Happy New Year, and congratulations to our recent qualifiers. It’s an amazing achievement, and will provide a solid foundation on which to build a long and successful career. That’s in the future – for now, please enjoy the moment!
For me, last year ended positively with the vote to adopt Chartered designations for qualified Associates and Fellows.
A record number of 6,438 votes were cast, with more than two-thirds supporting the proposals.
I’m confident that Chartered designations will protect the integrity of our standards, elevate our members’ status and set up the profession for a successful future. In particular, they will support the IFoA’s aim of repositioning the profession, and facilitate our move into new domains. Actuarial work is less well known in new fields, and the added kudos will help to increase our profile.
The adoption of Chartered designations is not the only way in which the IFoA is seeking to reposition the profession – we are also engaging with non-traditional employers of actuaries, such as banks, to explain our skills and the value we can bring.
We already have members working in banking, and our skillset is well suited to the complex risk environment and data-rich banking world, but we have struggled to get a firm foothold. We are keen to change this, as shown by our introduction of a Banking Fellowship pathway last year and the work we are doing to improve our brand in this field, as well as in other new areas.
The new year is a good time to reflect on past successes and consider challenges for the year to come. I would encourage you to add one or two wellbeing goals to your objectives. For inspiration, why not visit the Action For Happiness calendar page? actionforhappiness.org/all-calendars
Matt Saker is the president of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries
