Press release

20 May 2008

The Institute of Actuaries will confer its highest honour of a Gold Medal for the first time in a decade to Canada-based member Professor Phelim Boyle.

The Institute Council voted yesterday to award Professor Boyle, Professor of Finance at Wilfrid Laurier University, the prestigious medal in recognition of the important contribution he has made to actuarial science over more than 30 years. It is only the 13th Gold Medal that has been awarded since the inception of the medals in 1919.

Professor Boyle has made an outstanding contribution to actuarial knowledge through his extensive and innovative research. He gained an international reputation for his pioneering work on options and in 1977, he published one of the most important financial papers on the topic, which introduced a pricing method that is still widely used today. More recently, he has improved this method by showing how quasi-random numbers can outperform random numbers for an important class of financial problems. He was also co-inventor of the Asian option.

Professor Boyle has held educational posts around the world and recently retired from holding a chair at the University of Waterloo. He haspublished extensively, contributing almost 100 papers to both actuarial and finance journals. Professor Boyle's sustained work on the fusion of actuarial science and modern finance achieved worldwide recognition when he was awarded the honour of Financial Engineer of the Year in 2005.

Professor Boyle was educated at Trinity College in Dublin and Queens University in Belfast and has held posts around the world, including visiting professorships at Cambridge University, the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Tokyo. He moved to Canada in 1973 to undertake an academic position with the University of British Columbia.

Institute President Nick Dumbreck said the award provided recognition of Professor Boyle’s long and valuable contribution to actuarial research.

He said: “On behalf of the Institute of Actuaries, I would like to congratulate Phelim Boyle. He has made a contribution of immense significance to actuarial science and to the wider financial world through his research on valuing options and other financial risks. His work has been original, broad and influential and he joins a proud list of recipients who have made their mark on the profession. I am also delighted that the Institute has recognised the outstanding contributions of Greg Taylor and Andrew Smith to the actuarial profession.”

The Institute will also award members Andrew D. Smith and Greg Taylor FIA Finlaison (Silver) Medals in recognition of their work for the profession. Silver Medals are awarded for service of especial importance to the actuarial profession and only 22 have been given our since their inception in 1966. The medals will be presented later this year.

For more information, please phone Fleur Morrison on 020 7632 1453 or email fleur.morrison@actuaries.org.uk

Notes to Editors - sometime there are additional notes to these:

1. Actuaries provide commercial, financial and prudential advice on the management of a business’s assets and liabilities, especially where long term management and planning are critical to the success of any business venture. They also advise individuals, and advise on social and public interest issues.
2. Members of the Profession have a statutory role in the supervision of pension funds and life insurance companies. They also have a statutory role to provide actuarial opinions for managing agents at Lloyd’s.
3. The Profession is governed jointly by the Faculty of Actuaries in Edinburgh and the Institute of Actuaries in London. A rigorous examination system is supported by a programme of continuing professional development and a professional code of conduct supports high standards reflecting the significant role of the Profession in society.