Lindenwood University Presentation
April 14, 2015
Minyu Cao, ASA
Taylor Pickett, FSA
Table of Contents
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What is an actuary?
Why would I want to be one?
How do I prepare for a career as an actuary?
What is reinsurance?
About RGA
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What is an Actuary?
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What is an Actuary?
 We manage risk.
 The future is uncertain and full of risk.
 Risk is the chance that an undesirable event will occur.
 Risk is opportunity! That's where actuaries come in. We are the backbone of
financial security.
 Actuaries are known for:
 Unbeatable analytical and problem-solving skills.
 Trustworthy and respected judgment.
 Technical expertise.
 Actuaries are experts in:
 Evaluating the likelihood of future events.
 Designing creative ways to reduce the likelihood of undesirable events.
 Decreasing the impact of undesirable events that do occur.
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What is an actuary?
 Actuaries are involved in your everyday life:
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Auto insurance premiums
Life insurance product development
Retirement funding and planning
Social security
Manage assets and liabilities for banks and other financial institutions
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Where do actuaries work?
 Typically the insurance industry (~45%)
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Life
Health
Property & Casualty
Retirement/Pensions
Reinsurance
 But opportunities are available elsewhere:
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Consulting
Enterprise Risk Management (ERM)
Government (Social Security, Medicare, Dept. of Labor)
Investments & Asset Management
Marketing/Sales Organizations
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What do we do?
 Taylor is an associate actuary in the Research team at Global Research
and Development
 Minyu is an assistant actuary in the Predictive Analytics team at Global
Research and Development Department.
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Research
 Why do we need research?
 Answer questions from other departments
 Answer questions from clients
 Improve our business operations (pricing, underwriting, claims)
 Forms of research content
 Bulletins
 Whitepapers
 Webcasts
 Larger scale studies
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Predictive Analytics
It is an approach to forecasting an outcome or
probability, typically using historical facts and
data.
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Models range from simple linear regression to advanced techniques
including decision trees, neural networks, generalized linear models and
generalized additive models.
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The deployment of predictive analytics and models is both art and
science. Models must be chosen to get the best fit of data and factor
variables to produce a strong predictive target outcome.
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Predictive Analytics
Cross Sell Models
 Achieve growth in sales via the
bancassurance channel.
 Sell bank customers protection products
on a guaranteed issue or simplified issue
basis with minimal impact on price.
Bank Customer
Penetration
Improve the customer experience by:
Issue policies faster
Reduce the UW process for
customers most likely to be standard
 Reduce acquisition expenses
Life Policyholder
 Leverage the value of their internal
data
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Why become an actuary?
 Ours has been a top-ranked job.
 Actuaries have the best job in America, according to a April 2013 study by
CareerCast.com
 Number 1 best job: Actuary – Forbes 2013
 The 10 Best Jobs of 2011: Mathematician, Actuary and Statistician ranked #2,
#3, #4 by CareerCast.com
 Why does it rank so highly:
 High Income
 Job Security
 Low Stress Environments
 Growth Opportunity
 Work is Intellectually Stimulating
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Why become an actuary?
 You want to explain to everyone you know what an actuary is
 You want your judgment to be highly-valued and trusted
 You want to participate in high-level business decision-making
 You want skills that are transferrable across industries
 You enjoy learning something new everyday
 You want the opportunity to travel
 You like advancement that is merit-based (exams, experience)
 You want a professional title
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What should I do to prepare?
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 Get a degree…
 Actuarial Science
 Mathematics, Statistics, Economics, Finance
 Exams, Exams, Exams…and more Exams…
 Necessary stepping stone into the industry
 Progression through exams can dictate abilities as an actuary
 Paid study time & materials and defined salary increases
 Internships, Internships, Internships…
 Goal – obtain at least 1 internship while in college
 Nothing beats real-world experience
 Internships lead to full-time employment
 Did I mention they pay well?
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Useful College Courses
 Accounting courses
 Business Related courses
 Communication courses
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Build Your Technical Skills
 Extremely important early in your career
 Details will vary depending on your company and job function
 Common to (almost) all actuaries
 Excel
 Visual Basic for Applications (VBA)
 Role-specific skills
 R
 Database programs (e.g. Toad, SQL Server, SAS) and coding languages (e.g. SQL)
 Modeling software (e.g. Prophet, MoSes, TAS, VIPiTech)
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Build Your Technical Skills
Excel
 Most analysis done here
 Important functions
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Vlookup
Index
Match
Indirect
Others – too many too list!
 Important analysis tools
 Charts (many types)
 Pivot tables
 PowerPivot / Cubes (when dealing with very large data sets)
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Build Your Technical Skills
Visual Basic for Applications (VBA)
 Runs “behind the scenes” in all of MS office (even Outlook)
 Very useful for automating repetitive processes
 Huge potential for time savings
 Able to do anything you could yourself in Excel through programming
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Create and modify charts or pivot tables
Move data
Create and modify formulas
Add tabs, create new workbooks, open/close existing workbooks
 Able to do some things you can’t in “normal” Excel
 Execute changes on an external DB (e.g. create, update, delete tables)
 Create text files
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Intern Projects
1st step – Technical Skills
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Excel
VBA
SQL
ACCESS
AXIS – Pricing Tool
MoSes – Asset Intensive, Structured Finance, etc.
R – Predictive Modeling
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Commonly used software varies by departments.
Some examples - Global Research Team
 Macro updating for research bulletin maps
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Reinsurance 101
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What is Reinsurance?
 An agreement to transfer one or more elements of a risk contained in an
insurance contract in whole or in part from one party (ceding company)
to another (reinsurer, or assuming company)
We provide insurance to insurance companies
Why Use Reinsurance?
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Risk diversification
Increase capacity – larger policies
Mitigate volatility in financial results
Capital/tax management
Catastrophic Protection
Enter a new market
Expertise Transfer
So… Where do actuaries fit in the business
function?
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RGA Business Workflow
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Statements, Data, & Premiums
Assumed
Administration
Claim Request
Claim Payment
Claims
RGA Business Workflow
Sales Visit
New Product Quote Request
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Sales
New Product Quote
Value Added Services
Pricing Information
Treaty Negotiations
Quote Won
Pricing
Treaties
Including Sales
Statements, Data, & Premiums
Claim Request
Claim Payment
Assumed
Administration
Claims
RGA Business Workflow
Sales Visit
New Product Quote Request
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Sales
New Product Quote
Quote Won
Value Added Services
Pricing Information
Treaty Negotiations
Pricing
Statements, Data,
& Premiums
Treaties
Including Sales
Statements, Data, & Premiums
Assumed
Administration
Overretained?
Retro Admin
Claim Request
Claim Request
Claim Payment
Claims
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RGA Business Workflow
Sales Visit
New Product Quote Request
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Sales
Sales
New Product Quote
Value Added Services
Pricing Information
Treaty Negotiations
Quote Won
Retro Negotiations
Pricing
Pricing
Finance
& Valuation
Treaties
Including Sales
Statements, Data, & Premiums
Acctng/Val Info
Assumed
Administration
Overretained?
Retro Admin
Statements,
Data, &
Premiums
Claim Request
Claim Request
Claim Payment
Claims
Claim
Payment
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Actuarial Department
Pricing
Valuation
Other Actuarial
Other Related
 US Mortality Market Pricing
 Annuity Pricing
 US Valuation
 Asset Intensive Valuation
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Research and Development
Management and Information Analysis
Structured Finance
Risk Management
Corporate Modeling
 Administration
 Business Development
About RGA
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RGA Highlights
The security of experience. The power of innovation.
 Global Headquarters in Chesterfield, MO
 Founded in 1973 as General American Re, a reinsurance division created
by General American Life Insurance Company
 1979 – General American Re’s first actuary
 Greig Woodring (current CEO)
 Currently almost 2,000 employees worldwide
 400 Actuaries
Global Recognition
Highly Rated; Highly Regarded by Clients
Geographic Expansion
RGA in 2001
11 Offices
 U.S.
 Canada
 U.K.
 Australia
 Japan
 South Africa
 Mexico
 Spain
 Hong Kong
 Malaysia
 Taiwan
Total Net Premiums 2001 = $1.7 billion
RGA Today
Solid global footprint, market leader in most key markets
Canada
Ireland
United Kingdom
Netherlands
Poland
Germany
France
Italy
United States
China
Japan
South Korea
Spain
Taiwan
Hong Kong
United Arab Emirates
India
Singapore
Malaysia
Bermuda
New Zealand
Australia
Total Net Premiums 2014 = $8.3 billion
Barbados
Mexico
South Africa
26 Offices serving our clients in over 70 countries
Brazil
STIR – Short Term International Rotation Program
Unique Career Development Opportunity
 The STIR program is designed to provide project-based opportunities to
grow skills while experiencing new cultures and learning how RGA
operates in other parts of the world.
 Many RGA young actuaries have taken this opportunity to other offices
– Toronto, London, Paris, Hong Kong and Beijing…
Enhanced professional growth and
development
Gained new cultural perspectives
Learned the insurance market in
another country
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New Headquarters
RGA Actuarial Internship Program
What is considered an excellent internship experience?
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Have challenging work
Learn about the wide application of Actuarial profession
Experience the RGA Culture
Network
Push yourself. Ask a lot of questions.
Underwriting, Actuarial Communication,
Business Development
RGA is a big company with a small
company’s feel.
Enjoy yourself and make connections.
Many different paths you can take
Intern Rotations
Valuation
Actuaries
Pricing
Actuaries
Research
Actuaries
And
more…
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Summer Speaker Series
 Over 20 Presentations from a range of departments related to
Actuarial Functions
 Two sessions per week
 Technical – informational – Mind opening
Excel & Programming tips
Overview on the RGA actuarial departments
Actuarial Knowledge
Industry Trend
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RGA Actuarial Internship Program
Who are we looking for?
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Sharp analytical and problem-solving skills
Impeccable integrity and honesty
Work extremely well in groups
Excellent listening skills
Be flexible
Learn how to inform, communicate and influence skillfully
Strong technical skills
Learn all the time, from every possible source
Self Motivation, Problem Solving, Creativity, and Communication Skills
Thank you for your attention.
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