Who we are
We are the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA) and our subsidiaries: Continuous Mortality Investigation (CMI) Limited, ICA 98 Limited, and Institute and Faculty Education (IFE) Limited. We are the chartered professional body dedicated to educating, developing and regulating actuaries based both in the United Kingdom and internationally
We are registered as Data Controllers with the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) in the United Kingdom:
The IFoA registration number: Z4899224
The CMI Registration number: ZA121735
Where we are based
We maintain offices in England, Scotland, China, Hong Kong and Singapore.
How you can contact us
For general enquiries, visit the contact us page.
For CMI specific enquiries: info@cmilimited.co.uk
For enquiries about this notice or your information rights: our Data Protection Officer can be contacted by:
Telephone: +44 (0) 131 240 1311
Email: data.protection@actuaries.org.uk
Why we need to process your personal data
| Who you are: | Why we process your data: |
|---|---|
|
A member of the IFoA |
To facilitate your membership of the IFoA and to assist in the fulfilment of our role as a regulator |
| A member of another actuarial association undertaking IFoA examinations or applying for mutual recognition | To administer the setting of assessments or in considering applications for mutual recognition status |
| A prospective member of the IFoA or non-member wishing to sit IFoA examinations that are available to non-members | To process your application to join the IFoA. If you are sitting IFoA assessments independently as a non-member, we need to use your personal data in the course of setting assessments |
| A non-member attendee or speaker at an IFoA event | To administer your attendance at specific events |
| A non-member undertaking voluntary work for the IFoA | To support the administrative and communications activity required to manage volunteers |
| An organisational representative or contact under the IFoA Quality Assurance Scheme (QAS) | In the course of processing your organisation’s application for QAS status and any subsequent administration associated with the QAS. You can read the QAS privacy notice here |
|
An organisational representative or contact under the IFoA Designated Professional Body Scheme (DPB) |
In the course of your organisation’s application for DPB status and any subsequent administration associated with DPB |
| A customer or supplier of goods or services to the IFoA | To communicate with you, place or fulfil orders for goods or services and to send and receive payments |
| A job applicant | To assist with the administration of the recruitment and selection process |
| A member of IFoA staff or someone engaged in a paid role | For the day to day administration of your employment or engagement with us |
|
A user of the IFoA website |
To analyse site performance and, if you are a registered user, to provide account related functionality |
| Someone interested in a career as an Actuary (including school children) | To keep you up to date with relevant information about actuarial careers |
Where we get your personal data
Depending on our reasons for processing your data the sources of this data may be:
- you;
- your current and previous employer(s);
- other actuarial organisations;
- educational bodies including schools;
- other regulators;
- employment agencies;
- credit reference agencies;
- your previous customers or suppliers;
- social media and the Internet;
- public records.
If you browse our website we may collect basic information about you via Google Analytics. For more information please see our Cookie Policy
The lawful basis for processing your personal data
The IFoA only process personal data where there is a lawful basis for doing so. These are:
- legal obligation;
- contract;
- vital interest;
- legitimate interest;
- public task.
In line with our role as a regulator we may also process personal data where there is a substantial public interest. This means we may process data without consent in order to protect the public from dishonesty, or in the investigation of malpractice, unlawful acts or improper conduct.
The types of personal data we process
Depending on our reasons for processing your data we may process your:
- contact details (i.e. name, previous name(s), current and previous postal addresses, work address, email addresses, phone number(s));
- marital status;
- education history and exam performance;
- employment history;
- professional interests;
- payments (to and from us);
- financial details;
- correspondence (to and from us);
- professional development;
- attendance at events;
- national insurance number or equivalent;
- passport / identity card number;
- health information;
- location of birth;
- criminal records;
- disciplinary records.
If you browse our website, we may capture and process:
- a unique machine-generated visitor ID;
- the date and time of your first visit, current visit, and total number of visits to the site;
- the number of pages visited;
- when your visit has ended;
- information about the traffic source (where you came from).
How we keep your data secure
Personal data received by the IFoA will be held in accordance with our information security standards. When we share data with third parties we ensure the required technical and organisational controls are in place to keep the data secure. When sharing personal data we use appropriate controls and safeguards. These will be specified in our individual Data Sharing agreements. Examples include only dealing with authorised individuals, adhering to internal policy controls and the use of secure file sharing portals and encryption.
Children's data
From time to time the IFoA processes the personal data of children. This may be to facilitate entry to IFoA sponsored academic competitions, recognise excellence in mathematics at secondary education level or to keep aspiring actuaries up to date with relevant careers information. When we do this the lawful basis is our legitimate interests as the chartered body for actuaries in the United Kingdom. Children's data is kept securely at all times, processed in accordance with the Information Commissioner's Office 'Age Appropriate Design Code ('Children's Code') and available only to those employees that require access to it for their job.
When we share your personal data with third parties
We will share, where appropriate, your personal data with the following organisations:
- payment processors and our bank;
- exam centres holding exams on our behalf;
- organisations assisting with exam logistics such as marking platform providers, scanning services and plagiarism checking;
- the British Council;
- publishers;
- other actuarial organisations;
- electoral services providers;
- travel and accommodation booking service providers;
- credit reference agencies;
- employment agencies;
- your current and/or previous employer;
- courier delivery services;
- external legal advisors;
- third parties who supply the services that support the delivery of our publications, newsletters and electronic library services;
- if you're representing us in the UK or overseas and we are funding your travel, we may share personal data about you with travel services, hotels and selected third parties only to facilitate your travel and attendance;
- members and lay-members via involvement in our boards, committees, working parties, member interest groups and regional societies;
- members and lay-members acting in roles as principle examiners, exam supervisors, other exam personnel, exam counsellors, independent examiners, subject matter experts, and investigating actuaries;
- tracing services, in relation to compliance and disciplinary matters;
- Competent authorities - i.e. tribunals, courts, police forces, and other regulators such as the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), the Pensions Regulator (tPR), or the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
Where we share your personal information with other regulators, this is part of our regulatory function, and extends to disclosures relating to disciplinary actions, as well as periodic auditing of our activity by competent authorities. In line with our rules and byelaws, we will not seek your consent for these disclosures.
Illustrative examples of data sharing with third parties:
| Category of third party recipient | Whose data | Examples of data sharing |
|---|---|---|
| Other IFoA members acting on behalf of the IFoA | IFoA members volunteering or applying for volunteer vacancies |
|
| Employers of actuaries | IFoA members |
|
| Other actuarial associations |
IFoA members, Members of other actuarial associations, applicants for the CERA mark |
|
| Universities, colleges and educational providers | Prospective and current student members of the IFoA and other actuarial associations |
|
| Regulators and competent authorities | IFoA members |
|
| Organisations and individuals involved in the assessment and delivery of the examinations of the IFoA | Student members of the IFoA, non-member candidates and members of other actuarial organisations sitting IFoA examinations |
|
| Suppliers of member related services | IFoA members and non-members that have registered their interest in our qualifications or services |
|
| Publishers and digital content providers | IFoA members and non-member subscribers |
|
| Employment agencies | Job applicants |
|
| Members of the public making a complaint about an actuary | IFoA members |
|
Social media
We have separate terms and conditions for our social media channels covering issues around data sharing with channel owners, content and behaviour. These are available to review here
When we might transfer your information across borders
As an international body, to facilitate the delivery of regulatory objectives or services related to membership and learning we regularly transfer personal data across jurisdictions.
We routinely store or process personal data:
- within the UK; or
- within countries recognised as having an 'adequate' level of protection under UK GDPR; or
- within the EEA and countries recognised by the EU as providing an 'adequate' level of protection; or
- internationally to countries without an 'adequacy' decision using appropriate technical, organisational and contractual safeguards.
As required under EU GDPR our representative within the EU is 'Data Protection Representative Limited', 12 Northbrook Road, Dublin, Ireland, D06 E8W5. You can access our representative services from any EU country, further details are here.
How long we retain your personal data
We only retain personal data for as long as legally required or as long as required by the objects in our Royal Charter.
We securely dispose of personal data when the retention period has expired.
Copies of our Records Retention Schedule can be requested via our Data Protection Officer: data.protection@actuaries.org.uk
When the use of your personal data is based on our legitimate interests
If we send you information based on our legitimate interests as a professional body such as professional newsletters, updates on our activity, Continuous Professional Development opportunities and notices of events you are able to opt out of receiving this at any time.
By Royal Charter, we are obliged to act in the public interest. Pursuant to our role as a regulator and the objects of our Charter you cannot opt-out of receiving certain types of regulatory and governance related information.
Your rights as a data subject
You have the right to:
- obtain a copy of any personal data we hold that is about you and not subject to any exemption in data protection law, including footage recorded on Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) systems where the IFoA is the Data Controller;
- correct any information we hold about you that is inaccurate or out of date;
- ensure we dispose of any personal data we hold about you (once all legal and regulatory record keeping requirements have expired);
- restrict the processing your personal data;
- object to us processing your personal data;
- erase your personal data, where we no longer have a lawful basis or valid operational reason for holding it;
- request we send all or some of the personal data we hold about you to another organisation.
If you wish to exercise any of your rights please contact the Data Protection Officer with your request: data.protection@actuaries.org.uk
If you’re unhappy with how we have used your personal data
In the first instance, please contact our Data Protection Officer so that we can deal with your enquiry. If you are unhappy with how we deal with your concerns you have the right to make a complaint to a Supervisory Authority about how we process your personal data.
In the United Kingdom the Supervisory Authority is the Information Commissioner’s Office
We updated this notice on the 3rd of September 2021:
- We updated our Privacy Notice to incoporate reference to 'adequacy' under UK GDPR for international transfers of data
Filter or search events
Events calendar
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The Growth Mindset for Actuaries
13 October 2021 - 8 December 2021This practical course is aimed at actuaries at any stage of their career who want to develop their own growth mindset and apply it to their work setting and personal or professional lifelong learning. The content of the course builds on the lecture given by Dr Helen Wright on Growth Mindset as part of the President’s 2021 Lecture series, and will be delivered over a period of 2 months, from mid-October to early December.
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Actuaries need to take action now - but how? With a focus on climate change, this session will provide informed insight to enable you to improve your knowledge and understanding of the issues involved, demonstrate how it will impact advice to your clients, and highlight prospective opportunities for actuaries within pensions and wider fields. -
A joint webinar from the CMI Mortality Projections and SAPS committees that will cover: recent mortality experience in the SAPS dataset and the general population; the CMI Model benchmarking survey; the MPC 2021 interim update paper; plans for CMI_2021; and initial thoughts on possible "S4" Series pensioner mortality tables.
The webinar will be presented by Cobus Daneel (Chair of Mortality Projections Committee) and Matthew Fletcher (Chair of SAPS Committee).
-
Pensions Winter Forum: Pension Scams
8 December 2021
Pension scams have become more prevalent as a result of the pandemic, and Trustees have increased responsibilities to protect members, which means that actuaries need to be in a position to provide advice in this area. Our specialist panel will include a professional trustee, an IFA and head administrator, two of whom are members of PASA. -
Sessional Meeting: Allowing for shocks in portfolio mortality models
15 December 2021The Covid-19 pandemic creates a challenge for actuaries analysing experience data that includes mortality shocks. To address this we present a methodology for modelling portfolio mortality data that offers local flexibility in the time dimension. The approach permits the identification of seasonal variation, mortality shocks, and late-reported deaths. The methodology also allows actuaries to measure portfolio-specific mortality improvements. Results are given for a mature annuity portfolio in the UK
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The Brian Hey Prize 2021 - LocalGLMnet: interpretable deep learning for tabular data
15 December 2021In this webinar, the authors of the 2021 Brian Hey prize winning paper present a new deep learning model called the LocalGLMnet. While deep learning models lead to very competitive regression models, often outperforming classical statistical models such as generalized linear models, the disadvantage is that deep learning solutions are difficult to interpret and explain, and variable selection is not easily possible.
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The dominant underwriting approach is a mix between rule-based engines and traditional underwriting. Applications are first assessed by automated rule-based engines which typically are capable of processing only simple applications. The remaining applications are reviewed by underwriters or referred to the reinsurers. This research aims to construct predictive machine learning models for complicated applications that cannot be processed by rule-based engines.
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Pensions Winter Forum: How to win the pensions endgame
19 January 2022
With the Pension Schemes Act 2021 requiring a long term strategy from Trustees and sponsors, choosing a pensions endgame strategy has become even more critical. However, it is important that the endgame options available are adequately assessed before choosing one. With an ever-increasing array of creative and innovative options available, this decision may not be straightforward.
Actuaries need to take action now - but how? With a focus on climate change, this session will provide informed insight to enable you to improve your knowledge and understanding of the issues involved, demonstrate how it will impact advice to your clients, and highlight prospective opportunities for actuaries within pensions and wider fields.
Pension scams have become more prevalent as a result of the pandemic, and Trustees have increased responsibilities to protect members, which means that actuaries need to be in a position to provide advice in this area. Our specialist panel will include a professional trustee, an IFA and head administrator, two of whom are members of PASA.
With the Pension Schemes Act 2021 requiring a long term strategy from Trustees and sponsors, choosing a pensions endgame strategy has become even more critical. However, it is important that the endgame options available are adequately assessed before choosing one. With an ever-increasing array of creative and innovative options available, this decision may not be straightforward.