The Actuary as a Gifted Journalist

What happens when a young actuary walks into a boardroom and teaches the room something new? You get a glimpse of the future.

Board meetings of reinsurance captives always offer food for thought and challenges for the members: new developments in the reinsurance markets, alternative reinsurance products, difficult claims.

Sometimes, they even surprise us, for example when a young mathematician takes a fresh look at the way traditional underwriters approach risk management.

Some months ago, we had a change in the actuarial function and Rubén, a young actuary, wasn’t afraid to challenge the traditional approach. He built a chatbot to assist with solvency ratio calculations - something most actuaries wouldn’t dare propose to a board member.

And this morning, I saw an article Rubén published in a trade review. Reading his article, I realized Rubén isn’t just a good actuary - he’s a gifted journalist, uncovering the story behind the numbers and making it accessible to decision-makers.

Well, I have seen (and written) many texts on captives, but this was the first time that somebody took a fresh approach and spoke of the mathematics behind the determination of retention, price, reserves, liquidity, etc. in a way that makes the actuary the center piece of major decisions.

I immediately thought of our young readers who still see insurance as a dull activity! Actuarial sciences is the door to fascinating jobs in insurance and reinsurance, and many more financial undertakings.

Of course, in my eyes insurance is the most interesting of all jobs because it gives you the full spectrum of the economy, associated with people issues and geopolitical events.

So, I hope that many young Rubén will join our insurance world!

Paul.

P.S. Don´t forget to ask PAVEL anything about insurance.