Member interest groups
Member interest groups are specifically designed to:
- Respond efficiently to members' needs and developing interests by engaging members directly and adopting a 'bottom up' approach;
- Reduce formality and bureaucracy;
- Promote knowledge-sharing among group members; and
- Encourage members to support each other in their careers, in furthering their skills and knowledge and in enhancing their professional development.
Topic-specific member interest groups have been set up in areas such as ageing population, banking and financial consumer issues, resource and environment issues, risk management, Solvency II for private medical insurance, and variable annuities.
In addition, groups in the process of being established include one on pensions issues in the context of corporate mergers and acquisitions
and one for actuaries with a professional interest in China.
Member interest groups engage in a variety of activity. For example:
- The Banking Interest Group delivered a presentation at the Life Conference in 2008 on how the integration of insurance and banking techniques and thinking can add real commercial value
- The Variable Annuities Group is developing a presentation for risk and investment conference in 2009 and has recently launched a newsletter for its members.
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.
- The regional member interest groups develop programmes of events and activities to provide members with opportunities to obtain CPD and to network with other actuarial professionals in their own regions.
Highlights of member-led research
- Members of the Ageing Population Group produced 100 Years of State Pension - Learning from the Past. The book was published in January 2009 to coincide with the centenary of the payment of the UK's first state pension. The book explores the history of the UK state pension legislation and how future pension policy can be developed to enable people to plan more effectively and with more confidence for their retirement. It was widely reviewed and promoted in articles in the general and trade press.
- The work of the General Insurance Reserving Oversight Committee (GIROC) is focused around three working parties: reserving under Solvency II, the effectiveness of reserving methods and understanding the business better for reserving. More than 60 actuaries have been involved in examining approximately 44,000 actuarial estimates for the effectiveness of reserving methods. Over 250 general insurance actuaries have been actively involved in GIROC.
