CAS Members and Banking – A New Career Path for Some

The CAS Innovation Council has been working with CAS leadership to explore opportunities for actuaries to work in banking.

Background

In November of 2016, South African actuaries published the article titled “SA formalize the role of actuaries in banking.”  In the article, the author shared that South Africa’s banking industry employs over 300 actuaries. Michael Tichareva, the chair of the Actuarial Society of South Africa’s (ASSA) Banking Committee noted that actuaries in banking is a relatively new trend sparked mainly by global regulatory forms (e.g., Basel II and III, changes in international accounting rules, etc.).

In November of 2017, the International Actuarial Association Banking Working Group and ASSA held a seminar in Chicago: “The Actuary in Banking.” The seminar included presentations by actuarial practitioners from South Africa, Canada and the United States, who covered topics such as the wide application of the actuarial toolbox to banking including modeling, assumption setting, developing the cost and price of products, provisioning, relationships between assets and liabilities, and more.  The U.S. section focused on the opportunity facing CAS members arising from a new FASB accounting framework proposal for loan loss reserves and how our skill sets are well positioned to address the need.  As current CAS President Brian Brown noted, the econometric variables underlying prepayment and foreclosure models (e.g., credit score, loan-to-value ratio, occupancy type, property type, loan term, etc.) and our actuarial skill sets are a perfect match.

How to Learn More

We are excited to announce the next edition of our Actuarial Innovator Profile Series, which will feature Scott Hallworth, the Chief Data Officer and Chief Model Risk Officer at Capital One.  During the webinar, scheduled for July 12, 2018, Scott will highlight examples in which deep analytical skills and ease in managing large datasets are key to many functions across a bank.

First, we hope that you will sign up for this webinar and join us in hearing Scott demystify modeling in banking and highlight emerging trends.

Second, if you have interest in helping the CAS develop a more formalized practice network in banking, please reach out to Aaron Halpert (ahalpert@amhadvisory.com) or Kevin Bingham (kbingham@deloitte.com).  We are actively working with Mike Boa and Brian Brown to look at ways to expand opportunities for actuaries in the banking industry.

This post was authored by Aaron Halpert and Kevin Bingham.

Aaron Halpert, ACAS, is Co-Chairperson of the CAS Innovation Council. He recently retired from KPMG’s Actuarial Practice, and is an active volunteer of the CAS, having Chaired the CAS Long Range Planning Committee, Risk Management Committee, and Leadership Development Committee.

Kevin Bingham, ACAS, is Co-Chairperson of the CAS Innovation Council. He is a Managing Director with Deloitte Consulting LLP, with over twenty-five years of industry experience, including twenty years in consulting.  He currently leads Deloitte Consulting’s medical professional liability practice. To date, he has published over 80 articles and spoken at over 100 events on issues and trends impacting the P&C industry.