IFoA member Melanie Baylie has become the 400th person to earn the CERA (Chartered Enterprise Risk Actuary) credential.
Baylie completed her MSC in Actuarial Finance at Imperial College. She is currently an associate consultant in the retirement and investment business at Aon in Manchester.
"I am very excited to be CERA-qualified, especially as I'm the 400th UK actuary to hold the qualification," said Baylie. "I believe this qualification will continue to grow in the UK, and internationally, and I'm proud to be part of this group of enterprise risk management professionals."
CERA is a global risk management qualification originally established by the Society of Actuaries. It is now supported by 15 actuarial organisations in 14 countries worldwide, including the IFoA.
Frank Sabatini, chairman of the CERA Global Association, said: "There is a global demand for skilled enterprise risk management professionals. CERA is one of the most comprehensive and rigorous enterprise risk management qualifications available."
The qualification provides enterprise risk management (ERM) specialist technical knowledge and is designed to enable actuaries to demonstrate greater understanding of risk management techniques and issues, which in turn can facilitate a move into wider fields.
Baylie stressed the importance of ERM. She said: "It became clear that clients would expect risk to form part of any key discussions, and this is an area that I have seen develop during my time at Aon.
"In particular, I have seen a renewed focus by pension trustees on implementing effective de-risking investment strategies, and increased interest from sponsors on how to achieve greater certainty on the level of future contributions, for example, by running liability management exercises."
She continued: "The CERA qualification demonstrates to clients that I am committed to helping them manage their risk, and have the appropriate expertise to do this. I'm certain that my career will benefit from holding the qualification."
