Rising in the Actuarial Profession through the CAS Exams

Rising in the Actuarial Profession through the CAS
York University
November 10, 2020
CASStudentCentral.org
Outline
• What is an Actuary?
• Why be an Actuary?
• What skills are needed to be an Actuary?
• What is the difference – CAS and SOA?
• How do you become an Actuary?
• What do Property/Casualty Actuaries do?
• How can I find out more?
2
Outline
3
What is an Actuary?
A business professional who deals with the
financial impact of risk and uncertainty
Analyzes, manages and measures the

financial implications of future risk
Develops and validates models and

communicate results to guide decision-
making
4
Areas of Work
Employee Financial
Insurance Governmen
Benefit Services
Industry t
Industry Industry
Banks,
Property and
Retirement investments,
casualty Pension plan
benefits risk
(P/C)
management
Regulation
Life and Health Mergers &
of insurance
annuities benefits Acquisitions
companies
5
Typical Actuarial Projects
Property/Casualty Life Insurance Health Benefits
• Estimating the amount of • Designing and pricing life • Setting group benefit
money to be set aside for insurance products premium rates
insurance claims that
have not been paid
Retirement Systems Finance &

• Pricing the cost of Investments
increasing retirement • Portfolio diversification
benefits studies
6
Outline
7
Why be an Actuary?
Graduate school not Advance by Advancement
High earnings potential required – no loans to examinations – no opportunities expand
repay “glass ceiling” throughout career
Professional High demand – less

Variety of avenues to
interactions – “Front Newsworthy projects sensitive to economic
choose
Office” role cycles
Overall, a highly
ranked profession
Job security • Actuary is rated the #1 job in
America, according to a
2015 CareerCast.com
report.
8
Career Outlook
Employment growth for consulting actuaries
Development of new financial tools
Growth in the health services industry
Growing ability to model risks

Growth in risk
management
9
Study Benefits
Paid Study Time Raises or bonuses
(100 – 120 hours for each exam
per exam is not ($2,000 - $5,000
uncommon) range)
Company pays for

exam materials,
seminars, exam
fees, etc.
10
Outline
11
What Skills are Needed?
Solid
communicatio
n skills (oral &
written)
Good business Strong
sense computer skills
Keen
analytical,
Knowledge of
project
management Actuary math and
finance
and problem
solving skills
12
Actuarial Skill Set:
A Question of Balance
• Technical Competence
• Ability to Communicate
• Business Acumen
• Professional Standards
13
Outline
14
CAS and SOA
• Two learned bodies
– Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS), focus on
property/casualty
– Society of Actuaries (SOA), traditional focus on life,
health, and pensions
• Very different theoretical focus
– P&C – loss generation much less certain
– Life – generally loss producing phenomenon
reasonably known
15
Casualty Actuarial Society
World’s only actuarial organization focused exclusively on
P&C risks
100+ year track record in training property/casualty

actuaries
9,000+ members worldwide, and growing
Vibrant, growing community with deep and extensive

resources to help CAS members, candidates, and
students advance their careers; strong employer support.
Why CAS?
What makes us different?
• Tangibles
– Depth of training
– Salaries
– Employment opportunities
• Intangibles
– Industry Leader
– Culture and community
– Spirit of volunteerism
– Core values
17
Core values shared by CAS members
Collaboration Collegiality Community
Creativity /
Intellectual Diversity Excellence
Curiosity
Innovation Integrity Professionalism
Practicality
18
Membership Statistics
CAS Member Growth
2004-2019
10000
9000
8000
7000
6000
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
10/16/21
A Global Society
2019 Geographic Distribution

United States 7,397 Hong Kong 53
Canada 1,017 Singapore 40
China 118 Switzerland 33
Bermuda 110 Taiwan 18
United Kingdom 54 Other 133
10/16/21
CAS Members by Type of Employment
P&C Insurers Consultants
Reinsurance
Service Org's
Retired
Other Government Brokers & Agents
Academic
10/16/21
Salaries for FCAS vs. Other Actuarial Designations
$330,000
$280,000
$230,000
Other
$180,000 FCAS
$130,000
$80,000
4 Years 8 Years 12 Years 15 Years
Exp Exp Exp Exp
Used with permission from Ezra Penland Actuarial Recruitment (http://www.ezrapenland.com/salary/)
22
Outline
23
CAS Syllabus to Reach ACAS
Validation by Educational Experience (VEE):
• VEE-Corporate Finance
• VEE-Economics
Two CAS Online Courses:

• Online Course 1—Risk Management and Insurance Operations
• Online Course 2—Insurance Accounting, Coverage Analysis, Insurance Law,
and Insurance Regulation
Course on Professionalism
Exams
CASStudentCentral.org 24
CAS Syllabus to Reach ACAS
Required CAS CAS Exams
Learning Objectives
Met Through Other Exams
– 1 – Probability – Exam MAS I – Modern
– 2 – Financial Mathematics Actuarial Statistics I
– 3F – Investment and Financial – Exam MAS II – Modern
Markets Actuarial Statistics II
– Exam 5 – Basic Techniques for
Ratemaking and Estimating
Claim Liabilities
– Exam 6 – Regulation and
Financial Reporting (Nation
Specific)
– Actuarial Institute of Chinese
Taipei, China Association of
Actuaries, Canada, and United
States
25
Current CAS Syllabus to Reach FCAS
Exam 7—Estimation of
Policy Liabilities,
Exam 8—Advanced Exam 9—Financial Risk
ACAS plus: Insurance Company
Ratemaking and Rate of Return
Valuation, and Enterprise
Risk Management
26
2020 CAS Syllabus
27
CAS Preliminary Education
For CAS learning objectives currently addressed through Exams

1/P, 2/FM, and 3F/IFM, CAS will grant waiver to candidates who
receive credit for exams offered by other organizations deemed
to cover CAS learning objectives in acceptable depth and
breadth.
• Society of Actuaries
• Actuaries Institute (Australia)
• Actuarial Society of South Africa
• Canadian Institute of Actuaries
• China Association of Actuaries
• Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (UK)
• Institute of Actuaries of India
28
Outline
29
What do Property/Casualty Actuaries do?
• Ratemaking
• Reserving
• Predictive modeling
• Reinsurance
• ERM
30
Ratemaking / Pricing
• Are current rates meeting our objectives?

• Are some classes performing better or worse than others?
• How do driving patterns influence risk of loss?
• How does an insured’s loss experience influence its premium?
• How does price sensitivity enter into loss cost projections?
31
Loss Reserving
 What is the company’s unpaid claim liability as of 12/31/15?

 Best estimate, actuarial present value, key assumptions
 What is the probability distribution of unpaid claims as of
12/31/15?
• Role of Appointed Actuary
32
Capital Adequacy
• How adequate is company surplus to respond to adverse

results (e.g., loss reserves higher than estimate)?
• How much capital is required to support different types of
business?
• How does portfolio diversification enter into economic capital
requirements?
33
Reinsurance
• (Insurer) What are risk/reward trade-offs related to different

reinsurance structures?
• (Reinsurer) Pricing and reserving issues, but with much less data.
34
Enterprise Risk Management
• Enterprise-wide view of risk that allows insurers to identify,

quantify, and manage risk on a more holistic basis
• Risk identification and related management and mitigation
• ERM integration into governance, strategy and decision-making
• Board and Audit Committee responsibilities
35
Many Trends Affect our Practice
Internet of things and “big data”
Increasingly sophisticated predictive models
Emerging risk, terrorism
Globalization, international businesses and risks, such as global instability
Climate change, weather volatility
Population shifts, hazard prone areas
Social media, automated vehicles, healthcare
Drones, cyber liability, the aging population
Many Paths to Success
academic
regulator
people oriented stable schedule
reinsurance
management
reserving
ERM insurance
reserving
broking reinsurance insurance
pricing ratemaking
consulting
banking/
investment
travel and variety data intensive
37
Outline
38
You are invited…
join online today at

CASstudentcentral.org
CAS Student Central Membership Benefits
Visit CASstudentcentral.org
Additional Resources for Students
Beyond CASstudentcentral.org
• CAS - casact.org
• Be An Actuary - BeAnActuary.org
• American Academy of Actuaries - actuary.org
• OLA - latinoactuaries.org
• IABA – blackactuaries.org
• Salary Surveys
– ezrapenland.com
– dwsimpson.com
42
CAS Trust Scholarship Program
casact.org/trustscholarship
• Scholarship for students pursing a career in casualty actuarial science.
• Up to 8 scholarships awarded per academic year ($5,000, $2,500 awards)
• Application opens in October, due January 31st, and recipients announced

in June! Top winners attend CAS Annual Meeting in November.
• Visit the CAS website for eligibility requirements
To learn about other scholarship opportunities explore

CASstudentcentral.org and BeAnActuary.org!
43
Casualty Actuarial Society
4350 North Fairfax Drive, Suite 250
Arlington, Virginia 22203
www.casact.org
CASstudentcentral.org

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Rising in the Actuarial Profession through the CAS

Analyzes, manages and measures the

Develops and validates models and

Retirement Systems Finance &

Professional High demand – less

Employment growth for consulting actuaries

Development of new financial tools

Growth in the health services industry

Growing ability to model risks

Company pays for

100+ year track record in training property/casualty

9,000+ members worldwide, and growing

Vibrant, growing community with deep and extensive

Collaboration Collegiality Community

Innovation Integrity Professionalism

2019 Geographic Distribution

P&C Insurers Consultants

Two CAS Online Courses:

For CAS learning objectives currently addressed through Exams

• Are current rates meeting our objectives?

 What is the company’s unpaid claim liability as of 12/31/15?

• How adequate is company surplus to respond to adverse

• (Insurer) What are risk/reward trade-offs related to different

• Enterprise-wide view of risk that allows insurers to identify,

Increasingly sophisticated predictive models

Emerging risk, terrorism

Globalization, international businesses and risks, such as global instability

Climate change, weather volatility

Population shifts, hazard prone areas

Social media, automated vehicles, healthcare

Drones, cyber liability, the aging population

travel and variety data intensive

join online today at

• Up to 8 scholarships awarded per academic year ($5,000, $2,500 awards)

• Application opens in October, due January 31st, and recipients announced

• Visit the CAS website for eligibility requirements

To learn about other scholarship opportunities explore

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