1. ACTUARIAL SCIENCE making financial sense of the future

2. 1 WHAT IS AN ACTUARY 2 THE EDUCATION STRATEGY 3 THE UNIVERSITY ROUTE

3. 1 WHAT IS AN ACTUARY? Play Video

4. 1 WHAT IS AN ACTUARY? An Actuary provides Commercial and Financial Advice on the Long-Term Management of Financial Assets and Liabilities

5. An Actuary is a specialist who has good levels of knowledge and current skills in Financial Mathematics, Statistics, and Economics.

6. Actuaries are quantitative risk professionals who:  Analyse the past  Model the future  Assess the risk involved  Communicate what the results mean

7. Actuaries make financial sense of the future

8. The UK Actuarial Profession body:  Institute and Faculty of Actuaries ◦ It organises educational activities and advises government ◦ It promotes research ◦ It has a statutory role as a regulator ◦ It is a worldwide profession

9. Key areas of actuarial practice  Life assurance  Pensions  General insurance  Finance, investment, and risk management  Health and care

10. The profession has changed in recent years -  to reflect the broadening range of areas in which actuaries will work in the future  to acknowledge the increasing globalisation of the profession  to enhance business skills

11. The profession controls its own entry through its education strategy, which includes a major and rigorous series of examinations Students of the profession take these exams over several years

12. Success leads to:  Fellowship of the profession  A qualification which is internationally recognised and respected  Responsible and well-paid positions  Eventually very senior positions

13. How big is the UK profession? Fellows 8900 Students 8600 (approx, at 30.9.07) About 500 new Fellows qualify each year – it is a growing profession And the proportion of females is increasing – 34% of actuarial students are female

15. Worldwide there are about 40,000 actuaries The world as it is now needs 80,000 actuaries The greatest needs are countries in which the financial services sector is expanding rapidly e.g. China, Malaysia

16. Most student actuaries start with maths/statistics degrees but the proportion with actuarial maths/science degrees is increasing.

17. From which English universities? City, LSE, Kent, Warwick, Oxford, Nottingham, Cambridge From which Scottish universities? Heriot-Watt From which Welsh universities? Swansea *entrants with undergraduate degrees only *

18. Actuarial work is:  Interesting and varied  Important to us all  Highly respected  International  Well paid Starting Salary between £25k-35k and newly qualified actuaries in insurance companies typically earn somewhere between £42k-60k. Many successful actuaries earn over £100,000 a year. (Jan 2008)

19. 2 THE EDUCATION STRATEGY New exam structure started in 2005 – now in sixth year of operation Students have to complete 11 exams and attend and pass three 2-day courses + complete some work experience

20. Four examination stages  Core Technical (8 exams, 1 course)  Core Applications (1 exam, 2 courses)  Specialist Technical choose 2 subjects  Specialist Applications choose 1 subject - country specific

22. Core Technical Stage - designed to give students a solid grounding in the key actuarial techniques

23. CT1:Financial Mathematics CT2: Finance and Financial Reporting CT3:Probability and Mathematical Statistics CT4:Models CT5:Contingencies CT6:Statistical Methods CT7:Business Economics CT8:Financial Economics

24. Core Applications Stage -designed to teach students actuarial concepts across a range of subject areas, and how to apply them in both familiar and unfamiliar situations CA1:Actuarial Risk Assessment

25. Specialist Technical ST1:Health and Care ST2:Life Insurance ST3:General Insurance ST4:Pensions and other benefits ST5:Finance and Investment A ST6:Finance and Investment B ST7:General Insurance: Reserving and Capital Modelling ST8:General Insurance: Pricing ST9:Enterprise Risk Management

26. Specialist Applications SA1:Health and Care SA2:Life Insurance SA3:General Insurance SA4:Pensions and other benefits SA5:Finance SA6:Investment

27. 3 THE UNIVERSITY ROUTE Most entrants to the profession are graduates - employers favour students with numerate degrees. More and more students are taking degrees in actuarial science, either undergraduate or postgraduate.

28. The profession is very well developed and mature in the UK so many students decide to study in the UK. Several UK departments and many academic staff have very close links with the professional bodies

29. Actuarial studies as part of a degree subject were introduced to the UK in the mid-1960’s. A principal benefit of taking an actuarial degree course is the availability of EXEMPTIONS

30. from some of the professional exams (dependent on reaching an appropriate standard in the relevant University exams) This is a very important and attractive arrangement for both students and the University departments - students can jump up the qualifications ladder relatively quickly - departments attract bright and committed students

31. new exemption arrangements are now in place ACCREDITATION of complete courses (and block exemptions)

32. Play Video

33. Swansea University actuarial degree courses have already been awarded FULL ACCREDITATION Exemption from Core Technical Stage Subjects: CT1, CT3, CT4, CT5, CT6

34. Swansea University (University of Wales) offers: BSc Actuarial Studies BSc Actuarial Studies with Accounting BSc Actuarial Studies with a Year Abroad Contact: Dr A D Mayer, University of Wales, School of Business and Economics, Singleton Park, Swansea SA2 8PP email: a.d.mayer@swansea.ac.uka.d.mayer@swansea.ac.uk

38. Success rates - the value of doing a good actuarial degree course (data from mid-90s) % of trainee actuaries without an actuarial degree who eventually qualify is around 40%

39. % of trainee actuaries with an actuarial degree and all, or almost all, the possible exemptions who eventually qualify is around 80%

40. Main information source UK actuarial profession’s website www.actuaries.org.uk

43. For more info, please contact: South East Asia Representative for ICWS and Swansea University: Mr. Sebastian Chong Future Excellent Educational Placement Services Unit 1.88, 1 st Floor Kompleks Asia City, Jalan Asia City, Asia City 88000 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia Tel: (+6) 0149556328 Email: sebastian.chong.fexcellent@gmail.com