Turning a Bureau into a Business

ISO, Insurance Services Office, has often been called an actuarial organization because that has always been one of its fundamental strengths. No other entity in the property casualty insurance industry hires as many actuarial trainees each year. Counting students and GAS members, the size of the actuarial department has approximated 200 in recent years. The number of CAS members employed by IS0 has been a consistent 35 to 40, although the individuals have changed through the years. The number of current Fellows of the CAS who have worked for IS0 (or the organizations that pre-dated ISO) at one time in their careers exceeds 100, and the number of such Associates exceeds 50. IS0 indeed has served as a training ground for many actuaries in the property casualty industry. This paper will describe a reorganization of IS0 that took place in 1992. A significant factor of the reorganization affecting actuaries involved the splitting of a single, unified IS0 Actuarial Department into various product units. IS0 still has a large number of actuaries; and, in fact, one third of its officers are members of the CAS. This paper will concentrate on how ISO’s actuarial personnel are adapting to the revised organizational structure, the latest in a series of steps that are turning a ratemaking bureau into a customer-driven service organization.