The new president of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries has said he wants to ramp up the relevance of the actuarial profession.
Giving his inaugural address as president last night, David Hare said the contribution made by actuaries to both business and public policy in the UK and overseas needed to be better understood. He highlighted several examples of where the IFoA was directly informing recent public policy debates.
'Last year the IFoA's research on motor insurance claims led to a request for us to present evidence to the transport select committee,' said Hare.
'Our research on the feasibility of guaranteed pensions was used by the Department for Work & Pensions to help develop the idea of defined ambition pensions. Our ongoing research into dementia and other long-term care issues has led to conversations with the Department of Health.'
He pledged that, as IFoA president, his focus would be on improving understanding of the work of actuaries and how it affects the wider world. 'In short, I want to ramp up our relevance,' he said.
Hare replaced Philip Scott as president of IFoA on June 24. He served as vice president from 2009-2010, and was a member of the Faculty of Actuaries Council from 2001-2010.
A specialist in life insurance, Hare is a partner with Deloitte following a career with Scottish Mutual, Abbey National and Standard Life.