Launch of the ERM strategy 2012
Philip Scott, President, the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, launched the profession's ERM strategy at the Risk and Investment Conference 2012. The general themes and discussions at the conference strongly promoted our risk management messages and delegates were enthusiastic supporters of promoting actuaries' capabilities in risk management as well as in other wider fields.
On this page, learn more about the 'opportunities in risk mangement and the strategy to expand actuarial horizons'.
Opportunites in risk management:
Businesses and the public sector face multiple increased challenges and greater uncertainty in a world that is rapidly changing - organisations need to manage their risks better to succeed and to serve all stakeholders well.
The profession believes that members can develop influential roles in wider risk management, building on core skills in our traditional areas such as insurance and pensions and expanding into newer areas within investments and retail banking to help manage other business risks.
In this way, we believe that the profession needs to expand its horizon of activity to meet the needs of its growing global membership for stimulating and well rewarded jobs that leverage core actuarial skills and serve the public interest.
Our expertise:
Actuaries have a particular expertise in risk management, combining technical capabilities with a breadth of business and financial understanding. This powerful combination places actuaries in a strong position to develop influential roles in risk management, not only in traditional sectors, but in other areas of financial services and beyond.
The need:
Increasing complexity and regulation are two of the greatest challenges facing businesses today. Against this background, organisations are restructuring their approaches to risk management and developing frameworks to provide an enterprise-wide risk perspective to effectively balance the limitation of downside risk with the exploitation of the upside potential. It is a challenging undertaking that is providing opportunities for both technical and business professionals.
The profession's risk management plans:
- To make risk management a core theme for all our practices, our branding and our external messaging
- To work with employers of actuaries in risk management to ensure that training aligns with employers' needs
- To support members with new learning opportunities
- To leverage core positions where actuaries are well established, to raise the profile and access more influential roles
- To promote actuaries' risk management skills to the recruitment community
- To reinforce our band positioning with targeted research and thought leadership
- To collaborate with other risk organisations to provide access to new ideas and opportunities
Why actuaries are in a strong position - their distinguishing characteristics:
- Professional objectivity
- Financial modelling expertise
- Experienced in dealing with uncertainty
- Ability to look at the overall risk in a business context
- Ability to communicate and influence at senior levels
- Forward looking perspective
Next steps:
The profession's Risk Working Group (RWG) has been developing a detailed Strategy Roadmap for embedding risk management within the profession. This will be presented to the RWG at the end of July for agreement and refinement before being presented once again to Council (ideally at its September meeting).