Knowledge-sharing and facilitating discussion
The Profession is committed to providing members, regardless of where they live and work, with opportunities to interact with
each other and to share knowledge and experience.
Topic-specific and practice-specific discussion boards and wikis are at the heart of
knowledge-sharing and direct member interaction, allowing members to engage with each other, regardless of their location.
The Global Financial Crisis Group was one of the first to embrace this means of communication and information-sharing.
Case-study: Global Financial Crisis Group
The global financial crisis presented unprecedented challenges for actuaries and the Profession
moved quickly to support its members. A cross-practice global financial crisis group was quickly set up to lead the work and to enable
members to share knowledge about the issues underlying the crisis and the possible implications for the future.
An open forum on the credit
crunch and its practical implications for actuaries was held in early September and more than 140 people attended. An online discussion
forum was launched in mid-December to provide members with a means to discuss the crisis. A broad range of discussion topics emerged and
included posts on liquidity premia, the origins of the crisis, policy options and solutions, lessons learned, the roles of the credit
ratings agencies in the crisis and the implications for the enterprise risk management. Discussions got off to a strong start and
approximately 150 posts were made by the end of February 2009. The group also established working parties to undertake new research on value at risk and
liquidity issues in the context of the financial crisis. Research on systemic risk has been commissioned from Cass Business School.
A seminar on the financial crisis, due to take place in June 2009, was to provide a platform for a range of risk management experts,
policymakers, regulators and finance professionals at the centre of the debate over the future of financial regulation.
