Description: In recent years, actuaries have experienced an increase in competition. Competitors from other financial services industries are taking positions traditionally held by actuaries. Some have occupied senior positions, including the CFO and CRO roles. Many actuaries perceive this as a threat to the opportunities for actuaries. From The Actuary Magazine June 2005

Description: The author notes a concern for broad risk management in our society, which he names Societal Risk Management, as witnessed by the creation of the department of homeland security and suggests how actuarial expertise can help.

Description: This article describes how insurers can expand the reach of their efforts with regard to Economic Capital EC into the broader enterprise risk management process. Some experts contend that can be done by shifting the focus towards value. EC has the potential to shed new light on valuable opportunities for insurers.

Description: We are often told that, as actuaries, we excel in technical skills and ethical behavior. SOA member surveys confirm that we believe this to be true. We have also been told that we often demonstrate a lack of business savvy, and in particular, we have difficulty seeing "the big picture." The same SOA surveys indicate that we know this to be true as well.

Description: The author discusses and provides an example of how some companies’ enterprise risk management (ERM) programs are designed and implemented in ways that can unwittingly weaken the organization.

Description: In this Editor's Note, the outgoing editor recaps the changes to the newsletter and talks about the future issues.

Description: This article argues that using Economic Capital as a metric does not capture all of the risks. The author suggests an alternative that better meets a corporation's overall risk management needs. This is value-based ERM, which is an approach that makes the quantification of enterprise value central to all aspects of the ERM process. It is a combination of two techniques—enterprise risk management and value-based management, and it captures all of the risks in a single metric.

Description: Chairperson’s Corner by Simcha A. Segal from The Stepping Stone Newsletter, July 2003, Issue No. 12.

Description: This article is about defining risks at the proper level. To do so one must distinguish between risks and the outcome of other risks. The so-called reputation risk is an example of something that is not a source of risk, but rather an outcome of other risks. In addition to defining risks at the source, is also important to categorize risks with consistent levels of granularity.