21 November 2006
The new President of the Faculty of Actuaries, Stewart Ritchie,
has set out his agenda for his two-year term of office.
In his Presidential Address, Mr Ritchie chose 'Respecting the
past, creating the future' as his theme. He said the UK Actuarial
Profession was at a crossroads and should continue to be open to
change and strategic opportunities in the future. In a wide-ranging
speech, the key areas he identified included:
Life and pensions - More work needs to be done to ensure
employees and employers understand the implications of shortfalls
in defined benefit schemes. Some employers may be reluctant to tell
their employees what could happen if the employer becomes
insolvent. Actuaries must play their part in finding and offering
solutions to provide financial stability. Mr Ritchie suggested that
if strong companies issued long bonds to fund their own pension
fund deficits, those bonds could be suitable investments for other
pension schemes - a win/win for pension funding.
Public interest - Working in the public interest distinguishes a
profession from a trade body. Individual actuaries are expected to
perform honestly and ethically, working in the best interests of
their clients, and maintain their whistle-blowing responsibilities.
Mr Ritchie said that the Actuarial Profession also had a public
interest responsibility to speak out when it perceives the public
to be at risk.
Communication - much of the work done by actuaries can be
technical and complex and it can be easy to rely on technical and
complex language. Individual actuaries need to make sure they use
plain language to ensure people understand the difficult concepts
involved and deliver information in a straightforward, honest and
transparent manner. The Actuarial Profession must fulfill its
public interest responsibility by speaking out more on current
issues and highlighting serious errors.
Merger - Mr Ritchie launched a consultation with Faculty members
to gauge attitudes towards a possible merger between the Faculty of
Actuaries and the Institute of Actuaries. Pointing out that both
bodies already operated a joint board structure and shared a common
secretariat, he encouraged members to think about the issues and
make their views known though the consultation.
Mr Ritchie said: "The world is full of difficult issues, but
actuaries are well qualified to help manage those issues where the
risks can be measured."
