Update from the Chair of the Life Practice Executive Committee
Philip Scott, the President, came to share his thoughts on the Profession with us at the Life Practice Executive Committee in January 2013. One of the challenges he set us was to ensure we are giving sufficient thought to the needs of customers in 2020. We are going to set aside time at our March meeting to discuss this further.
We spent a good portion of our January meeting discussing potential topics for CILA on 1 May and having an initial discussion about potential plenary sessions for the Life Conference, which will take place in Edinburgh in November. One of our key objectives is to ensure that the CPD that we provide actively supports our members in their roles in life insurance and gives a long-term perspective about the issues of the future; we hope both events contribute to this aim.
As has been the norm recently, a good chunk of the agenda was spent on how best to progress our ongoing discussions with the regulator relating to Solvency II, which is discussed elsewhere in the newsletter. We also discussed the potential implications of the split of the FSA into the PRA and the FCA. We have established good relationships with the FSA and it is important that this is maintained with both the PRA and the FCA to ensure that we influence the successful regulation of the life insurance industry, both from prudential and customer perspectives (both of which are important for consumers).
One of our aims for the session is to agree on how to support life members to perform influential risk management roles within the Actuarial and Risk functions. There is a lot of overlap between Life and ERM, with common skill sets required, but the behaviours required from those working in Risk departments are subtly different from those working in a first line of defence role. We see the Life PEC as supporting the technical skill requirements with the ERM PEC supporting some of the more cultural aspects of risk management and ERM.
One additional initiative that we aim to progress is to give members access to the thoughts of actuaries who work in a risk management area within life insurance and the views of customers of those actuaries. We are exploring how best to do this and you will hear more about this going forward.
Regards,
Alastair Clarkson,
Chairman, Life Practice Executive Committee
February 2013