Search CAS
Viewing 2026 to 2050 of 2208 results
When the Technology Based Examinations (TBE) were announced, I was pretty shocked to hear that the candidates sitting for a TBE exam would not be able to use a calculator for the exam. Of course, there is no need for a calculator when you have Excel at your fingertips, but my calculators were so important to me during my fellowship journey that I think of calculators as a necessary component of actuarial exams. They are the physical embodiment of all the study hours we put in as well as (fairly) reliable friends to have by our sides during the exams.
The lack of racial diversity in the actuarial profession is staggering – only 1 percent of CAS members are Black or African American, and only 1 percent are Hispanic or Latino. There were more CAS members who became Fellows in 2017 than there are CAS members who are Black or Latino (either Associates or Fellows). The CAS has recently recommitted itself to correcting this issue, as shown by updating its diversity strategy this year.
Customer centricity is a hot topic these days. Just look at the rise of behavioral economics (or read about the field in the book, Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics, recently reviewed on the Future Fellows Blog). Countless resources have been invested in trying to predict how consumers will act. Companies in every industry are revamping products, services and distribution models with a greater emphasis on the customer experience and what the customer wants.
It is really hard to intentionally drive into the back of a car (or a contraption made to look like the back of a car that costs a couple hundred thousand dollars). I know from personal experience because I tried to do exactly that in a Subaru with automatic emergency braking. I failed. I was nervous and started braking before the car could do it for me. Although I am not a good test driver, I'd like to think that my hesitation to run into another vehicle indicates that I am a good real-life driver.
Future Fellows is a great resource for candidates who want to learn more about CAS Exams, but candidates should also pay attention to content highlighted in the CAS Weekly Bulletin email updates that are sent both to candidates currently taking CAS exams and CAS members.
During my first actuarial internship, I felt an overwhelming need to prove myself and kept thinking I was not good enough to be working for that company. After learning how many people had applied, I told myself that timing and luck were mostly to thank for getting this coveted intern position. The move to an open-concept workspace two months into the job did not help – now I was also worried that everyone would see me clicking around my spreadsheet and suspect that I did not know what I was doing!
From Uber to Airbnb, eBay to Kickstarter, the sharing economy is where individuals share assets or services with one another directly or through other means such as the internet or an app. The sharing economy has grown more and more in the past few years as technology has made connecting with others easier than ever. But what about a long-standing and somewhat conservative industry like insurance?
If you were like me, you were caught off-guard by the recent Society of Actuaries (SOA) announcement that their general insurance (GI) fellowship track had been accepted by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) as meeting the educational standards required of a qualified actuary. I remember when the SOA created the GI track and it failed to meet NAIC standards; however, I did not know what was being done to change that or how close the SOA was. The news of the approval left me with many questions — how long has this process been going on?
A warning for any sensitive readers: Some of the cases reported about in this article have disturbing content.
It is astounding what some people will do to deceive and receive money from insurance companies. Who would...
If you’ve taken an exam in the last few years, you may have occasionally noticed a blurb in the examiners’ reports telling you to refer to a Future Fellows article about exam-taking strategies or some other exam topic. If you’re like me, you probably ignored those and continued with life — that changed for me when I started to utilize Future Fellows. Future Fellows (FF) is a valuable resource for candidates that goes beyond the occasional shout-out from the Exam Committee to one of the articles available online.
The year 2020 was supposed to be a very big one for me. In 2015 my husband and I committed to a five-year plan to take a break from working and go sailing around the world for a couple years. Deciding to take this step was pretty major for us, but also very natural. We had already purchased a previously owned 36-foot Hallberg-Rassy that had much of the equipment used for crossing oceans. We were encouraged at a cruising seminar to pursue the opportunity to travel around the world and not to wait until retirement. Others attending the seminar with us said, “Why wait? You’ve got the boat.
One of the exciting parts about working as a P&C actuary is that the work is constantly evolving. With each new emerging risk or large event, the industry learns more so that we can charge an appropriate price for the risk we are assuming. Adequate pricing ensures the solvency of the insurance industry, but what happens when an exposure is not explicitly included or excluded from coverage? These “silent” exposures have the potential to cause significant losses. Two timely examples of silent exposures are silent cyber and silent pandemic risk.
Why is life so challenging and difficult at times? I ask myself this question, and I struggle to find a satisfactory answer. For many of us, 2020 has brought on circumstances that take “challenge” to a whole new level! Misinformation and uncertainty have wreaked havoc on the best-laid plans in our personal and professional lives. Graduations, weddings, funerals, exams, promotions – many have been put on hold or eliminated entirely as we wait for some concrete picture of what the future will hold.
Recent events including protests in response to the brutal killings of several unarmed Black people — George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery to name a few — reignited passionate conversations around systemic racism in North America and across the world. We have had to revisit questions like: Does racism really still exist? To what extent? How is it systemic? And, what can we do about it?
When I heard that a new organization called the Sexuality and Gender Alliance of Actuaries (SAGAA) had been formed, I was thrilled. As a bisexual woman who didn’t feel comfortable being “out” at work, this felt like the actuarial organization I didn’t know I needed. I’m now out and on the board of SAGAA, and I hope that the organization can make all actuaries who identify as LGBTQIA+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual, plus others) feel comfortable being who they are.
The actuarial field is changing fast! There are new technologies, analytics, and methodologies, which is why it is crucial for actuaries to continue their training. This process of learning extends beyond taking actuarial exams. Through continuing education (CE), actuaries can stay up-to-date with the changing industry.
Victor Carter-Bey is the newly appointed CEO of the CAS. Recently I was given the opportunity to interview him to learn more about him, his role and his vision for the CAS.
The author (left) with Carter-Bey.
Rehan Siddique (RS): What is your professional background?
Could you talk about an initiative you are passionate about within the CAS?
I’m very passionate about the job task analysis that is underway, and how that will be used to set the stage for changes to the education and syllabus in the future. Think of a job task analysis as a clear description of what people do and know when completing a task. To make sure our credential is preparing our members for what they do on the job, we need to ask our members directly and then do what actuaries do best — analyze the data.
If you are one of those students who likes to listen to music while you study, may I suggest a Candidate's Code of Ethics Playlist? This short playlist was based on the seven rules that all people who have registered for a CAS-specific exam, but who have yet to become an ACAS, must follow. The Code of Professional Ethics for Candidates ensures that the public, whom we are responsible to, can count on high standards of conduct and practice from all those who are associated with the CAS — especially those providing actuarial services.
The Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS) Board of Directors has adopted a revised version of the CAS Examination Discipline Policy, effective with the Spring 2018 examination sitting. The policy, which is published in the CAS Syllabus of Examinations, provides examples of improper examination conduct and describes actions the CAS may take if a candidate violates any examination rules.
Revisions were made to the first paragraph of the full policy, which now reads:
"I would prefer even to fail with honor than to win by cheating." — Sophocles
One of the biggest issues candidates seem to have with TBE is the potential for cheating. In conversation after conversation with friends and colleagues, the same questions keep coming up: How will they prevent this? How can they keep people from doing that? I have to admit I am somewhat baffled by this phenomenon. This is the last thing I expected to be on people's minds when they heard about TBE!
CAS Fellows to vote on ACAS suffrage this summer
The question of whether Associates should be allowed to vote was posed in the last three membership surveys (2018, 2013 and 2008), and the percentage of members that believe that Associates should be allowed to vote has increased with each survey:
In honor of The CAS Institute (iCAS) conferring the 100th designation of the Certified Specialist in Predictive Analytics (CSPA) credential, I recently sat down with Maggie Kong, FCAS, CSPA, and Chris Macella, CSPA, of Allstate Insurance Company to talk about their iCAS experiences.
The property-casualty insurance industry has seen considerable consolidation in the last couple of decades — and it seems that this wave of insurance mergers and acquisitions (M&A) is not about to stop. A number of companies are turning to M&A strategies to thrive under the pressures of the current mature market, low interest rates and catastrophes (among many other challenges).
While most actuaries credentialed through the CAS are based in North America, there are a number of CAS members who live and work in other parts of the world. In fact, according to the CAS website, there are members in 42 countries across the globe. Some of these might be local actuaries while others have relocated from abroad for their work. While some might apply directly to a position in another country, there are a number of other ways for actuaries to gain international work experience.
