Neil Arora. Career model

Neil Arora FFA/FIA: 1996 Company: Macquarie Group Limited Role: Executive Director, Macquarie Capital, Dubai, United Arab Emirates Other actuaries: There are no other actuaries in the Middle East offices but many across the Macquarie Group

First job    

Tillinghast Towers-Perrin – consulting actuary in the Life department where I dealt with a number of investment bankers working on merger and acquisition projects.  There is where the seed was planted!

Keys steps between first job and current one

I moved to Macquarie from Tillinghast and have never considered doing anything else.

Current work

I am the head of our Middle East Investment Banking and Asian Infrastructure business. We advise third party clients or our own infrastructure funds on corporate finance activity in the infrastructure space. Infrastructure means things like roads, airports, ports, utilities but can also include things like car parks, aged care homes and telecom towers. We also advise or bid on PPP transactions as governments in the Middle East and Asia adopt this method of procuring public-run infrastructure.  This involves leading a team charged with developing a finance plan and arranging the necessary funds required to implement the project, often amounting to several hundred million dollars.

Opportunities for others

Project and corporate finance are very well suited to the actuarial core skills.  Fundamentally, understanding cashflow and being numerically quick-witted are very important qualities, as well as understanding risk.

Hurdles to surmount

Investment banks may well perceive actuaries to be “number crunchers” with no personality.  Individuals will have to show tenacity when searching for a new career.  In addition, the actuarial profession pays well.  You may have to take a pay cut initially if moving into a new field but ultimately the rewards are worthwhile.

Original reason for becoming an actuary

Just before choosing my degree two things happened.  Firstly, the FT published a survey on careers – the actuarial career was ranked as the highest paid with the least stress.  Sounded like a no-brainer, especially since I was good at maths.  Secondly, I met someone who was studying Actuarial Science at LSE.  He described the course and I thought it sounded interesting.

Subsequent thoughts

Banking can sometimes be a lifestyle choice.  The hours can be long and weekends have to be given up.  The industry is client focused and results driven.  But the exposure to learn new things is great, the learning curve steep and responsibility is passed to you at an early stage.  On the whole, I would highly recommend a career in banking.

Career History

From university, where I studied Actuarial Science, I joined Tillinghast where I worked in the Life department.  I spent a large amount of my time running models and by the time I qualified I had become bored.  The part I had enjoyed was dealing with the investment bankers of M&A deals, so I actively searched for something along those lines.  The job at Macquarie sounded very interesting and since joining I have moved from being the financial modeller involved in a deal to running deals of my own and now to running a business.

Other comments

I see a number of CVs every month, many of them from actuaries.  Although I may understand the technicalities specified on the CV, my non-actuarial colleagues will not.  This means they are more likely to favour a non-actuary’s CV than an actuarial one.  When applying for non-actuarial jobs, try to amend your CV to highlight key attributes and skills rather than describing the detail of your job. Also, avoid mistakes on your CV. This is a big turn off!