Actuarial

Actuaries make long-term decisions and forecasts that affect people in all aspects of everyday life. Working in diverse sectors such as pensions, insurance, healthcare, banking and investment, actuaries provide organisations with specialist advice on how best to manage their assets, liabilities and risks. Using financial and statistical skills, you will analyse past events, assess current risks and use all sorts of data to try to accurately anticipate the financial costs. Actuaries build mathematical and statistical models to predict different situations or events. For instance, actuaries in insurance try to ensure their models factor in the potential costs of future claims, making sure the company has enough in reserve to cover claims paid out and liaise with underwriters to jointly agree a price for policies. In pensions and investments you might examine social factors, such as forecasted changes in life expectancy, and compare these figures against fund values. It’s a career choice that requires plenty of analytical skills and an aptitude for problem solving.

Salary

A trainee actuary can expect to earn an annual salary of £25,000 - £35,000. When fully qualified, and with the right experience and skills you could progress to earn in excess of £100,000 per annum. Average salaries for a Senior Director can be £185,000. This does not include potential bonuses and additional benefits. Salaries may vary based on location and employer.

• Conducting calculations and interpreting other people’s calculations
• Identifying and assessing specific financial risks against set parameters within the organisation’s business strategy
• Establishing the future financial requirements your organisation will need to ensure its capital adequacy by modelling risks against possible future events
• Designing and implementing test plans to assess an organisation’s financial robustness and resilience to unknown future events
• Drawing conclusions from data gathered and from financial models
• Preparing presentations on the approach, key outputs and conclusions
• Advising business teams on areas like product pricing and development or advising potential buyers/sellers on pension scheme implications

• Excellent mathematical and statistical ability
• Strong, clear communication skills, both verbally and in writing
• Confident preparing and explaining numbers
• Analytical and research skills
• Creativity in problem solving
• Excellent people, interpersonal and listening skills
• Strong teamwork and customer service ethic
• Confidence in delivering high-level presentations and decision making
• Influencing skills
• Relationship management with internal and external clients

A new entrant will not always be required to have this knowledge. Employers usually provide training to acquire skills for:

• An understanding of the different financial products and services and historic and residual risks that are applicable to your organisation
• Professional and regulatory obligations of an actuary

The main route into actuarial work is through a graduate training programme offered by major employers.  Some people may switch and progress into actuarial work from risk management roles.  Most employers will seek candidates that have obtained degrees in subjects like mathematics, statistics or actuarial science and risk management. Other useful degree subjects include economics, physics, finance, statistics, chemistry, engineering and accounting.

However, the minimum entrance requirements for admission as a student of the Actuarial Profession, the professional body for actuaries, are lower. Student actuaries need an A-Level, Scottish Higher or equivalent in maths and a good degree (2.1 or above). In order to become a qualified actuary, new entrants will be expected to study part-time and pass examinations and must comply with professional requirements in the Bye laws of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.

Training usually takes between three to six years and many employers give time off to study. People with a relevant degree (for example, actuarial science) or postgraduate qualification may be exempt from some of the professional exams.

Exams include areas such as statistical modelling, economics and financial and actuarial mathematics. They can be tailored to the area of finance you are working in, with specialisations in life and healthcare insurance, pensions, general insurance, finance and investment or risk management. Study is mainly by distance learning and tutorials, or by attending university courses.

Students are required to maintain a log of work undertaken and courses attended and other learning activities as part of the development of their work-based skills. This includes technical actuarial skills as well as more general business and management skills. Qualified actuaries are obliged to maintain their technical competence by undertaking Continuing Professional Development.

As an actuary, you might work for an investment institution, bank, life assurance or healthcare insurer, general insurance/reinsurance company, pensions scheme provider, the Government Actuary’s Department, a management consultancy or an accountancy practice. Life assurance and pensions consultancies are the largest sectors employing actuaries, with general insurance currently the fastest growing sector. Opportunities in the UK are nationwide, but there is a concentration of employers in London, Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Manchester, Edinburgh and Glasgow. The number of actuaries in Northern Ireland has been growing in recent years and this trend looks to continue, creating further long-term employment opportunities.  Once qualified, the future is in your hands. Actuarial skills are welcomed all over the world and with such a wide range of actuarial employers, actuaries can discover a huge variety of exciting careers. The increased reliance on quantitative analysis and legal contractual relationships is likely to increase the demand for qualified and experienced actuaries. Almost 41% of the UK's qualified actuaries are based overseas, mainly in Europe, USA, Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, and in the Far East. 

• The Institute and Faculty of Actuaries