Information Session on the
Actuarial Science Major (ACS)
Hosts
Professor Tse Yiu Kuen, FSA
Education Professor Kwong Koon Shing, ASA, CERA
SOE, SR 2.4
11 January 2013, 3:30 – 4:30 pm
Agenda
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Where do actuaries work?
What do actuaries do?
The Society of Actuaries (SOA) professional qualifications
The ACS major and the Actuarial Analyst (AA) track
Where do risk analysts work?
What do risk analysts do?
The ACS major Risk Analyst (RA) track
Q&A
Refreshment
Where do actuaries work?
• In the insurance industry
– Life (Great Eastern Life, Manulife, etc)
– Nonlife (health, casualty, property and liability)
– Reinsurance (Munich Re, Swiss Re, etc)
• In the finance and consulting industry
– Consulting firms (Towers Watson, etc)
– Accounting firms (PriceWaterhousecoopers, etc)
– Hedge fund and pension fund management
• In government insurance department
• In universities
What do actuaries do?
• In an insurance company
– Product development
– Pricing
– Valuation and regulatory reporting
• In a consulting firm
– Advise clients, design pension plans and compensation
• In a government insurance department
– Review laws and regulations
– Surveillance
• In a financial institution
– Investment, portfolio management
• In general management
• Professional actuarial bodies
– Society of Actuaries SOA (North America: US and
Canada)
– Institute and Faculty of Actuaries IFA (UK)
– Institute of Actuaries of Australia IAA (Australia)
– Singapore Actuarial Society SAS (Singapore)
SOA professional qualifications
• Associate of Society of Actuaries (ASA)
• Fellow of Society of Actuaries (FSA)
• Chartered Enterprise Risk Analyst (CERA)
SOA exam requirements
• Validation of Education Experience (VEE): Economics, Corporate
Finance, Applied Statistics
• Preliminary Examinations: P (Probability), FM (Financial
Mathematics), MFE (Models, Financial Economics), MLC
(Models, Life Contingency), C (Construction of Models)
• eLearning courses, professionalism course
• Other exams and modules
ACS at SMU
• Two tracks
– Actuarial analyst (AA) track
– Risk analyst (RA) track
• If you want to become a professional actuary (ASA, FSA),
choose AA track
• If you want to be in risk management and be a professional risk
manager/analyst (CERA), choose RA track
• If you just want to learn some statistics, economics and finance
relevant for working in any financial institution, choose either.
Compulsory courses for AA track (applicable for
students admitted before AY 2012-2013)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
STAT 101 Introductory Statistics or STAT 151 Introduction to Statistical
Theory
STAT 201 Probability Theory and Applications
STAT 203 Financial Mathematics
STAT 310 Life Contingent Risks
STAT 311 Risk Theory and Loss Models
ECON 101 Intermediate Microeconomics B
ECON 102 Intermediate Macroeconomics B
ECON 107 Applied Econometrics
10.
11.
12.
13.
ECON 207 Intermediate Econometrics
ACT 101/103 Financial Accounting
FNCE 101 Finance
FNCE 102 Financial Instruments, Institutions and Markets or FNCE 201
Corporate Finance
14. FNCE 305 Analysis of Derivative Securities or QF 301 Structured Finance
* not
required for students admitted AY2012 – 2013 or after, replaced by STAT 314 Statistical Methods for Actuarial Analysis