The Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA) and the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) have issued a joint statement on actuarial standards.
The statement, published yesterday, confirms and explains the standard-setting remit of the two bodies following the 2103 review of their respective responsibilities for actuarial regulation.
In the report's forward, FRC executive director of codes and standards Melanie McLaren and IFoA regulation board chair Des Hudson said: 'It is now eight years since the establishment of the current framework for actuarial regulation in the UK.
'This statement explains how the FRC and the IFoA carry out their different functions and responsibilities in relation to the setting of standards for actuaries and sets out how each intends to develop these.
'Its audience is the actuaries who are subject to the standards we set, users of their work and other stakeholders interested in high quality actuarial information.'
The statement confirms that the respective standard-setting will continue as before but that there should be scope, by agreement, for more flexibility in the way in which those responsibilities are discharged.
The FRC will continue to set technical actuarial standards (TAS) for work carried out in the UK and the IFoA will be responsible for ethical standards.
In appropriate circumstances, the FRC could, with the IFoA's agreement, include ethical material in its TASs and the IFoA could, with the FRC's agreement, produce technical guidance, the joint statement noted. Both bodies have now updated their Memorandum of Understanding to reflect these arrangements.
Also, the FRC will consult later this year on proposals to restructure the TASs so that there are high-level principles, which are recognised as applicable across actuarial work. It will also seek views for more narrowly focused specific standards where there is a need for additional requirements in the public interest beyond the high-level principles and the requirements of the IFoA and the statutory regulators.
These changes are expected to simplify and improve the structure of actuarial standards. Applying the high-level principles to all actuarial work will help to ensure that users can be confident that actuarial work meets minimum quality standards.
