An actuary is a professional with advanced mathematical skills who deals with the measurement and management of risk and uncertainty. These risks can affect both sides of the balance sheet and require asset management, liability management, and valuation skills. Actuaries provide assessments of financial security systems, with a focus on their complexity, their mathematics, and their mechanisms. The name of the corresponding academic discipline is actuarial science.
Actuarial science is the discipline that applies mathematical and statistical methods to assess risk in insurance, pension, finance, investment and other industries and professions.
The International Actuarial Association (IAA) is a worldwide association of local professional actuarial associations.
The Society of Actuaries (SOA) is a global professional organization for actuaries. It was founded in 1949 as the merger of two major actuarial organizations in the United States: the Actuarial Society of America and the American Institute of Actuaries. It is a full member organization of the International Actuarial Association.
The Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS) is a leading international professional society of actuaries, based in North America, and specializing in property and casualty insurance.
The Institute of Actuaries was one of the two professional bodies which represented actuaries in the United Kingdom. The institute was based in England, while the other body, the Faculty of Actuaries, was based in Scotland. While the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries were separate institutions, they worked very closely together, and their professional qualifications and actuarial standards were identical. On 25 May 2010, voting members of the institute who took part in a ballot voted to merge the institute with the faculty, thus creating the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, which came into being on 1 August 2010. The Institute of Actuaries ceased to exist on that date.
The Canadian Institute of Actuaries (CIA) is the national organization of the actuarial profession in Canada. It was incorporated March 18, 1965. The FCIA designation stands for Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries. As the national organization of the Canadian actuarial profession, the CIA serves the public through the provision by the profession of actuarial services and advice by: representing the Canadian actuarial profession in the formulation of public policy; promoting the advancement of actuarial science; educating and qualifying CIA members; ensuring that actuarial services provided by its members meet accepted professional standards; and assisting actuaries in Canada in the discharge of their professional responsibilities.
The Faculty of Actuaries in Scotland was the professional body representing actuaries in Scotland. The Faculty of Actuaries was one of two actuarial bodies in the UK, the other was the Institute of Actuaries, which was a separate body in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. While the Faculty of Actuaries and the Institute of Actuaries were separate institutions, they worked very closely together, and the professional qualifications and professional standards for actuaries were identical in each of them. On 25 May 2010, voting members of the Faculty who took part in a ballot voted to merge the Faculty with the Institute of Actuaries, thus creating the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries which came into being on 1 August 2010, superseding the Faculty of Actuaries which ceased to exist on that date.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to actuarial science:
The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) is an independent regulator in the UK and Ireland based in London Wall in the City of London, responsible for regulating auditors, accountants and actuaries, and setting the UK's Corporate Governance and Stewardship Codes. The FRC seeks to promote transparency and integrity in business by aiming its work at investors and others who rely on company reports, audits and high-quality risk management.
The Institute of Actuaries of India is the sole national apex body for actuaries in India. It was formed in September 1944 by the conversion of the Actuarial Society of India into a body corporate by virtue of the Actuaries Act, 2006. It is under the ownership of Ministry of Finance, Government of India.
The Czech Society of Actuaries is the association of actuaries in Czechia. It aims to promote education and research in actuarial science and to mediate social and professional contacts among actuaries.
Frank Mitchell Redington was a noted British actuary. Frank Redington was best known for his development of Immunisation Theory which specifies how a fixed income portfolio can be "immunised" against changing interest rates.
An enrolled actuary is an actuary enrolled by the Joint Board for the Enrollment of Actuaries under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). Enrolled actuaries, under regulations of the Department of the Treasury and the Department of Labor, perform a variety of tasks with respect to pension plans in the United States under ERISA. As of August, 2024, there were approximately 3,400 enrolled actuaries.
Following is a partial list of professional certifications in financial services, with an overview of the educational and continuing requirements for each; see Professional certification § Accountancy, auditing and finance and Category:Professional certification in finance for all articles.
Philip Booth is a British economist. He is Dean of the Faculty of Education, Humanities and Social Sciences at St Mary's University, Twickenham, and Senior Academic Fellow at the Institute of Economic Affairs. His primary areas of research and writing are social insurance, financial regulation and Catholic social teaching.
The actuarial credentialing and exam process usually requires passing a rigorous series of professional examinations, most often taking several years in total, before one can become recognized as a credentialed actuary. In some countries, such as Denmark, most study takes place in a university setting. In others, such as the U.S., most study takes place during employment through a series of examinations. In the UK, and countries based on its process, there is a hybrid university-exam structure.
The Morris Review was a government-sponsored review of the UK actuarial profession led by Sir Derek Morris in 2004–05. It was commissioned in March 2004, in the aftermath of the near collapse of Equitable Life, and the subsequent findings of Lord Penrose's Equitable Life Inquiry The review found a number of problems with the actuarial profession, including insularity of approach, lack of transparency, failure to take account of developments in financial economics, and the influence of 'entrenched commercial interests'.
Marjorie Ngwenya is a British-born, Zimbabwean-raised actuary. In June 2016, she was appointed president-elect of UK’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA). She was the first black African, the youngest and third woman to hold this position. She was also known to be the first leader based outside the United Kingdom.
Mary Rosalyn Hardy is a professor of actuarial science at the University of Waterloo (Canada). She pioneered, together with Julia Wirch, the development and application of the conditional tail expectation (CTE).
