Get CERA qualified
Pass SP9, get the Chartered Enterprise Risk Actuary (CERA) credential and then show it off! For more information about how to plan your study route if you are a member of the IFoA, then view this page. If you are a member of another actuarial association, then please visit the CERA Global Association website.
Hone your “softer” skills
These are very important in any actuarial practice area, but being able to demonstrate strong personal and business skills such as communication, adaptability, tenacity and leadership can be particularly useful when making a transition between different areas. Those who already work in ERM emphasise the importance of being able to understand a full range of business functions and activities, of being able to communicate clearly with and to non-actuaries, and of being willing to both listen and challenge – and to spot when you are not being told the truth or only half of the truth! In addition, softer skills are valuable during any interview process. Please visit our Lifelong Learning webpages for further information.
Read around the subject
There are lots of resource materials available on ERM which will allow you to understand the range of activities which comprise the risk management cycle and to appreciate current issues and developments. As well as providing the base for your personal development, they can help you to make decisions about which particular risk management area you might wish to focus on, or whether you would prefer a wider ERM role. Even if you do not wish to take the SPrisk@actuaries.org.uk9 examination, the SP9 reading materials for it are a very good starting point. Lists of other useful resources can be found on the Global CERA credential website and there is also the list of related IFoA library material available to you.
Attend events
Attendance at ERM-related events will help you to improve your understanding and knowledge of the area and will be something that those who are recruiting for ERM roles will be looking for. There are many risk management focused events available offered by the profession (including occasional one day ERM seminars), regional actuarial societies, SIAS and other providers. The profession’s annual Risk & Investment Conference has clear risk management streams, and there are normally many ERM-related talks at the other practice area conferences and at Momentum. For those who are unable to attend in person, look for the online opportunities such as webinars. You may also want to look at what is offered by organisations such as IRM and PRMIA.
Network
Take every opportunity to talk to others who work in ERM. Risk management focussed networking events are organised and held periodically by the IFoA. Any of the events mentioned above are great opportunities at which to make useful contacts and to learn from others’ experiences
Get involved with the profession
Look out for opportunities to be involved with ERM related activities such as working parties, research groups and education-related roles. Not only will these look good on your CV, they will provide even more networking opportunities. Although you may not feel able to provide specialist expertise, a willingness to work hard and to contribute time is often more highly valued than knowing all of the answers. Find out more about the latest volunteering opportunities.
Sign up to the Risk Management practice area
When you log into our website under “My preferred interests” and then “Practice area community preferences”, make sure that you are subscribed to the ERM option (you can subscribe to as many different practice areas as you like). This will ensure that you receive regular e-newsletters which highlight relevant news items, events and volunteering opportunities that are specifically tailored to risk management
Get involved at work
Make it known that you are interested in risk management as part of your career progression plan. Go and talk to the people who already work in risk management within your organisation and/or have conversations with your clients about their own risk management framework (e.g. if you currently work in pensions: how has the employer integrated the pension scheme risks into its overall risk management program?). Look out for risk management related projects that you could get involved in at work, even if at first it is only on an occasional basis alongside your day-to-day responsibilities. You could even volunteer to start such a project yourself
Look for every opportunity
As with all personal development, you cannot rely on things just happening for you. You must be proactive, both in terms of the suggestions made here and in looking out for job opportunities (whether internal or external).
Contact Details
For more information about Risk Management working parties contact the CommunitiesTeam.
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Events calendar
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Insurers’ hidden risk from reinsurance recaptures; the perspective of UK annuity writers
29 June 2022There is a lack of publicly available information covering the practices insurers employ to manage their exposure to reinsurance recapture risk. A working party was set-up to shed light on the different approaches insurers use to mitigate this complicated to manage risk. This report is intended to form part of a publicly available information repository that market practitioners can refer to and reflect on as best practice evolves and develops.
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Climate Solvency The Actuaries Carbon Collaboration: Applying Actuarial Concepts to Carbon Emissions
6 July 2022The Actuaries’ Carbon Collaboration (ACC) is a group of actuaries and other professionals working towards a coherent understanding of the issues around greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by considering them in an actuarial context.
Emissions into and absorption from the atmosphere can be modelled in the same way that we model variable cash flows, including the impacts of uncertain quantities and timing. The ACC’s work investigates both the insights that this analogy provides and its limitations.
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Sessional Meeting: Data and Modelling Considerations for mental health in life insurance
11 July 2022This talk presents the work of the Data and Modelling workstream of the IFoA Mental Health Working Party. We explore data and modelling considerations in the risk assessment and underwriting of mental health conditions. We will also consider how newer risk factors and improved data availability might open up opportunities for additional underwriting and product designs.
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Pensions Dashboards
12 July 2022As the industry prepares for Pensions Dashboards, we have lined up a specialist panel who is at the heart of the ongoing work in this area. Hear the latest developments, future proposals and have the opportunity to put forward your questions to our speakers.
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Applying AI – From Concept to Practice
19 July 2022Artificial Intelligence is heralded as a game-changer to the ways industries use data, with the insurance industry especially looking to embrace these new technologies. This brings many questions – not least around data privacy, ethics, potential biases and so on – with regulators increasingly interested in developments.
Moreover, whilst the stunning progress of specific technologies such as Watson and Alphazero made headlines some years ago, current commercial applications of AI remain far from mature.
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This webinar will cover:
• Some background on the risks of misselling in an ESG context, including the DWS case
• Achieving positive impact is a strong antidote to the risks of greenwashing or ESG misselling, however this risks having a tension with fiduciary responsibilities
• This tension can be resolved with a concept called Universal Ownership
• Under Universal ownership, investors have an appetite to make a loss in order to achieve positive impact, and yet still have no compromise on their fiduciary responsibilities
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This session will focus on the transformation roadmap of the healthcare sector in KSA and the role of actuarial capabilities in enhancing its evolution to the desired end stage as per the objectives of the Vision 2030. The discussion will focus how the system has evolved so far and shed light on the expected future changes. Through examining the transformation, we will highlight how the sector is and can use actuarial expertise to not only assist with this transformation but also use basic actuarial principles to identify the key risks and their respective mitigation strategies.
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Sessional Meeting: Covid-19 and the Effectiveness of ERM Frameworks
Online15 August 2022The purpose of this research paper is to explore enterprise risk management lessons which can be learnt from the Covid-19 pandemic in preparation for potential future pandemics as well as other “gray rhino” or “black swan” events. This paper is not intended to be an all-encompassing solution to the issues presented by Covid-19; rather, the content has been provided to help drive discussions regarding how risk management processes may need to evolve in line with the dynamic nature of the underlying risks that they sometimes need to capture.
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The IFoA's Infrastructure Working Party, led by Chris Lewin, will present its new introductory guide to infrastructure investment, which will be published on the IFoA web-site prior to the webinar. Those readers whose institutions have already taken the plunge into infrastructure will know that it is a highly complex and diverse field of activity. This guide does not explore all the matters which investors take into account, but it does discuss many of the more important points, including the risks and past returns, benchmarking, and ESG and SDG considerations. Attendees will be invi
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Health – Our Greatest Asset
2 November 2022Health contributes to happiness at the personal, family, community and societal level. Health, importantly underpins all our economic security. This talk will explore the drivers of our health, the measurement of health and the steps we can take to improve health – most of which lie outside the NHS.