Category Archives: Actuarial Qualifications

NEW Professionalism exams for Actuaries

Posted on 12 December 2011 | Leave a comment

A meeting was held for CPD Co-ordinators to introduce the new way of examining professionalism for actuaries. Initially only those who join the Institute after May 2012 will be subject to the new exam and those within 6 years of joining or who qualify whichever is first. No decision has been made about how to examine experienced fellows.

As this years chairman of the Argonauts Actuarial dining Club, I am delighted our concerns (and lobbying) have been taken into account. Having an online exam takes away the requirement for those not in traditional actuarial employment to take a days holiday to sit an exam. It will also Im sure be welcomed by those in traditional organisations that the exam can now be taken in what would otherwise be wasted time such as waiting at airports.
The on-line exam has had input on the technical side from Leeds University’s ethics dept.

Going forward I would like to see more emphasis in the other exams and tutoring on the long term consequences of decisions-especially those in the public interest. Traditionally actuaries dealt with pensions and life assurance which automatically made them think of long-term consequences-now that they have moved into wider fields more emphasis must be brought to bear on this during their training.

Dr. Geraldine Kaye

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Posted in Actuarial Exams, Actuarial Qualifications, International, news

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Letter of the Month: Women in the Profession

Posted on 2 October 2011 | Leave a comment

The following letter by Dr Geraldine Kaye, MD of GAAPS was published as Letter of the Month in this month’s issue of The Actuary Magazine

Women in the Profession
In response to your invitation for feedback on the introduction of the page dedicated to the profession’s female actuaries, I write as one of the first ever female actuaries to qualify in the UK — I was within the first 20. Times have moved on, or so I had thought.

Reading The Actuary magazine and coming across a special page for women in our professional magazine seems demeaning. Non-professional issues are, in my opinion, dealt with perfectly adequately elsewhere. On a professional level, there are no differences between men and women in the actuarial profession. We have taken and passed the same exams.

A page dedicated to female actuaries seems not only superfluous, given today’s heavily legislated business conduct stipulated against gender bias, but comes across as patronising towards achievements from both genders. Surely what is achieved by both male and female actuaries are celebrated on the same page. No doubt, with careful forethought, a note that has been included to encompass male interest, seems to contradict the point of a page dedicated to women in the first place?

This may be a ‘call to action’ page for women to participate in the opportunities increasingly available to them worldwide, but surely a way to address issues and celebrate women in the actuarial profession should not be narrowed down in drawing a deliberate line to differentiate gender achievements in the actuarial industry when we are trying to achieve equality?
G. Kaye
8 September 2011

Editor’s comment:
Helen Crofts’ suggestion to have a women’s page in the magazine was widely debated and 
I sought the views of the editorial advisory panel and other actuaries — male and female. There was no consensus view. The aim of the page was to have a home for resources related to women in business. In the spirit of sharing information that was indicated to be of interest to at least some of the readership, across the gender spectrum, I suggested a trial page with the aim of gauging feedback from readers. I have since received mixed feedback, from males and females alike, and I thank you for taking the time to write in.

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Posted in Actuarial Exams, Actuarial Qualifications, Letters, news

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SAAX Group Event – Insights on Enterprise Risk Management

Posted on 17 July 2011 | Leave a comment

Enterprise Risk Management (‘ERM’) is widely recognised as a critical management issue for the Financial Services industry. At the recent SAAX group event, four ERM industry leaders shared their insights on developments in ERM and provide suggestions on how to succeed in a field where there are increasing opportunities for actuaries and risk professionals.

Adrian Baskir introduced the panel which was chaired by Marjorie Ngwenya. The panelists were Paul Sweeting, Jan-Hendrik Erasmus, Malcolm Kemp and Andrew Birrell. There was an interesting and participative discussion with many good questions and contributions from the floor.

Discussion focused on the new CERA qualification. This is a stand-alone internationally recognised qualification and one is eligible for it from Associate level and up.

Three qualities for actuaries are now being highlighted as important ….

  • Business Acumen - ie. “know the specifics of your industry before applying ERM principles” – it is not enough to know the ERM principles in isolation from your specific business
  • Develop strong communication skills – Actuaries are now required to be charismatic and understandable by non-actuarial folk – not enough to be numerate and often non-actuaries are very numerate themselves
  • Contribute to the business strategy of the company – Take time to do proper thinking – away from the audit thinking style of the operational side of the business.

In addition, all four panelists strongly suggest that actuarial thinking has much to offer and that actuaries should not be afraid to just plunge in and learn as they go … there is NO ideal career path … they believe one should just do the very best one can in current roles.

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Posted in Actuarial Qualifications, Events, Insights, Networking, news, Risk

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What Skills Do You Need to Become an Actuary?

Posted on 25 April 2011 | Leave a comment

Ideally you should be studying for a degree with significant mathematical content; statistics, maths, engineering, science and economics are all ideal subjects. The advice that I was given as a student, and that I still give whenever speaking to students today, is to study a subject that you enjoy. You are better with a good class of degree than a poor degree and some exemptions, and you are more likely to do well at something you enjoy.

Tenacity is essential, as the actuarial exams are demanding. To be accepted as an actuarial student usually demonstrates that you have the ability to qualify. The two reasons for not qualifying are that a) the student ‘learns well how to fail’ and gives up, or b) gives up, albeit for some wholly justifiable reasons (such people are often referred to as ‘unqualified successes’).

In theory, exemptions make it easier to qualify, but you need practical experience in an office in order to integrate the theoretical knowledge and to learn the jargon. Take advantage of the long summer holidays before you graduate to gain as broad a range of experience as possible.

Actuaries need good communication skills. It used to be said that you know you are talking to an extrovert actuary because they look at your shoes rather than their own when they speak. This is no longer true.  As an actuary you will often need to explain complex technical information to non-technical audiences.

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Actuarial Skills Travel Well

Posted on 18 April 2011 | Leave a comment

The actuarial qualification is one of the most mobile of qualifications because the IAA Education Syllabus and Guidelines ensure that the same 10 subject areas are covered to an appropriate depth by all actuarial education systems.

Once qualified there are bilateral agreements for the mutual recognition of qualifications with the institutes of India, South Africa, Canada, the USA, Australia and Japan. There is also a multi-lateral mutual recognition agreement covering all member associations of the Groupe Consultatif of the EU. Additionally, the actuarial profession is the first to have a single global qualification – CERA (Chartered Risk Enterprise Actuary).

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Posted in Actuarial Exams, Actuarial Qualifications, International

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Do You Want To Be An Actuary?

Posted on 28 March 2011 | Leave a comment

The graduate recruitment market is at its most competitive for years. At GAAPS Actuarial Graduate Division, we are dedicated to getting your actuarial career off to a flying start.

We want you to get that first step on the actuarial ladder absolutely right. We will do everything to ensure you are happy with the position and company.

We understand your problems and issues: loans, salary expectations, a bewildering array of companies, maybe even work permits.

Our experience and contacts within universities, as well as with our graduate recruitment clients, means we chart the way for you to sail into your first job.

We place graduates, part-qualified and qualified actuaries all over the world, so whether you want the UK, Europe, Australasia, the Far East or South Africa, look no further than us!

Register with us, give us a call on 020 7397 6200 or come to visit us at one of our careers fairs.

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Posted in Actuarial Exams, Actuarial Qualifications, Careers Events, Odds and Ends

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A Qualification in “Applied Common Sense”

Posted on 28 February 2011 | Leave a comment

Actuaries work across diverse industries, from insurance, pensions and benefits, investment and asset management through to banking, healthcare, capital projects and risk.

Working individually or as part of a team, you could find yourself being a consultant, analyst, trouble-shooter and risk assessor – all in the same day; so because your own future will be wide open, you will also be the kind of person who’s ready for anything.

You need to be able to distinguish between the essential and the inessential and, once qualified, to have a long-term perspective.

I often describe the actuarial qualification as a qualification in ‘applied common sense’.

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Posted in Actuarial Qualifications, Actuarial Sectors, Insights, Life, Odds and Ends, Pensions, Property and Casualty / Non-Life / General, Risk, Solvency II, Trustees

Global Careers and Actuarial Finance

Posted on 14 January 2011 | Leave a comment

Dr Geraldine Kaye presents a lecture at Imperial College Business School on global actuarial careers.

She discusses actuarial qualifications, immigration legislation, international CVs and the need to learn foreign languages.

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Posted in Actuarial Exams, Actuarial Qualifications, Actuarial Societies, Imperial College Business School, International, Video

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Congratulations!

Posted on 23 December 2010 | 1 Comment

Congratulations to everyone who passed the actuarial exams, and especially to those of who who have just qualified.

The results have been published on The Actuarial Profession website .

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Posted in Actuarial Exams, Actuarial Qualifications, Institute and Faculty of Actuaries

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Facebook Help for the SOA and CAS exams

Posted on 1 September 2010 | Leave a comment

If you are studying for the SOA/CAS Actuarial Exams here are a few Facebook groups and applications that you might find useful.

  1. Faceook-based Actuarial Mock Exam System (Fames)
    FAMES, a facebook-based real actuarial exam simulation, is aimed to help students to pass actuarial CBT exams by offering free practice tests.  Just login with your facebook account and start to pass all your actuarial preliminary exams!
  2. Actuarial Study Material Download Area on Facebook
    A platform to get the study material to prepare their actuarial professional exams. You can get  Actuarial Textbooks, Study manuals, Solution manual, question banks… here
  3. Web-based Actuarial Mock Exam System (Wames)
    Web-based Actuarial Mock Exam System (Wames), a web based real actuarial exam simulation, is aimed to help students to pass actuarial CBT exams by offering free practice tests.
  4. Actuarial Exams Guidelines : CBT Exam Tutorial Demo
    The demonstration of the screens and basic functionality of the Prometric Actuarial Computer Based Test.
  5. GAAPS Actuarial
    And of course, the GAAPS Facebook page to keep up with the latest actuarial news.

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Posted in Actuarial Exams, Actuarial Qualifications, Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS), Society of Actuaries (SOA)

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