
20 To partner helps inside – that’s the way it is! (5,2)
21 Treatment of 10 following sound of champagne popping (6)
22 Not in charge of vice, buffoon stands outside being against (6)
25 Letter writer’s given up having included wrong ending (5)
There shouldn’t be any getting away from it!
ARE YOU A MATHS MAESTRO OR LOGIC LOVER?
If you have a mind formaths, logical reasoning, cryptic clues and otherconundrums, send your challenges to us and we will publish the most difficult here. puzzles@theactuary.com
Sibling spell-out
Mensa puzzle 851
Unlucky for some Mensa puzzle 850
difficulty
has siblings named
Glen Sean, Alex, Cleo and Gary Lucy, Jade, Luke and Joan?
Answers –Member puzzle 28: Across: 1 Inheritance, 7 Vat, 9 Lilac, 10 Rembrandt, 11 Robin Hood, 12 Lease, 13 Capital, 15 Chef, 18 Axes, 20 Fat cats, 23 Haven, 24 Translate, 26 Scrambled, 27 Gains, 28 Owe, 29 Corporation. Down: 1 Idle rich, 2 Hale-Bopp, 3 Ricin, 4 Turmoil,
Nomadic, 6 Enrolment, 7 Venial, 8 Tithes, 14 Taxonomic, 16 Paganini, 17 Ushers in, 19 Sett ler, 20 ‘fraid so, 21 Physio, 22 Averse, 25 Sigma. Mensa puzzle 849: C, 850: Circumference, inconvenience and eff ervescence 851: Judy. (Luc y, Ja d e, L u ke, J oan).
Behavioural science (BSci) is a hot topic, with universities, governments and companies using behavioural economics to guide the public into making certain choices. But what is it? Simply put, BSci helps us understand human behaviour and how it impacts our interactions, including our thoughts, decisions and actions.
Older traditional economic theories teach us that people act rationally – for example, that when making a decision, a normal person will choose the option that maximises the outcome while minimising the cost. This makes perfect sense in theory, but people behave a lot more irrationally in the real world. In fact, research suggests that decisionmaking is 10% rational and 90% emotional. BSci can help both customers and insurers in several areas, including product design, sales and marketing, underwriting and claims.
One way in which BSci can be used to change our actions is via techniques such as nudging. This influences people’s behaviour in a positive manner without restricting their choice. For example, placing healthy food options at eye level in a shop may encourage people to eat more healthily, without actually banning junk foods.
Governments have been embedding behavioural insights into policy. Following the publication of Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein’s book Nudge, the UK government set up a Behavioural Insights Team, commonly referred to as the ‘Nudge Unit’. Several governments use nudges to encourage people to make better choices, such as decisions on pension savings and organ donation. But how can BSci benefit insurers?
Changes in technology, particularly the increase of online direct-to-consumer sales, mean insurers are having to adapt to a different marketplace and change the way products are sold. Unlike a flashy new watch or a holiday, an insurance product is something that people are not generally
enthused to buy – which explains the protection gaps that exist in most countries. People decide against buying insurance due to product complexity, price (something most people overestimate), lack of trust in the industry, complex buying processes and failure to recognise the need for it. We can overcome many of these obstacles by understanding people’s behaviour better, helping them to overcome their biases and make good choices.
How can insurers use BSci to inform and attract customers online? Traditionally, in the case of life insurance, consumers were asked questions that brought attention to their mortality, such as: “Your family depends on you – who would they depend on if you were no longer here?” This provoked an emotional response and awakened a need that the customer did not know they had.
These tactics do not translate well online. Research has shown that people tend to
react negatively when asked such questions by a Google advert –and in most cases, these types of adverts fail to grab people’s attention for long enough to generate an emotive reaction.
Behavioural science could transform this in multiple ways. It could help us redesign underwriting journeys to provide more accurate disclosure and quicker completion times. For example, it may prompt us to rethink how questions are framed on proposal forms and understand what types of question may lead a prospective policyholder to lie or exaggerate to get a better premium.
Similarly, BSci can be used to create a smoother customer experience during the claims process. Claimants have recently suffered a loss or emergency, so are likely to be stressed or emotional; BSci can be used to help insurers gather accurate information in a way that is not too taxing for the claimant.
We are entering an age in which many people do not want to be sold to – they would prefer to make an informed decision when buying protection policies. Insurance companies can help them to make these informed decisions by developing agile systems and strategies that can adapt to different buying situations, and products must be simple enough for people to understand. BSci sits at the intersection of psychology and economics, and applying its principles across products and services could lead to an improved customer journey, better sales and less misrepresentation.
CIARA IZUCHUKWU is a guest student editor
Research suggests that decision-making is 10% rational and 90% emotional
London, £100,000 + bonus
A leading Lloyd’s Syndicate is looking to hire a qualified actuary into their pricing team. This will report into the Head of Pricing directly. The role will cover all aspects of pricing including account pricing, model development and portfolio analytics. You will work closely with the underwriters and you will need to build good business relationships in this area. The ideal candidate will be a qualified pricing actuary with London Market experience. Exceptional candidates from other areas such as personal lines or reserving/capital are also encouraged to apply.
Contact: curtis.browning@eamesconsulting.com | 0207 092 3242
A top UK insurtech is looking to grow its pricing team, seeking a partqualified actuary with risk pricing experience. This is an exceptional opportunity to take on more responsibility, working directly with the Head of Pricing, and taking ownership over various aspects of the pricing function. You'll also support ad-hoc reserving responsibilities. This position will also be integral to the development of machine learning models, coding in R and Python. You would have a strong risk pricing background, with an interest in data science.
Contact: sam.baker@eamesconsulting.com | 0207 092 3230
London, up to £100,000 + bonus
A leading Lloyd’s Syndicate is looking to hire a qualified actuary into their reserving team. This will report into the Head of Reserving and manage a team. The role will cover all aspects of reserving including quarterly reserving, SII TP’s and business planning. You will face off to senior stakeholders and also work closely with capital modelling, finance, and pricing. The ideal candidate will be a qualified reserving actuary with London Market experience. You will need an excellent level of communication and the ability to lead a team.
Contact: curtis.browning@eamesconsulting.com | 0207 092 3242
London, up to £115,000
A Lloyd’s/London Market insurer is looking to hire a qualified actuary to work on non-BAU projects that fall outside of the quarterly processes in the actuarial function. This will include projects across pricing, reserving, and capital – offering real breadth. This role will report into the Chief Actuary. They are keen to speak to individuals who have at least two areas of actuarial expertise over their career, for instance pricing and capital. Candidates should also want to take ownership and lead on projects. This role is exclusive to Eames Consulting.
Contact: hannah.turner@eamesconsulting.com | 0207 092 3249
to £60,000
A Lloyd’s Syndicate is looking to hire a part qualified actuary from any background to join their capital team. This is an excellent opportunity to broaden your skillset with no pre-requisite capital experience. In this role you will be involved with the day-to-day operation of the capital models, supporting SII initiatives and the development of the internal model. They are keen to speaking to individuals who have a mathematics degree and have between 2-3 years’ of actuarial experience.
Contact: hannah.turner@eamesconsulting.com | 0207 092 3249
A Lloyd’s/London Market insurer is looking to hire a Pricing Analyst with between 2-4 years’ of actuarial experience to join their division. This is a great opportunity to work closely with the underwriters to develop rating models and portfolio optimisation. They are looking to speak to Part Qualified Actuaries from either a pricing or reserving background, ideally with R/SQL/Python experience.
Contact: hannah.turner@eamesconsulting.com | 0207 092 3249
Midlands, £100,000 + bonus
A large UK insurance group is looking for an actuarial systems development expert with strong leadership skills to oversee the development and delivery of design and change projects across the business. This influential, visible role will provide the opportunity to combine technical knowledge with stakeholder management skills. As well as liaising with a range of internal actuarial stakeholders you will also manage a team of 8-10 technical SMEs and oversee a range of large scale projects in order to support the delivery of business requirements. Good knowledge of actuarial systems architecture and excellent communication skills are essential.
Contact: jo.frankham@eamesconsulting.com | 0207 092 3263
A premier London Market player is looking to hire a qualified actuary into their capital modelling team. This will report into the Head of Capital directly and has management responsibilities. The role covers a broad range of capital duties such as model development, validation, risk management and SII. You will work closely with the other actuarial teams as well as Finance, and you will need to interact with stakeholders in several areas. The ideal candidate will be a qualified actuary with capital modelling experience, this does not necessarily need to be Lloyd’s focused.
Contact: curtis.browning@eamesconsulting.com | 0207 092 3242
Are you working in bulk annuity pricing or DB pensions de-risking and feel like you need a new challenge? Would you like to broaden your experience?
Or gain more exposure to new business development or structuring? One of our insurance clients is building a new team developing bespoke risk transfer solutions for the DB market. This is a high-profile growth area with ambitious plans and this is an exciting opportunity to join the team at the start of their journey and play a key role in development of this new business. If you're a recently qualified actuary with bulk annuity experience and are looking to expand your horizons then please get in touch.
Contact: jo.frankham@eamesconsulting.com | 0207 092 3263
London or South Coast, £80,000
This is a brand new role in the corporate actuarial team of a dynamic, innvoative insurance company. Looking for a qualified actuary to lead on business planning/strategy - exploring the causes and impacts of trends in the numbers, challenging assumptions, analysing the impacts of capital planning. Extensive reporting experience is not required, a range of technical backgrounds can be considered but candidates must be confident and self-motivated with strong stakeholder management and presentation skills. The role will involve data analysis and manipulation using SQL so relevant experience - or an aptitude for coding/programming would be welcomed.
Contact: jo.frankham@eamesconsulting.com | 0207 092 3263
A successful, growing consultancy, is looking to grow their Investment/ALM capabilities. You'll have the chance to apply your expertise across a varied portfolio of projects, building trusted relationships with a range of clients and gaining great exposure to C-suite stakeholders. An aptitude for technical work is key and you’ll be encouraged and supported to develop and promote your own capabilities – and those of the practice – across the wider industry. This is a collaborative and progressive organisation which encourages a positive work-life balance and can offer part-time/hybrid working as required from a range of locations.
Contact: jo.frankham@eamesconsulting.com | 0207 092 3263
London, £130,000 + bonus
A home & motor insurer is expanding its insurance risk team, seeking a technical pricing manager to oversee stress and scenario testing and model risk. You’ll lead second line oversight for all pricing model risks. This will encompass the planning and design of stress testing and scenario analysis, challenging pricing, underwriting, and climate change strategy, and building strong relationships with key stakeholders. You will additionally lead a team of 3. You will be a qualified actuary (or equivalent through experience) with strong pricing experience, particularly around stress and scenario testing.
Contact: sam.baker@eamesconsulting.com | 0207 092 3230
London/Surrey, £90,000 + bonus
A top insurance broker is looking to grow its R&D pricing team, seeking an experienced pricing manager with a background in optimisation. You'll manage a team of 2, whilst mentoring a first time manager within the team. This team covers a range of pricing projects, extending to machine learning improvements in Python. Whilst this isn't a prerequisite, an understanding of ML techniques is desired. The ideal candidate is currently managing at least one analyst within a pricing capacity, preferably with strong optimisation and WTW software experience.
Contact: sam.baker@eamesconsulting.com | 0207 092 3230
A specialty insurer is looking to hire a newly qualified actuary to join their pricing team to focus on P&C. In this role you will get involved with individual account pricing, development of underwriter rating tools, and portfolio profitability analysis ‘deep dives’. They need someone who can manage a junior in the team, and provide leadership. They are keen to speak to pricing actuaries who ideally have P&C experience and who have strong IT skills. Experience in R/Python/PowerBI is a big bonus.
Contact: hannah.turner@eamesconsulting.com | 0207 092 3249
£100k + Bonus & Benefits
We are working with a leading Lloyd’s syndicate who are looking for a senior actuary with strong property and casualty experience to join their team. The role offers broad exposure across pricing, capital, reserving and will also entail more strategic elements including business planning and oversight. This is an excellent opportunity for someone to take the next step in their career, working within the P&C space. Please reach out to learn more c.wright@gravitasgroup.com | 07765 134 727 each out to learn more 765 134 727
Location: London/Edinburgh/Hybrid
Salary: Up to £135k + Bonus & Benefits
We currently have an exciting opportunity for a qualified actuary with a minimum of 3 year’s PQE, to join an established company and help shape a new area of the business. Here you will be situated in the Capital and Investment Advisory team, where you will be working on hot-topic areas of the market such as ESG, Solvency II reform and illiquid assets. e.nicholson@gravitasgroup.com |
Location: London
Salary: £90k + Bonus & Benefits
We are lucky enough to be working with a top performing MGA. After expanding their syndicate portfolio during the back end of last year, they are looking for an Actuary to come into the Syndicate team at the Nearly / Newly Qualified level. If you have approximately 4 years of experience across Reserving and/or Capital Modelling you will want to find out more!
a.drew-prior@gravitasgroup.com | 07832 937 637 | 07832 937 637
Location: Hybrid/Remote
IR35: Inside & Outside
Rate: Up to £1,500/day
With the market showing no signs of slowing down, there’s no better time than the present to consider your next move. Several of our clients are looking to grow their teams to meet upcoming deadlines. If you are coming to the end of a current contract or are simply considering a transition into the contracting market, reach out today for a tailored conversation.
r.brown@gravitasgroup.com | 0203 640 9896
Location: London
Salary: £50-60k + Bonus & Benefits
We are working with one of the largest broker and consultancies in the insurance market, which are looking for a junior actuarial professional to join their multi-disciplinary team to produce actuarial solutions for over 50 of the most prestigious insurance and reinsurance companies using a market-transforming software. This is somewhere you will grow your actuarial skills whilst also building impeccable front-facing skills.
Location: London/Edinburgh
Salary: Up to £90k + Bonus & Benefits
This leading consultancy is looking for a qualified actuary with experience in the Defined Benefit pensions space. In this role you will be working both corporate and trustee assignments as well as working on creating new business. This is an excellent opportunity to become part of this growing company and you will be given the opportunity to shape the direction of growth. j.loraine@gravitasgroup.com
IR35: Inside, Outside & FTC
Rate: £700 - £1,500/day
Salray: [£150k - £250k] + Bonus & Benefits
The general insurance market for interim actuaries continues to remain busier than ever. We have been inundated with roles from actuarial transformation, cover for paternity, maternity, as well as BAU support, across Reserving, Pricing, Capital and Risk functions. If you are coming to the end of your contract or want to move into the interim sphere, reach out to discuss your options now.
rupa@gravitasgroup.com | 07543 176 000
HEAD OF ACTUARIAL & RISK
QualifiedMarket Leader
NON-LIFE SOUTH EAST / HYBRID
TRANSFORMATION MANAGER
STAR8083
QualifiedMajor Global Consultancy
NON-LIFE LONDON / HYBRID
RESERVING AND CAPITAL
STAR8007
QualifiedMarket-Leading Consultancy
NON-LIFE NATIONWIDE / HYBRID
CAPITAL MODELLING EXPERT
STAR8030
QualifiedLondon Market
NON-LIFE LONDON
STAR8040
FINANCIAL REPORTING ACTUARY
QualifiedMajor Global Reinsurer
LIFE BERMUDA
NEW BUSINESS REPORTING
STAR7973
QualifiedLeading Employer
LIFE EDINBURGH / MIDLANDS / HYBRID
STAR8074
PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT ACTUARY
QualifiedLeading Insurance Group
LIFE SOUTH EAST / HYBRID
STAR8066
HEAD OF BULK ANNUITY BROKING
QualifiedGrowing Consultancy
STAR7990 LIFE PENSIONS REMOTE
GMP EQUALISATION
Part-Qualified / QualifiedMajor Global Consultancy
PENSIONS UK OFFICE LOCATION / HYBRID
STAR8061
INSURANCE INVESTMENT LEADERSHIP
Qualified / CFAMajor Global Consultancy
INVESTMENT LIFE FLEXIBLE / HYBRID
STAR7873
Louis Manson MANAGING DIRECTOR +44 7595 023 983 louis.manson@staractuarial.com
QualifiedMarket Leader
LEAD RESERVING ACTUARY STAR7992 NON-LIFE LONDON / HYBRID
SENIOR CHANGE ACTUARY
QualifiedLeading London Market Firm
NON-LIFE LONDON / HYBRID
CYBER REINSURANCE
STAR7991
QualifiedMarket Leader
NON-LIFE LONDON / HYBRID
RESERVING ACTUARY
STAR8045
Part-Qualified / QualifiedLeading Insurer
NON-LIFE LONDON / HYBRID
STAR8065
HEAD OF BALANCE SHEET ANALYSIS
QualifiedMajor Insurance Group
LIFE MIDLANDS OR SCOTLAND / HYBRID
PRICING ACTUARY
STAR8051
QualifiedGlobal Reinsurer
LIFE LONDON / HYBRID
SYSTEMS ACTUARY
STAR8059
QualifiedLeading Retirement Specialist
LIFE LONDON / HYBRID
BPA PRICING ACTUARY
STAR8033
QualifiedMajor Insurance Group
LIFE PENSIONS LONDON / HYBRID
SENIOR RISK TRANSFER
STAR7976
Part-Qualified / QualifiedLarge Consultancy
PENSIONS NATIONWIDE / HYBRID
HEAD OF STRUCTURING
SENIOR LONDON MARKET PRICING
QualifiedLeading-Edge Client
NON-LIFE LONDON
STAR8036
SENIOR RESERVING CONSULTANT
QualifiedGlobal Leader
NON-LIFE LONDON / SOUTH EAST / HYBRID
STAR8050
SENIOR CAPITAL MANAGER
QualifiedSpecialty
NON-LIFE SOUTH EAST / HYBRID
STAR8084
STAR8060
Qualified Leading Employer
INVESTMENT LIFE LONDON / HYBRID
STAR8078
DIRECTOR +44 7510 385 603 sandra.lehane-kelly@staractuarial.com
Rochelle Haywood ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR +44 7514 720 110 rochelle.haywood@staractuarial.com
Lisa Darbyshire ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR +44 7514 720 202 lisa.darbyshire@staractuarial.com
QualifiedMarket Leader
BPA DIRECTOR STAR7911 LIFE LONDON / HYBRID
SENIOR PRICING ACTUARY
QualifiedGlobal Reinsurer
LIFE LONDON / HYBRID
SENIOR PROJECT ACTUARY
STAR8049
QualifiedLarge Insurer
LIFE EDINBURGH / MIDLANDS / HYBRID
BPA MANAGER
STAR8075
Qualified Major Global Insurer
LIFE PENSIONS LONDON / HYBRID
STAR8070
LONGEVITY PRICING ACTUARIES
Part-Qualified / Qualified Global Reinsurer
LIFE PENSIONS LONDON / HYBRID
HEAD OF CREDIT RISK
STAR7969
QualifiedMajor Consultancy
INVESTMENT LIFE FLEXIBLE / HYBRID
STAR8081
SENIOR INVESTMENT CONSULTANT
CFA / QualifiedLeading-Edge Consultancy
INVESTMENT REGIONAL OFFICE / HYBRID
STAR8042
Clare Roberts ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR +44 7714 490 922 clare.roberts@staractuarial.com
Satpal Johri ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR +44 7808 507 600 satpal.johri@staractuarial.com
Nick Reilly FIA ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR +44 7938 736 038 nick.reilly@staractuarial.com
Rachael Connolly CONSULTANT +44 7841 025 393 rachael.connolly@staractuarial.com
Akshay Thadeshwer CONSULTANT +44 7938 736 039 akshay.thadeshwer@staractuarial.com