Wales Institute of Mathematical and Computational Sciences

 

Until I retired recently, I was the senior partner of one of the most successful firms of consulting actuaries in the UK.  Effectively I was the Chairman of the Board plus being Chief Executive of certain aspects (but not all) of the business.  I started my actuarial career in 1967 – I made a career change for a year but then I went back into the profession – sum total? - say, 40 years. We started the present firm in June 1989 – that’s 19 years ago – plus a bit.  It was pure chance that I came across the Actuarial Profession. But the work looked interesting. As soon as I started I realised that the combination of maths, computing and business was interesting to me. 

 

I graduated with a BSc in Pure Maths then a post-graduate MSc in Statistics, both from Aberystwyth University. I am a Fellow of the Royal Statistical (FSS). I am a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries (FIA), and an Associate of the Society of Actuaries (ASA) in America. I am a Member of the Academy of Experts. For the professional qualification (FIA) I studied by correspondence course, and by recommendation of others for the other professional qualifications. 

 

My academic qualifications definitely helped me get my job. There are actuaries who have entered the profession with other degrees (Chemistry, Physics, Engineering for example) but most are mathematicians and statisticians. To be honest, it is being good at what used to be covered by A-level maths in the 1960s that helps most. That is calculus, algebra, clear-thinking, problem analysis (isolating the most important parts first). Currently, understanding the principles of model-building is most important – how the elements of a problem might be related and then populating a skeleton model with appropriate parameters but being aware of the possibility of internal inconsistencies.

 

My firm advises life insurance companies on actuarial risk management and investment. It also provides actuarial advice on pension schemes (boards of trustees and sponsoring employers) on the investment of funds and on the measurement of liabilities and also the effect of regulations. It also has a team of experts in “defined contribution” pension arrangements that advise employers on setting up and running such plans as well as their investment. It has just established a new investment management business advising individuals and providing investment management services.

 

As individual actuaries some of us provide expert evidence to the courts and to others (for example, to the Parliamentary Ombudsman for her recent report on the government’s responsibility for failures in relation to the Equitable Life).

 

On an average day at work, half the day is spent doing client work. This involves making calculations, running spreadsheets and other systems and writing reports, attending client meetings. The other half of the day is spent running the business – dealing with budgets, property requirements, salary and bonus reviews (although much of this is delegated to small committees), staff and partner difficulties, establishing and maintaining appropriate levels of professionalism, sitting on committees at the Institute of Actuaries. Whilst training my entire day was taken up with work of the first sort.

 

The combination of the ability to do the technical work and the need to learn how to apply that in a business context is, in my view, unique to the Actuarial Profession. The changing work environment of a Consulting Actuary requires the business to change the emphasis of where it will focus its resources in future and that, too, is exciting (well, it is for me!). I have always looked forward to going in to work in the morning. I can’t wait to get there – how lucky can you get?

It also gave me the opportunity to return the favour to Aber where I sat on the Council for a number of years, being Vice President for 10 of them. I still sit on a number of committees there.

 

Be prepared to study hard. Qualifying as an actuary takes time (about 5 years) but it is worth it and it cannot be done without hitting the books. A degree in mathematics is of value to employers but not on its own. That’s only a start. It has to be supplemented by what it is that a particular employer is looking for and that is not always obvious from reading the websites. Skills which are essential for my job are clear thinking and knowing where a particular issue is trying to get to.

 

A long retirement I hope!

 

For more information on the actuarial profession go to www.actuaries.org.uk

 

Typically students of mathematics and the computational sciences have been in placements focused on: 

Mel Albury  was placed at the London office of PA Consulting, an international management, systems and technology consultancy. She worked as an Analyst in the Decision Sciences practice and was involved with building Excel and VBA models and tools to clients’ specifications. According to Mel:

 

 

Education and Learning Wales (ELWa) believes that it is not enough to encourage learning. It therefore gave Carolyn Evans the opportunity to work as an Analyst for the Data Collection team. Carolyn has found the placement to be of great value:

 

 

One of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), gave Ketan Patel a student placement in the statistics department. He worked on a wide variety of projects including randomisation listings for drug studies, implementing a new database system and designing web pages. Ketan took up the placement because:

 

 

Iwan Jones did his student placement at the Higher Educational Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW) as an Analyst helping with data collection and analysis, one off statistical enquiries, and the production of statistics for publications. Iwan says:

 

 

Nick Borge worked on a student placement in the International Economic Modelling Branch of Defra (Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs). His contribution consisted mainly of implementing various modelling techniques to solve problems with Excel models, as well as compiling, interpreting, and manipulating data series.  In Nick’s view:

 

 

Below are some of the many organisations which regularly offer placements to students because of the benefits both to the employer and the student:

 

AEA Technology Rail, London

JMP Consultants, Lichfield

National Air Traffic Systems, Southampton

Rolls-Royce, Derby

 

CCLRC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory Energy Research Unit, Didcot

CORUS, Port Talbot or Llanwern

 

Baker Tilley (HLB Kidsons), Chester

Barclaycard, London Canary Wharf or Northampton

Endsleigh, Cheltenham

Ernst & Young, London

Friends Provident, Salisbury

Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS), Cardiff Bay

William Mercer, Bristol

 

GSK, Harlow

Pfizer, Kent

Proctor & Gamble, Weybridge

ROCHE, Welwyn Garden City

Wyeth, Slough

 

JUBB Consultants, Cardiff

PA Consulting, London

 

Defence Analytical Services Agency (DASA), various locations

Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA), Portsmouth

Department for Children, Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills (DCELLS), Llanishen, Cardiff

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), London

Department of Health, Leeds or London

Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW), Llanishen, Cardiff

HM Revenue & Customs, London or Manchester

Home Office, London

Ministry of Defence (MOD), Shrivenham or Warminster

Office for National Statistics, Newport

South East Wales Trials Unit – Medicine, Cardiff University, Cardiff

Welsh Assembly Government (WAG), Cardiff