After a hot summer, we enter September – when many graduates start their new actuarial careers. With articles on hard technical topics and softer careers themes, I hope this issue will give our profession’s newest members a taste of actuarial discourse.

In this month’s interview, Travis Elsum speaks to Catherine Howarth, CEO of ShareAction, about her vision for responsible investment (p14). Our cover article (p18) sees Stephen Hyams and the Pension Decumulation Pathways Working Party set out a new approach to defined contribution pension decumulation, in a bid to improve outcomes for those who currently face the choice of buying an annuity or taking on their own longevity risk.
Staying with the pensions theme, Claire McColl and Brandon Choong explain the potential impacts of proposed Solvency II reforms on the bulk purchase annuity market (p24). Writing about the other side of the globe, Servaas Houben considers how IFRS 17 may benefit insurers in the Caribbean, and what European insurers can learn from counterparts across the Atlantic (p22).
We also hear from actuaries who share their career insights. Matt Attard writes about the challenges of working in a small island nation (p27), Brandon Horwitz argues the case for actuaries as non-executive directors (p32), and Chelsea Adler takes stock of her experiences of working for a traditional insurer and an insurtech (p30).
I hope you enjoy this issue.
Ruolin Wang Editor [email protected]