Opinion

Late last year Council gathered and discussed, at a very high level, the IFoA’s strategy.

Global long-term longevity extension trends are well known to both actuaries and non-actuaries. These trends are developing slowly in most parts of the world, but could that pace change?

In October and November, a number of young women gathered in London and Edinburgh for the IFoA’s first ‘Count Us In’ events – educational forums centred on helping girls better understand career opportunities in STEM, and especially the actuarial field.

As big data and artificial intelligence collide with deep social and environmental trends, the world is looking to skilled professionals, bound by a code of ethics, to safely navigate these turbulent times.

Why did mobile phones become so necessary? Why did we stop posting letters and start sending emails?

I recently attended the IFoAs event The Actuary as a Data Scientist, which gave an interesting window on the profession’s future.

The trouble with the truth is that motives can be misconstrued. However, as Churchill said, “The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is.”

In the week before Christmas, the final report of the Independent Review of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), led by former senior civil servant Sir John Kingman, was published.

One of the themes of my presidency is to encourage all actuaries to step out of the shadows.

Just over a decade ago, the world experienced the financial crisis: ultra-high levels of financial volatility and a period of sharp decline in economic growth.