Council’s first meeting of the sessional year took place on Wednesday 28 September by videoconference. We welcomed the new Council members elected at the June AGM to their first formal Council meeting.
As this was the first meeting of the sessional year, we took time to discuss how we would work together this year and what we would focus on. We also considered the results of our annual effectiveness review for 2021–22 and what we could learn from it.
Council received its regular updates from the chief executive and the chair of the Management Board, and noted the work undertaken to rearrange planned activities around the mourning period for the late Queen Elizabeth II. Many activities are underway to improve the member experience and the way you engage with us, and we hope you will see the benefit of these in the coming months.
During the past year, we have been carrying out work to develop and implement a revised risk management framework for the IFoA, to enable us to better identify and oversee threats and opportunities to the profession. At this meeting, Council gave feedback on the latest drafts of some of the key materials underpinning this work, including risk appetites and a new strategic risk register. We look forward to reviewing a revised iteration of the framework at our November meeting.
As part of our strategic commitment to a modern regulatory regime, Council received an update from its Regulatory Strategy Steering Group on the UK government’s review of actuarial regulation, and the proposed introduction of a new statutory regulator (the Audit and Governance Authority) to replace the non-statutory Financial Reporting Council. While no major policy announcements have been made since our June meeting, we are keeping a close eye on wider developments to ensure we are appropriately informed and positioned to represent the profession’s best interests.
Council considered the nominations of Stuart McDonald MBE and Sundeep Raichura for receipt of the IFoA’s Finlaison Medal, and emphatically approved them – we extend our congratulations to both!
We then discussed our Nominations Committee’s recommendation on how future nominees for Honorary Fellowship of the IFoA should be identified and scrutinised. This discussion was scheduled before the recent member vote on proposed changes to the process, but was given greater emphasis after members decided not to support the proposal. Council agreed with the Nominations Committee’s recommendations to strengthen the robustness of our internal scrutiny of nominees, and to ensure nominees are aligned to and able to contribute to the IFoA’s strategic aims.
Council also agreed proposed changes to the IFoA’s Regulations, which are intended to better reflect its responsibilities as a controller of members’ data. Formal notice of these proposed changes will be posted on our website shortly.
Council’s next meeting will take place in person in London on 30 November 2022. The minutes of our meetings are available at bit.ly/2u1gmx9 and you can contact us at [email protected]
