Category Archives: Events

Joint Regional Seminar on Economic Capital

Posted on 22 July 2011 | 1 Comment

About 1000 actuaries and actuarial students are attending the Joint Regional Seminar on Economic Capital.

Yesterday I attended the Bangkok arm. It was lively, well organised, useful and interesting.

The president of the Society of Actuaries gave an introductory speech and it emerges that 25% of the American Society at Associate level and below reside in Asia. I also loved his definition of what differentiates actuaries from others. “When we provide a number. We give it a context that’s what makes us special”

One of the best speakers of the day was a Thai gentleman named Sutee who said “he wanted to be measured by how people felt after his presentation.” Well I for one felt stimulated to learn more about economic capital and that at last I truly understood all the jargon surrounding it.

The final presentation was by Mark Saunders It was by far the best presentation on presentation skills I have ever heard – and I’ve been to many.

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Posted in Actuarial Societies, Conferences, Events, International, Networking, Society of Actuaries (SOA), Wider Fields

Tagged Bangkok, Economic Capital, Joint Regional Seminar, Thailand

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

Tagged Career path, CERA, ERM, Panel discussion, Risk, SAAX

Dr Kaye Announced as Chairman Designate of The Argonauts

Posted on 3 June 2011 | Leave a comment

Dr Geraldine Kaye was announced as the Chairman designate of The Argonauts at the most recent meeting at The Ivy.

The Argonauts is a dining club open to qualified actuaries practising in non-traditional areas (i.e. areas other than traditional life actuarial or pension actuarial work), such as finance, general insurance, investment management, pension scheme administration and risk management.

Brid Meaney was the actuarial speaker. She is an excellent speaker and spoke about Solvency II, providing insights that even Geraldine had not heard of before.

The non-actuarial guest speaker at the event was Robert Gardener. He gave a fascinating presentation in which he spoke about social networking and explained how it works. He also described how he had developed Mallow Street, a place for the pensions community to connect and share knowledge, into a social network with 1,700 members and one of the most influential voices in the pensions industry.

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Posted in Actuarial Sectors, Actuarial Societies, Networking, Pensions, Solvency II, Wider Fields

Tagged actuarial, Actuaries, Argonauts, Dining Club

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!

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

Tagged actuarial, Actuaries, Actuary, career, Graduate, graduates, recruitment

Un-Christmas Party

Posted on 22 March 2011 | Leave a comment

As is GAAPS tradition, the GAAPS ‘Christmas’ party was held at an entirely different time of year.

This year brought together a blend of the current and previous members of the GAAPS team to a dinner treat hosted by Reubens Restaurant. The event was filled with constant laughter and mingling which was made better with a slight twist to mix the crowd in the middle of the event. At the end of the evening, the gathering brought the warmth of Christmas into a mid-winter’s day where colleagues let loose, came together as a stronger team and bonded into friends.

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If you are interested in joining the GAAPS team, please apply online and write “Join GAAPS” in the comment box at the end of the registration form..

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Posted in Events, Networking, news

Tagged Job, party, recruitment, Xmas

Pancake Flipping – A Job for Actuaries?

Posted on 11 March 2011 | 1 Comment

This week Dr Geraldine Kaye of GAAPS represented the Worshipful Company of Actuaries as a team member in the Worshipful Company of Poulters 7th Annual Pancake Race on Shrove Tuesday in the Guildhall Yard in the City of London.

Though not the tallest participant,

Dr Kaye is the person to contact if you are looking for an actuary job.

Even if you don’t consider pancake flipping whilst running to be an essential requirement when choosing a recruiter, please bear in mind that at GAAPS we have vacancies in all fields of the actuarial profession including life, pensions, health, risk, general insurance and Solvency II.

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

Tagged Giraffe, Pancake Day, Race, Shrove Tuesday, Worshipful Company of Actuaries

Photos: Imperial Actuarial Careers Fair – Nov 2010

Posted on 13 February 2011 | Leave a comment

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Posted in Careers Events, Imperial College Business School

Tagged Aon, Aon Hewitt, Barnett Waddingham, Ernst & Young, EY, GAAPS, Hymans Robertson, Imperial College Business School, Imperial College London, Inside Careers, Mercer, Towers Watson

South African Actuarial ConneXion Event

Posted on 10 February 2011 | Leave a comment

Collette and Geraldine attended the first SAAX (South African Actuarial ConneXion) Group event of the year, held in the offices of Swiss Re in “The Gherkin” just across from our own offices in Bevis Marks.

Professor Roger Steare gave a presentation on our “Moral DNA” and explained how insights into our character and cultures can help us to meet the challenges facing business, civic society and our environment.