By Anthony Cappelletti
Welcome to the June 2021 issue of General Insurance Insights, the SOA’s biannual newsletter for those with an interest in general insurance (aka, P&C or property and casualty insurance). As I write this, it has been over a year since the COVID-19 pandemic began. It continues to be an issue for many people globally. Vaccines are being administered throughout the world so, hopefully, this should help us return to something close to normal in the near future. I hope that all who are reading this stay safe and healthy.
This issue includes a couple of articles of interest to general insurance actuaries. I wrote both of them and I hope you find them informative. The first article is “Texas Winter Storm 2021: Accounting for Subsequent Events.” In this article, I look at the implications to financial reporting from this event for general insurers as it occurred after year-end but before the filing of year-end reports. The second article is “Developments in Social Inflation.” This article looks at the issue of social inflation and what changes have occurred in the recent past and what could be expected for the near future.
Also included in this issue:
- “General Insurance Research Update,” an update on the latest from the SOA’s research efforts relevant to GI; and
- “GI PD Opportunities Update,” an update of professional development (PD) opportunities with significant GI relevant content.
In April of this year, the Canadian Institute of Actuaries (CIA) announced a major shift in the qualification pathways to associateship and fellowship in the CIA (i.e., ACIA and FCIA).[1] This change has ramifications for those in the SOA’s GI track. The current pathways relied upon the requirements from another actuarial society. Those societies being the Society of Actuaries (SOA) and the Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS). The new qualification pathways consist of three options:
Table 1
Qualification Pathways Options
|
CIA pathway |
Both the syllabus and requirements for qualification are set by the CIA. It will build off of candidates earning a degree in an actuarial science program, at a required grade level, with an accredited university partner. It will include CIA learning modules and exams in addition to the actuarial science degree. |
|
Partner pathway |
This is for candidates that did not earn a degree in an accredited actuarial science degree or did not meet the required grade level. Under this pathway, candidates can join the CIA pathway after earning an associate-level designation from another actuarial organization (e.g., SOA, CAS). |
|
Experience pathway |
This is for experienced fellows from other organizations. They will be required to supplement their experience with some elements from the CIA pathway (i.e., FCIA modules and Practice Education Course). |
Currently, the CIA does not include an FSA in the GI track as a means to obtaining an FCIA. This is because the CIA has not undertaken a comprehensive review of the GI track. Under the new qualification pathways, the experience pathway is available to an FSA in the GI track to become an FCIA.
Our goals with General Insurance Insights are to keep readers informed on topics of interest to GI actuaries and to develop the GI actuarial community within the SOA. We welcome your feedback and ideas to help us achieve these goals. If you have questions, feedback or ideas regarding General Insurance Insights, feel free to contact me.
I would also like to take this opportunity to inform our readers that we are always looking for volunteers in general insurance at the SOA. Please visit the SOA Volunteer Opportunities Database. The database includes all open volunteer opportunities at the SOA. If you do not see a GI exam volunteer opportunity in the database and are interested, contact me directly. We can always use new volunteers for GI exam item writing and grading. In addition to this, we are also looking for ideas on GI continuing education offerings and authors (or ideas) for articles in upcoming issues of General Insurance Insights. Let me know if you would like to contribute.
Statements of fact and opinions expressed herein are those of the individual authors and are not necessarily those of the Society of Actuaries, the editors, or the respective authors’ employers.
Anthony Cappelletti, FSA, FCIA, FCAS, is a staff fellow for the SOA. He can be contacted at acappelletti@soa.org.