Random Sampler: Expanding Actuarial Horizons

by Steven G. Lehmann

The CAS has traditionally focused on the needs of North American actuaries practicing in "traditional" roles—ratemaking and reserving for insurers, reinsurers and self-insured entities. I would like to encourage all of us to take a broader view.

I believe we should broaden our vision of casualty actuarial work both geographically and into new areas of application.

Geographically, we are seeing a globalization of all areas of commerce, including financial services. Already in 1998, we have seen the mergers of many world-wide insurance and financial institutions including Commercial Union/General Accident, Berkshire Hathaway/General Re, Coopers & Lybrand/Price Waterhouse, Travelers/Citibank and BAT/Zurich mergers. Many U.S. companies are considering expansion into new countries. More and more U.S. and Canadian actuaries are being given opportunities to work in London, Zurich, Hong Kong, and other parts of the world. We now have three CAS affiliates outside of North America, with the most recent being Casualty Actuaries of Europe. In 1997, we administered CAS exams in 22 sites outside of North America. The CAS leadership has recognized this trend and has initiated efforts to increase the visibility of the CAS internationally. We need to continue these efforts, both to better serve our members working in other countries and to build recognition of the CAS in other countries as a major player in the field of general insurance. This will lead to increased opportunities for casualty actuaries in the future.

At the CAS leadership meeting in March, a principal focus of the meeting, in addition to international issues, was nontraditional areas of actuarial practice. What do we mean by "nontraditional" areas? While it is difficult to define these areas precisely, some examples include actuaries working as brokers or risk managers, actuaries pricing guarantees and future contracts, and actuaries performing a broad range of applications in the financial and investment areas. In other words, actuaries quantifying future contingent events of all shapes and sizes.

I think we should be developing these nontraditional areas now, while we're strong and growing, rather than wait until we see the market for casualty actuaries declining. The leadership meeting produced many suggestions and innovative ideas, which I would categorize in two areas:

• We need to provide better service to our members who are currently working in non-traditional areas.
• We need to investigate whether to expand our basic and continuing education to facilitate entry into these nontraditional areas.

There was also discussion of interviewing employers in these areas to find out what their needs are and what new areas are emerging.

As a result of these discussions, the CAS Executive Council has appointed a new Task Force on Nontraditional Practice Areas. Your thoughts and ideas on this subject would be appreciated.

The CAS is strong and growing. What better time to expand our actuarial horizons?