Here at GAAPS we kicked off the New Year with a lot of enthusiasm… one of the many reasons being because our Australian branch Executive Director, Mr Tony Snoyman, got an entire page in the Actuary magazine!

I guess you’ve always wondered who are the faces behind the GAAPS brand and who are the people working at GAAPS desks…
Well, here you have the chance to find out more about our fantastic team!

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In time, a wheel turns full circle. In the first few volumes of the actuarial journal dating back to 1851 are papers relating to fire and other forms of general insurance. Yet, just around 15 years ago, when I started conducting general insurance salary surveys, there were only approximately 100 general insurance actuaries and general insurance was at that time being hailed as the new area for actuaries to explore.

When I first became an actuary, my dream was to become the first female stockbroker. It’s just as well that I didn’t, as the first lady stockbroker was ‘drummed out’. Back then, there were many actuaries in the investment field sliding up and down the yield curves. Now, there appears to be a relatively small number of investment actuaries in relation to the total number of actuaries that now exist. Why has this departure from such a lucrative field occurred? Dare I say that the Profession has not made it easy for them to remain within its folds?

I joined the Argonauts Dining Club about 25 years ago and I am proud to have been elected as chairperson of the club this year. The Argonauts is a dining club for actuaries working in the non-traditional fields or in non-standard occupations such as investment. Its remit has recently been widened to include general insurance actuaries as there were no specific dining clubs to cater for them. When I joined, I was an academic actuary and there were only a few academic actuaries — now there are many.

But why are actuaries turning away from the profession either by lapsing their membership or just denying or converting their membership to Affiliate status? I am particularly aware of this trend as chairperson of Argonauts, because it directly affects my members.

Most of these could be a case of ‘what’s in it for me?’ syndrome and, even worse, for some there are actually advantages in lapsing. Now that Type 3 membership of the Institute has been abolished, wider-fields actuaries must attend professionalism courses run by the Profession. As mentioned on the People/Society pages in the October 2011 edition of The Actuary on Argonauts: actuaries journeying though uncharted waters, the current CPD costs and bureaucracy are forcing experienced wider-field actuaries out of the profession.

Nobody argues that CPD is not a good thing but it must be relevant and appropriate. Many actuaries in the wider fields must not only pay their own professional subscriptions, but also fees for attendance at courses. However, money is only a small part of it. There is also the dismay that comes from having to take time out of their precious holiday allowance for attendance.

There seems to me to be few advantages in remaining a full member of the Profession rather than the cheaper version of an affiliate unless one is a ‘signing’ actuary or relishes in kudos the membership this exclusive club provides.

Why have I gone into such detail about this? For a start, new fields are trodden by pioneers. An HR director I once dealt with likened employing actuaries to addiction: “They are addictive — if you have one, you want more”. If they don’t have one (or worse, have one but don’t know it), then it might well be safe to say that they wouldn’t want more. To drive actuarial careers into new fields, we must encourage vision within our membership and keep them in the fold, not drive them out.

When I set up GAAPS Actuarial, a recruitment company dedicated to actuaries over 20 years ago, there were only a few actuaries as recruiters. At that time, many questioned my departure from the actuarial profession — I persevered and responded that I had not stopped being an actuary, I was merely utilising my skills in a new field. “Every change is chancy” goes the old Yemenite proverb, and chance was what I took in my change of profession. Now more and more actuaries have come forth in the recruitment industry — it has even become an acceptable profession for an actuary.

Challenging as it is for actuarial careers to advance into new areas, we must encourage pioneers by making it both effortless and simple to remain within the folds of the profession. New fields grow out of the work of these pioneers, and much less so from artificial lobbying and seeding by the Profession itself.

We must support our actuarial pioneers and their enterprises and must not forget to also refer to our history when searching out new avenues of endeavour.

(24 Nov 2011 by , Dr Geraldine Kaye)

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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

As the first GAAPS employee, she was instrumental in helping me set GAAPS on its successful path.

The aim of this foundation is to raise public awareness of the disease and to help finance research into Hughes Syndrome at St Thomas’ Hospital in London. They have already raised over one quarter million pounds since they started and I wish them all the possible success for this noble cause.

If you consider contributing into this mission, you can visit http://www.lgfellowship.org/index/Home.html

Dr. Geraldine Kaye

As always the event was excellent – both the evening itself and the companies who attended.

Special thanks of course go to Imperial College for having organized such a great evening, offering us great atmosphere and a wonderful opportunity for Business networking… all accompanied with floods of wine and more sushi than in down town Tokyo!

We were truly delighted to be in the presence of such important guests as AON, Buck Consultants, Deloitte, Ernst & Young, Inside Careers, Mercer, Milliman, Pricewaterhouse Cooper, The Actuarial Profession, Towers Watson and last but not least Zurich Financial Services.

Therefore, THANK YOU ALL!

We hope you enjoyed the evening as much as we did and that you had the chance to meet good grads!

Thanks again, we hope to see you all very soon!

GAAPS Team

Video:

Photo Album:
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Over the day hundreds of actuarial and mathematics students busied themselves at the fair, where they were able to interact with perspective future employers, and come to the GAAPS stand to find out how we can help them progress through their chosen careers. We had fantastic feedback on the day from both students and employers; and one very delighted student won a Sony Bloggy from us!

So whether you are a candidate already at Heriot Watt, or thinking of making the move; or an employer who would like to join us at next years event please get in touch!Click to view slideshow.

Professor Robert Bor proved to be an engaging speaker and he provided an interesting view on the transition to work and life in the UK, with a focus on managing diversity and sustaining relationships in business and personal context.

All that has been accompanied by very nice people and good South African wine and food… which made this night even more fun!

A special thanks also to Mr. Adrian Baskir, for such a lovely introduction.

GAAPS Actuarial is proud to have been sponsor of this wonderful event, which has been a good stimulus for reflection for each one of us!

If you would like to find out more about the event, please  click here

Sophie explains the importance of actuarial skills, which have become more and more appreciated not only within assurance companies but also in Investment Banking.

Actuaries solve practical problems. Certainly, some of them are essentially connected to insurance. However, they are more and more requested in the resolution of problems related to finance, in particular in the trading rooms’ risk management. Especially with increasing complexity of financial products it is necessary to take into account a largest number of risks, in a very rigorous, coherent and transparent way.

A few years ago, the investment department would have been considered the best place to work. Lately, actuarial skills have become essential in risk management, as well as in financial engineering. In addition, with the introduction of Basel II, a huge range of new opportunities have come up.

But “Just having a sound set of technical skills is not enough” -said Sophie- “They also need to develop other types of soft skills. Communication skills, ability to liaise effectively at all levels and managing team are also very important “.  Being able to explain complex technical concepts to non-technical people in an easy to understand language is a crucial aspect to succeed in this profession.

If you would like to find out more about the original interview (in French), click on this link:  Full article. There is an approximate translation into English here.

There were two speakers; the first, Andre Kerr, is an RAF pilot who is taking the actuarial exams as a hobby and he gave the most wonderful speech on ‘Supersonic Risk Management’. The highlight for me was when he told us about trying to get the Institute to approve his taking an exam whilst he was stationed in Afghanistan; knowing the enormous number of regulations regarding which calculator you can take into an exam, he was concerned about how they would react to the fact that he would need to keep his gun with him, in fact they provided no restrictions for him.

Our second speaker was Richard Cousins of PwC. He started his speech on ‘Working as a credit advisor’ by saying that Andrew was a hard act to follow, in this case this was a very true statement but he performed admirably.

After the dinner, more people stayed for longer for drinks than I have ever known at an Argonauts dinner before. All crowded around our guest speaker.

The next Argonauts meeting will be at Tallow Chandlers Hall and the final meeting of the year will be held at The Ivy. I’m only chair for a year but if it were up to me we would almost definitely use Painters Hall again next year.

For more information about joining The  Argonauts, contact Heath Mottram, the Honorary Secretary.

Dr Geraldine Kaye, MD of GAAPS will be introducing Professor Robert Bor who will provide a fascinating and entertaining perspective on managing the transition to work and life in the UK.

A prize will be presented for the best question asked and as always, the talk will be followed by good food, great South African wine and quality networking with fellow Southern Africans.

Full details can be found on the SAAX group website.

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