The following is a list of professional development (PD) opportunities with significant general insurance (GI) relevant content that were offered by the SOA in 2019:
- Predictive Analytics Seminar—Toronto, Feb. 27
- Python Boot Camp—Littleton, Colorado, 27–March 1
- Tax Reform - One-Year Later Webcast—March 20
- A Matter of Trust: Creating Valuable Relationships Webcast—April 4
- Economic and Financial Market Outlook Webcast—April 18
- 2019 ERM Symposium—Orlando, May 2–3
- Cyber Risk for Insurers Webcast—May 15
- Banking Seminar: The Evolution of Modeling, Analytics, and Risk—Washington DC, May 14
- Advanced Business Analytics—Chicago, June 11–13
- 2019 SOA China Symposium—Guiyang City, China, June 13–14
- 2019 Professionalism—Guiyang City, China, June 14
- SOA Asia-Pacific Annual Symposium—Bangkok, Thailand, June 17–18
- 2019 Professionalism—Bangkok, Thailand, June 182019 Actuarial Teaching Conference—Columbus, June 27–28
- Pictures of Super Models Webcast—Aug. 2
- What's New in Pet Insurance Webcast—Aug. 13
- 2019 Actuarial Research Conference (ARC)—Aug. 14–17
- SOA Predictive Analytics Seminar—Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Aug. 26
- SOA Predictive Analytics Seminar—Hong Kong, Aug. 28
- Modeling Excellence – How to Get There Seminar—Aug. 28
- SOA Predictive Analytics Seminar—Seoul, Republic of Korea, Aug. 30
- Predictive Analytics Symposium—Philadelphia, September 19–20
- A Practical Guide to Machine Learning for Actuaries Webcast—Oct. 4
- Where are we Headed?: The Future of the Actuarial Profession Webcast—Oct. 10
- JRMS Web Series—Oct. 25–Nov.4
- Session 1: Model Risk Management—Oct. 25
- Session 2: Longevity Risk—Nov. 1
- Session 2: Linking Risk Appetite to Decision Making—Nov. 4
- SOA Annual Meeting & Exhibit—Toronto, October 27–30
- JRMS Web Series, Session 2: Longevity Risk—Nov. 1 and Nov. 4
- Professionalism & Internal or External Actuarial Communications Guidance Webcast—Nov. 18
- Actuarial Technology and Innovation Webcast—Nov. 21
- GDPR Implications for Actuarial Work Webcast—Nov. 26
- Sales, Marketing and Actuarial - Professionalism is Nonnegotiable Webcast—Dec. 10
- Advanced Business Analytics Seminar—Dec. 11–13
This year’s SOA Annual Meeting & Exhibit included a full slate of GI specific/relevant sessions including:
- Applications of Vehicle History in Auto Insurance Rating and Underwriting
- The Nexus of Climate Data, Insurance and Adaptive Capacity
- Managing Cyber Risk
- A Green Book – The Actuary’s Natural Environment
- Outlook for Insurance Demand in Emerging Markets
- Premium Distribution and Market Competitiveness Under Rate Regulation
- Mergers and Acquisitions – What is Happening and What are the Drivers
- Climate Change – Why it Matters to Actuaries and How You Can Make a Difference
- Actuarial Innovation and Technology
- Auditing Your Models for Bias
There were also many sessions—that while not GI specific/relevant—that were of interest to all actuaries including those in GI. These included sessions such as “R 101: Available Actuarial Packages & Creating Reproducible Actuarial Analyses,” “Embracing New Tools and Technologies,” and “The Future is Now: InsurTech Ignite!”
The SOA also offers e-courses and webcast recordings for PD. Some of these are relevant to GI, such as:
- Applications of Statistical Techniques for Professional Development e-Course,
- Enterprise Risk Management e-Course and
- Insurance Analytics with Machine Learning: A Primer for Actuaries Webcast recording.
In May of this year, the SOA published the top three papers in a call for essays on Risks Embedded in Predictive Models. The essays are excellent, have GI content and are a good source of PD. Titles of the three essays that were published are as follows:
- “Ratemaking Reformed: The Future of Actuarial Indications in the Wake of Predictive Analytics” by Gyasi Dapaa
- “Predictiveness vs. Interpretability” by Kimberly Steiner, FSA, MAAA and Boyang Meng, ASA
- “Actuarial Fairness in the Era of Machine Learning” by Marjorie A. Rosenberg, FSA, Ph.D.
Be sure to check out the SOA’s professional development opportunities here. The webpage allows filtering on many levels to facilitate searching for opportunities. It also includes links to past events which may include access to the presentation slide deck.
Also check out the SOA’s research page for general insurance related topics here. Reading research papers can be a good source of professional development. The following list includes some of the research papers and reports published by the SOA in 2019 that were relevant to GI:
- “Big Data and the Future Actuary”
- “Insurance Regulatory Issues in the US”
- “Modeling, Measuring, and Pricing the Flood Risk”
- “Considerations for Predictive Modeling in Insurance Applications”
- “2018 Environmental Sustainability Essays”
- “Ethical Use of Artificial Intelligence for Actuaries”
- “Actuarial Weather Extremes”
- “International Catastrophe Pooling for Extreme Weather”
- Papers from the 2019 ERM Symposium Call for Papers
The SOA counts on everyone’s support and ideas to make the most of our continuing education opportunities. If you have any GI specific (or GI relevant) ideas for seminars, meeting sessions, and webcast topics, or would like to write a GI relevant article, please forward them to staff fellow Anthony Cappelletti at acappelletti@soa.org.
There are also volunteer opportunities to work on the GI Track exams as an item writer and/or grader. Refer to the SOA website for volunteering (https://www.soa.org/volunteer-program/default/, select View Volunteer Opportunities and then select General Insurance Exams Item Writers).
In addition to offerings from the SOA, there were plenty of GI PD opportunities in 2019 from other sources. For example:
- In April, the Actuarial Society of South Africa held the Colloquium 2019, “The Modern Actuary, Challenge, Influence, Lead.”
- In May, the European Actuarial Academy held the seminars, “Stochastic Modeling – Theory and Reality from an Actuarial Perspective” and “Loss Reserving in Property and Casualty” while the Singapore Actuarial Society held the General Insurance Conference.
- In June, the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries held the seminar “Current Issues in General Insurance” and the Casualty Actuarial Society held the Seminar on Reinsurance.
- In September, the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries held the GIRO Conference, the Casualty Actuarial Society held the Casualty Loss Reserve Seminar and the Canadian Institute of Actuaries held the “Seminar for the Appointed Actuary.”
- In October, the International Association of Actuaries hosted two GI webinars—the first was the flood risk webinar and the second was an ASTIN webinar entitled the programatic approach to apply machine learning to P&C loss reserving.
- In November, the American Academy of Actuaries held its Annual Meeting and Public Policy Forum and the European Actuarial Academy held the seminar Advanced Non-Life Pricing & Profitability: Machine Learning Techniques with R.
- In December, the American Academy of Actuaries held its Seminar on Effective P/C Loss Reserve Opinions: Tools for the Appointed Actuary.