The following is a list of recent and upcoming professional development (PD) opportunities with general insurance (GI) relevant content by the SOA:
- Predictive Analytics Seminar—Toronto, Feb. 27, 2019
- Python Boot Camp—Littleton, Colorado, 27–March 1, 2019
- Tax Reform - One-Year Later Webcast—March 20, 2019
- A Matter of Trust: Creating Valuable Relationships Webcast—April 4, 2019
- Economic and Financial Market Outlook Webcast—April 18, 2019
- 2019 ERM Symposium—Orlando, May 2–3, 2019
- Cyber Risk for Insurers Webcast—May 15, 2019
- Banking Seminar: The Evolution of Modeling, Analytics, and Risk—Washington DC, May 14, 2019
- Advanced Business Analytics—Chicago, June 11–13, 2019
- 2019 SOA China Symposium—Guiyang City, China, June 13–14, 2019
- 2019 Professionalism—Guiyang City, China, June 14, 2019
- SOA Asia-Pacific Annual Symposium—Bangkok, Thailand, June 17–18, 2019
- 2019 Professionalism—Bangkok, Thailand, June 18, 2019
- 2019 Actuarial Teaching Conference—Columbus, June 27–28, 2019
- SOA Predictive Analytics Seminar—Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Aug. 26, 2019
- SOA Predictive Analytics Seminar—Hong Kong, Aug. 28, 2019
- SOA Predictive Analytics Seminar—Seoul, Republic of Korea, Aug. 30, 2018
- Predictive Analytics Symposium—Philadelphia, September 19–20, 2019
- Where are we Headed?: The Future of the Actuarial Profession Webcast—Oct. 10, 2019
- SOA Annual Meeting & Exhibit—Toronto, October 27–30, 2019
- Ethics Webcast—Dec. 5, 2019
- Sales, Marketing and Actuarial - Professionalism is Nonnegotiable Webcast—Dec. 10, 2019
GI specific/relevant sessions at the 2019 SOA Annual Meeting & Exhibit in Toronto will include sessions with the following topics:
- 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
- Smartphone Distribution of Insurance
Also, there are many sessions planned that while not GI specific/relevant, will be of interest to all actuaries, including those in GI. This includes sessions such as “10 Scripts in R That Will Make Your Life Better,” “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.
Be sure to check out the SOA’s professional development opportunities at https://www.soa.org/pdopportunities/. 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 at https://www.soa.org/research/topics/research-emerging-topics/#general. Reading research papers can be a good source of professional development.
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 are 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 will hold the GIRO Conference, the Casualty Actuarial Society will hold the Casualty Loss Reserve Seminar and the Canadian Institute of Actuaries will hold the “Seminar for the Appointed Actuary.”
- In November, the American Academy of Actuaries will hold its Annual Meeting and Public Policy Forum.