An update for September on what our society has been up to...
YAS Mr President
By Karen Ritchie
The Yorkshire Actuarial Society recently held its annual dinner in Leeds and was fortunate to be joined by John Taylor, IFoA president.
John gave a pre-dinner talk to members of the society on 'the opportunity that technology gives to better service the public interest', and talked about his experience of robo-advice. This was a chance for members of the society to be involved on a more personal level with the Institute, enabling everyone to personally speak with John, and ask him any questions.
The talk was followed by some networking drinks, dinner, and our annual quiz, which was won by a team of individuals from XPS, First Actuarial and Deloitte (John's team came a close joint second!).
The Yorkshire Actuarial Society members would like to thank John for attending the dinner, and look forward to hosting incoming president Tan Suee Chien at next year's event.
NWAS: It's a knockout
On Wednesday 26 June, the annual North West Actuarial Society five-a-side tournament was held at Ardwick Powerleague in Manchester, with six teams vying for the top spot. The first stage consisted of a league table, with every team playing every other in order to establish the knockout fixtures.
This meant some teams had the challenge of playing multiple back-to-back fixtures, which really tested the fitness of all those involved.
PwC topped the league table above Buck on goal difference, with WTW and Co-Op taking third and fourth places respectively. KPMG and Aon were unfortunate to miss out on a place in the knockouts. The semi-finals were a tough challenge for all four remaining teams, with some very tired legs (and a growing number of injuries), but ultimately PwC and WTW made it through to the final.
This started ferociously, both teams playing with renewed energy. Despite WTW's best efforts, PwC were able to put away three very good goals, which were near impossible for the WTW keeper to deal with. With this lead, PwC then managed the game to the finish, eventually coming out as tournament winners for the second year in a row.
Many thanks to all those who took part. The tournament is held each summer towards the end of June.
Please reach out to NWAS if your company was not involved but would like to be in the future.
CASS workshop: LIBOR of love
By Laura Ballotta, Gianluca Fusai and Ioannis Kyriakou
On 19 June, The Quant Group at Cass Business School hosted a workshop devoted to 'Planning for the End of LIBOR', which included speeches by Edwin Schooling Latter, Darrell Duffie, Marco Bianchetti, Marc Henrard, Dherminder Kainth, Jon Neale, Hetal Patel and Haoxiang Zhu.
The workshop aimed to bring together experts from both academia and industry in order to address the most relevant issues at a time when a market benchmark that has been in force for the past 30 years is being replaced.
The speakers explained that substantial work is still to be done to obtain an unambiguous fallback procedure. There is a risk that the date of LIBOR cessation could see a jump in the market value of a forward rate agreement settling on that date. Liquidity in LIBOR replacement is not yet enough, and legacy contracts remain a challenge (especially cash products).
Adding auctions can increase market depth and help liquidity creation in new risk-free rates (RFRs) and help LIBOR transition. The official sector holds very good cards to help liquidity creation in new RFRs.
It was also highlighted that the problem of pricing LIBOR derivatives is not a basic problem anymore and there is a need for an adjusted reference rate and a spread adjustment.
In addition to pricing, risk management issues were also discussed, with a focus on XVA, the role of central counterparty clearing houses and the discounting standards.
Some considerations regarding the persistence of a multicurve regime after the transition were also offered. Finally, the implications for actuaries in insurance, pensions and risk were discussed as were the ongoing review of systems, contracts, hedging, and asset portfolio strategy.
SIAS: Pride and joy
By Anique Buddhdev and Thomas Leigh-Eldredge
To celebrate Pride month, the Staple Inn Actuarial Society wanted to support the actuarial community's LGBTQA members and create a forum for them to network in a relaxed environment. As such, on 20 June, SIAS held its first-ever LGBTQA networking event. Taking over the top floor of Little Ku in Soho, guests were greeted with a glass of fizz on arrival, followed by more drinks. We had a wide range of attendees from across insurance, pensions and investments, with many travelling from outside of London. It was great to bring the community together and create new friendships. We are excited to improve our offering to LGBTQA members, so keep your eyes open for new and exciting events coming your way!
WCA: Socialising Sixties style
On Friday 15 November, the WCA social committee is organising a very fashionable event at the V&A Museum.
We will begin with a private talk at the Mary Quant Exhibition, followed by a visit to the exhibition to explore her works further. This will then be rounded off with a meal at Scoff and Banter in nearby Kensington.
From miniskirts to vibrant tights and makeup, discover how Mary Quant launched a fashion revolution on the British high street, with more than 200 garments and accessories, including unseen pieces from the designer's personal archive.
The exhibition, featuring clothing, accessories, cosmetics and other paraphernalia created by the fashion designer between 1955 and 1975, is an uplifting blast of the Swinging Sixties colour, energy and enthusiasm.
Full details and a booking form are contained in the brochure available at bit.ly/2KHGirB. Please book by 30 September 2019.
Births
Ajay Goyal (Mazars) and his wife Chaitali were blessed with a baby boy Adyansh on 12 April 2019. Here is the future actuary celebrating his first month.
The Actuary editor, Francisco Sebastian (Wellington Investment Management) and Sally Armstrong are delighted to announce the birth of their son Oswald Salvador Sebastian-Armstrong, born on 22 June at Chelsea &Westminster Hospital.
Deaths
It is with great regret that we announce the deaths of the following members. We offer our condolences to their families and colleagues.
Mr Raymond Baxter, based in the UK, gained fellowship in 1963. Died aged 85.
Ms Catherine Steeples, based in the UK, gained fellowship in 2002. Died aged 47.