Actuaries Institute

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The Actuaries Institute (Institute), commonly referred to as the Institute, is an organisation representing the actuarial profession in Australia. The Institute has origins which trace back to 1897.

History

The Actuarial Society of New South Wales was formed in 1897. The inaugural meeting of seventeen members took place in Sydney on 19 October 1897. Prior to this date a handful of actuaries had been involved in helping establish and manage several important financial institutions in the colonies of New South Wales and Victoria.

By 1919, actuaries resident in other States and New Zealand had joined the Actuarial Society of New South Wales and the name was changed to the Actuarial Society of Australasia. The Society published its first bulletin in 1945 and the first of the now-biennial conventions was held in 1953.

Further name changes occurred up to 1963 when The Institute of Actuaries of Australia and New Zealand was incorporated. When New Zealand actuaries formed their own society in 1977, the name changed to The Institute of Actuaries of Australia.

On 24 October 2011, the Institute launched its new corporate identity, the first change to the look of the Institute’s brand since 1996. The key components of the new look are a new logo and a new business name - Actuaries Institute.

Role

The Actuaries Institute represents the actuarial profession by creating, expanding and maintaining an environment where the skills of actuaries are widely used and valued.

The Institute:

• establishes and maintains professional standards for the protection of the public
• provides pre-qualification and continuing professional education
• creates forums for discussion about contemporary and relevant issues
• promotes research and the development of actuarial science, and
• contributes to and informs the debate on public policy.

Initially, Australian actuaries served the public interest by helping to ensure the soundness of life insurance offices and friendly societies and acting as arbiters of equity in life company bonus distributions. Actuarial fields of activity broadened following the second world war to include superannuation, investment, and, from the 1970s, general insurance.

The Institute represents the involvement of actuaries working in traditional fields and emerging fields of actuarial work. These include:

Traditional fields

• Life insurance
• General insurance
• Health insurance
• Superannuation
• Banking and finance

Emerging fields

• Enterprise Risk Management
• Energy and climate change

The Institute plays an active role in making submissions on public policy.

Membership

There are three levels of membership:

• Affiliate
• Associate (AIAA)
• Fellow (FIAA)

Education

The Institute was instrumental in the introduction of actuarial education at Macquarie University in 1968. The introduction of Australian Fellowship examinations in 1980 marked a new maturity for the profession in this country. Prior to this, Australian actuaries had to pass UK final examinations in order to qualify.

As part of the worldwide actuarial profession, the Institute maintains regular contact with overseas actuarial associations. In particular, the current examination system ensures close links with the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (Edinburgh & London).

There are three phases of the Institute's qualification process:

• Part I - which has a technical focus, members can gain exemption for Part I subjects either by performing sufficiently well in examinations at accredited universities or by passing the relevant Institute and Faculty of Actuaries examinations.
• Part II - also known as the Actuarial Control Cycle (ACC), exemption is granted based on sufficiently high performance in relevant subjects at accredited universities.
• Part III - which focuses on application of actuarial judgment to practical business situations in the candidates chosen area of specialisation. The candidate can chose to specialise in Life Insurance, General Insurance, Superanuation or Finance and Investment. Part III is taught and examined directly by the Institute of Actuaries of Australia. The Institute does not award exemptions for any Part III subjects.

The Australian actuarial examination process is regarded as being of high quality characterized by low pass rates.

Publications

• Actuary Australia
• Australian Actuarial Journal (AAJ)
• Understanding Actuarial Management: the actuarial control cycle 2nd Edition
• Actuarial Practice of General Insurance
• Investment Principles for Actuaries
• Education material

Presidents

The 2012 President of the Institute is David Goodsall.

Past Presidents include:

(2011) Barry Rafe

(2010) Bozenna Hinton

(2009) Trevor Thompson

(2008) Greg Martin

(2007) Fred Rowley

(2006) Martin Stevenson

(2005) Andrew Gale

(2004) Graham Rogers

(2003) Chris Lewis

(2002) Helen Martin

(2001) Tony Coleman

(2000) David Knox

See also

• Actuary
• Actuarial exam
• Actuarial science
• List of learned societies

External links

• Actuaries Institute

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