Papers and reports

The actuary’s expertise in the field of life insurance lies mainly in the application of mathematical and statistical techniques to the wide range of issues associated with life insurance business. In particular, the actuary has developed very sophisticated tools for modelling and forecasting, and to help in establishing equity between policyholders. In recent years, owners of such businesses, be they policyholders or shareholders, have been coming to depend increasingly upon the actuary’s skills to establish value for their overall business.

We felt that the starting point for a marketing audit of the profession was to conduct research amongst the members. In addition we have investigated the coverage achieved by the profession in the media, and looked into developments in North America, including a survey which ranked the actuarial profession against other forms of employment.

EXD6: The purpose of this draft Guidance is to enable the actuary, in the interests of his client, to determine the appropriate method and assumptions for calculating pension costs, while recognising and interpreting, in the actuarial context, the requirements of SSAP 24. EXD7: The purpose of the proposed Guidance results from a report from the Occupational Pensions Board: ‘Protecting Pensions: Safeguarding Benefits in a Changing Environment’.

The Presidential Address visits some of the current issues affecting the actuarial profession and expresses some personal views of the President. Subjects covered include with-profits policies, life assurance withdrawals and disclosure, Europe, education (concerning both actuarial examinations and continuing professional education), general insurance and pensions. The Address demonstrates the need for proactivity in a world which is continually changing, which is the theme of the 2-year presidency.

The paper presents a theoretical framework for the valuation of a general insurance company to actuaries, but also aims to provide reference work for non-actuarial users of appraised values. It distinguishes between the price that may be paid for an insurance operation from what may be called the economic or appraised value. The paper describes the elements of the appraised value calculation, selection of parameters, the uses of such evaluations and explores the future development into explicit stochastic modelling rather than the implicit methodology.

Standard tables of mortality based on the 1979-82 experiences