Newsletter

CONTENTS

SAI President’s Biennial Dinner 1-3

Risk Management Perspectives Conference 4-5

Member Proposition 6

SAI Golf Society 6

Continuing Professional Development Update 7

Question Time 8-9

Fellowship Ceremonies 10

Student News 11

Back Page 12

Dermot Corry, SAI President with Brendan Howlin, TD, Minister for PublicExpenditure and Reform

The SAI President’s biennial dinner tookplace on Thursday 12th February, hostedby Dermot Corry at the Royal College ofPhysicians on Kildare Street. Dermotwas joined by a large group of Societymembers as well as a number of non-member guests for what was aconvivial and entertaining evening. The guest of honour for the evening wasthe Minister for Public Expenditure andReform, Brendan Howlin, TD.

The dinner afforded Dermot theopportunity to extend a warm welcometo the assembled guests, especially thosefrom Government, regulators, industryand other professions as well as thewider international actuarial communityincluding Malcolm Campbell, PresidentElect of the International ActuarialAssociation.

Dermot’s speech touched on a range ofcurrent issues of particular relevance tothe work of actuaries at present. He welcomed the imminent arrival ofSolvency II which “brings a more riskbased approach to the management ofinsurance companies”. He noted thatSolvency II, together with the recentgovernance changes implemented bythe Central Bank of Ireland (CBI) would“lead to stronger and better runinsurers.” He also noted the Society’scontinued engagement with the CBI inrelation to the actuarial certification ofinsurance liabilities under Solvency II.

Dermot also addressed a number ofPensions issues,welcoming the changesto the priority order on wind-up ofpension schemes, the removal of thePensions Levy, the establishment of thePensions Council and the establishmentof the Universal Retirement SavingsGroup. He expressed concerns aboutthe most recent Actuarial Review of theState Pension and spoke of research thatthe Society is commissioning in this area.

MARCH 2015

SAI President’s Biennial Dinner

Pg 2 Society of Actuaries in Ireland | MARCH 2015

SAI President’s Biennial DinnerFollowing a brief diversion intoUniversal Health Insurance, Dermotfinished by commenting on thechallenges of the current low interestrate environment, both in terms ofpension related implications and thesolvency challenges facing non-lifecompanies, and arising from some ofthe Long Term Guarantee adjustmentsintroduced under Solvency II.

He concluded by acknowledging thecontinued need for actuaries andpolicymakers to work together toensure the continued solvency ofpension funds and insurers.

Minister Howlin began his speech byreflecting on the challenges of recentyears. While noting that there remain anumber of challenges and issues to dealwith he highlighted the progress thathas been made in recent years in anumber of areas, includingunemployment, debt levels and the costof financing debt.

Having set the broader economiccontext he then focused primarily onthe key challenges in relation to pensionprovision. A key focus of his addressrelated to the need to increaseoccupational and private pensioncoverage to support State pensionsprovision. He acknowledged that the“existing policy approach toparticipation is, unfortunately, notincreasing coverage to an appropriatelevel” and set out the work that iscurrently being done “to develop aroadmap and timeline for theintroduction of a new supplementaryworkplace retirement scheme”.

He acknowledged that a move to auniversal system would be the mostfundamental reform of pensions policyin a generation, noting that there werepros and cons to both a mandatory andopt-out approach and looked forwardto the Society of Actuaries contributingits expertise and insight to the design ofthe scheme.

Francis Coll, Pat Healy, Sylvia Cronin, Eamonn Heffernan, Brenda Dunne, Minister Howlin & Paul O’Faherty

Frank Nolan, Niamh Brennan, Anne Maher & Ronan Nolan

Tony Gilhawley, Padraig O’Connor, Ciaran Long & Kevin Murphy

MARCH 2015 | Society of Actuaries in Ireland Pg 3

In discussing the newly formed PensionsCouncil, he highlighted the fact thatfive of the twelve Council members areFellows of the Society and emphasisedtheir role in ensuring that the newsystem has a strong consumer focus.

It was an address that touched on awide range of pension issues,highlighting the need for reform andsimplification of an overly complexpension system. The Minister discussedreforms of the Defined Contributionlandscape to ensure that schemes “havea greater capacity to provideconsistently good value, goodinvestment choices and high standardsof communication to members”.

No discussion of pensions would becomplete without addressing thechallenges facing Defined Benefitschemes and the Minister focused onthe proposals for reforms to reduce thelikelihood of schemes being unable tomeet their commitments, noting thatdifficulties with Defined Benefit schemescan impact on the Exchequer andtaxpayer generally, and not just on themembers.

In relation to public service pensions,the Minister highlighted the recentreform in relation to the introduction ofthe Single Public Service PensionScheme for all new entrants from 1st January 2013 and commented onthe estimated reduction in accruedpublic service pension liability stemmingprimarily from “the pay and pensioncuts since 2009 and the freeze in payand pension rates until after theHaddington Road Agreement”.

In conclusion, The Minister emphasisedthe continued need for dialogue inrelation to pension policy, a dialoguethat must include Government,employers, unions and their members,the pensions industry and pensionprofessionals such as the Society,stressing the importance of makingsensible and informed choices, whilethere is still time.

Tom Donlon, Viviana Pascoletti, Ken Murphy

Anne Marie Nestor and Kate McEvoy

Elena McIlroy De La Rosa, Padraic O’Malley & John Armstrong

Pg 4 Society of Actuaries in Ireland | MARCH 2015

SAI Risk Management Perspectives Conference

A great turnout of members and non-members gathered at the Four SeasonsHotel on Tuesday 18th November toexperience the latest risk managementperspectives from a wide range ofspeakers, panellists and attendees.

The morning session featured speakersfrom a variety of backgrounds,including those from the banking,energy and pharmaceutical industries.The afternoon session focused on themore actuarial hot topics in the riskmanagement domain, such as the OwnRisk and Solvency Assessment (ORSA)and Solvency II specific focuses.

Morning

SAI president Dermot Corry chaired theevent, welcoming the attendees andhighlighting the huge prominence ofrisk management in today’s world.

Peter Rossiter (Former CRO, AIB, IBRC)took to the podium and used hisconsiderable banking and riskmanagement experience to deliver athorough and frank analysis of the 2008

financial crisis in Ireland. He brokedown the crisis into four phases aroundwhich solutions should be framed:diagnosis, quantification, correctionand prevention.

Phil Whittingham (Head of Risk Policy,XL Group) explained the key issues andstrategies for managing cyber risk. He explained the traditional view of IT security where it was not takenseriously by all compared to the newview which acknowledges the threat toIT security. He outlined the challengesof protecting against hacking and other“cyber” attacks, especially when facedwith unknown methods which cannotbe measured and for which tolerancesmust instead be articulated.

Joe Gavin (General Counsel, CBI) wentthrough the CBI’s “ProtectedDisclosures” regulations which heexplained to be a term synonymouswith ‘whistleblowing’. He illustrated thecomplexity of the issue by reference toa case taken against a leadingnewspaper which, following a lengthyproceeding and appeal, essentiallysupported the right of newspapers to

protect their sources in the interest ofthe public good. Similarly the CentralBank will not disclose the name ofpeople reporting breaches of FinancialServices Law, although there are someexceptions to this. Joe reminded usthat “you can't ignore wrong doing if itcrosses your desk”.

David Staunton (Risk Management,Bio-Pharma) added further variety andbreath to the morning session, delvinginto the risk management practices ofthe pharmaceutical industry. Heemphasised that risk management is adecision-making process which enablescompetitive advantage. Davidchallenged the traditional probability-impact “heat map” approach andsuggested an alternative ‘7 keynumbers’ approach. He suggested thatrisk management efforts should befocussed on “what is difficult and whatis important”.

Brid Horan (Deputy CEO ESB) gave aninteresting account of her riskmanagement experience from theenergy industry. She invoked the phrase“culture eats strategy for breakfast” in

MARCH 2015 | Society of Actuaries in Ireland Pg 5

her fascinating discussion about theimportance of culture, and suggestedthat the phrase could be extended toinclude “culture eats policies andprocedures for lunch”. Brid finished byasking the audience whether they aregiving adequate time and attention torisk culture. She suggested that it isonly in a crisis that you discover whatyour decision making and riskmanagement culture is really like.

The final pre-lunch session saw a livelypanel discussion on the topic of“putting risk management intopractice” which was chaired byProfessor Niamh Brennan. Interestingcontributions were made regarding the‘everyone else is doing it’ defence,challenging the ‘three lines of defence’model, the ‘tick the box’ riskmanagement approach being a risk initself and the lack of “challenge” beinga red flag for poor culture.

Afternoon

The afternoon saw a switch to riskmanagement topics more familiar tomany of the actuaries present, with afocus on the ORSA and Solvency II.

Lukas Ziewer (CRO, MetLife Europe)described the ORSA process from layingthe foundations of a clear design toexecuting the plan, documenting,communicating and making capitaldecisions. He outlined his ‘three wishes’of capital, ERM and avoidinginformation overload, all of which canbe met by the ORSA. He explained thatthe ORSA transcends the three pillarsand “ties it all together”.

Roy Keenan (INED) covered what aBoard might want from an ORSA. It should draw strategy, risk andsolvency together, and help companiesunderstand capital needs in stressedsituations. He reminded us that we willno longer be told how much capital tohold and the ORSA is the key tool inmaking this decision. He explained thatthe ORSA is a journey and it will taketime before best practice emerges.

Ger Bradley (Head of the Non-LifePractice, Milliman) took the audiencethrough the co-existence of the riskmanagement and actuarial functionsand the interactions and challengesthat may arise. An interesting discussion

followed about potential conflicts andhow they might be managed.

Mark Burke (Head of Life Insurance &Groups Supervision, CBI) spoke aboutCentral Bank observations on riskmanagement practices and theirfundamental importance. Hehighlighted differences betweencompanies who see risk managementas a regulatory exercise and those whohave shifted away from compliancethinking. Mark spoke about appropriateBoard emphasis on risk culture andstrategy, and further development andembedding of the risk appetiteframeworks. He shared the view thatprudence in risk appetite statementscan be a good thing but may alsoimpede effective risk management. For example, setting risk tolerances thatnever bite may be counterproductive.Mark also spoke about common issueswith internal models includinginsufficient consideration of the impact

of expert judgement and the extent ofBoard challenge of models.

The final item on the agenda was afascinating panel discussion chaired bySean Casey (MD, New IrelandAssurance) focusing on perspectives onrisk management in a Solvency II world.Discussions included the idea that thereare many risk managers within acompany, not just the risk managementteam, and how to show when anORSA process is working well.

Dermot concluded the day by thankingeveryone for participating in thesessions. He contemplated thedifference between risk culture andculture in general and echoed earliersentiments that the ORSA is not acompliance exercise but a process withdialogue throughout the wholeorganisation that is crucially linked tostrategy.

Tom Donlon and Bridget McDonnell

Peter Rossiter, Phil Whittingham, Dermot Corry, Niamh Brennan, David Staunton,Joe Gavin & Brid Horan.

Mark Burke, Ger Bradley, Roy Keenan, Lukas Ziewer

Pg 6 Society of Actuaries in Ireland | MARCH 2015

As part of the 2014-2017 strategic planCouncil is reviewing what memberswant from the Society, how they wish tointeract with the Society and how theSociety can evolve to ensure continuedrelevance and support to its variedmembership. To help Council with thisreview a Member Engagement Committee(MEC) has recently been established.

The MEC has had a couple of initialmeetings and has identified a numberof areas of interest to be explored aspart of the review process. In particular,the Committee is planning to:

• Review the Society’s communicationstrategy / policy

• Ensure that committee / workingparty and Council / Society work isappreciated by, and relevant to,members

• Get open and honest feedback froma subset of members

• Consider the different segments inthe membership and how theirservice / support requirements fromthe Society need to be addressed

• Consider what role (if any) theSociety should play in non-technicalcareer development / support

In addition, the delivery of CPD will beconsidered. CPD is one of the mainways members engage with theSociety. Items such as the relevance ofCPD events; what CPD forums suitmembers; and how best to provokedebate / interaction at CPD events willall be considered. A successful CPDprogramme is very important tomembers and is very instrumental inshaping how members feel about theSociety. The Lifelong LearningCommittee has been separately set-upto oversee / review this element of theSociety proposition. Given the overlapbetween the two Committees we willaim to work closely together to ensureconsistent recommendations regardingCPD are developed.

The end point of the work of the MECis to make recommendations to Councilon changes we believe would: (a) bewelcomed by members; (b) wouldenhance the member proposition; and(c) would help ensure the ongoingrelevance and appreciation of theSociety. Our aim is not to overreachwith our recommendations; we want tobe as pragmatic and focussed aspossible and make tangiblerecommendations which can be

implemented and which will make adifference.

In considering the MEC objectives, andthe objectives of the Lifelong Learningand Wider Fields Committees, it wasrecognised that there are a lot of othersimilar professional bodies who face thesame challenges and opportunities asthe Society in engaging with theirmembers. Mary Butler has done somegreat work in meetingrepresentativeness of these bodies. Theexperience of these bodies will be reallyhelpful in shaping the review. The linkscreated will also help create a networkof likeminded bodies who can shareexperiences and connections.

As part of the review we would love tohear your thoughts; if you have viewson changes you would like to see fromthe Society please let us know.Ultimately, it’s in all our interests for theSociety to be as relevant, helpful andaccessible as possible.

Paul KennyChair, Member Engagement Committee

Member Proposition

I had the pleasure and the not veryonerous responsibility of captaining theGolf Society in 2014. I think it is aninteresting reflection on the professionalpressures on our members today thatparticipation in golf society events haschanged little in the last twenty yearsdespite the exponential growth inmembership of the “real” Society!Perhaps it is also a reflection on how golfas a sporting activity is failing to attractyounger participants.

Having said that, those of us fortunateenough to have the time to play golfenjoyed decent summer weather and Ihope everyone enjoyed the Matchplayand Captain’s Day golf. The Matchplayran from mid-June to end-August and bya close margin it was completed just onthe target date. Congratulations toBryan O’Connor, the ultimate winner,who defeated Brian Connaughton in thefinal. Maurice Whyms and FrankDowney were the beaten semi-finalists.

The Captain’s Day event took place on28th August at Castlewarden Golf Club.

We had some thirty players and despitethe weather forecast, the rain held off.However, gale force winds made forsome testing conditions! I believeeveryone enjoyed the course and apleasant dinner afterwards.

Captain’s Day winner was BrianFitzgerald, with a great score of 38points on a tough course in toughconditions. Congratulations Brian. Theday proved something of a clean sweepfor Invesco with Frank Downey takingsecond place and Aidan Mulvihill third.Clearly, these guys manage to maintaina healthy work/life balance!

I would like to thank all who played onthe day.

The greatest challenge for the golfcaptain is the organization of the annualmatch against what we used to call “theFaculty”, but now more technicallycorrect, the Scottish Actuaries. Afterabout 1,000 emails between me and theScottish Captain, Graeme Muir, wefinally settled on Carton House (O’Meara

course) on 3rd October. You willremember that we had beautifulweather through September, and indeeduntil 2nd October. However, the raincame on 3rd October. Perhaps this had agreater impact on the Scottish Actuaries,but in any event we defeated them bythree and a half points to a half andbrought back the Tom Ross trophy toIreland. In fact the match has gone withhome advantage for some five or sixyears now. Thanks to David Kingstonand Duncan Robertson for filling out theranks of the Scottish Actuaries team.They were unfortunate to be drawnagainst Neil Guinan who was insparkling form that day and played 17holes of Carton House in 1 over pargross.

I would like to thank Gareth Colgan foragreeing to be the Society’s Golf Captainfor 2015 and I wish him the best of luckwith the annual events and hopefully hecan retain the cup in our internationalmatch!

Pat Healy SAI 2014 Golf Captain

Golf Society events in 2014

MARCH 2015 | Society of Actuaries in Ireland Pg 7

Continuing Professional Development UpdateVersion 1.3 of Actuarial Standard ofPractice (ASP) PA-1, ContinuingProfessional Development, came intoeffect on 1st July 2014. The ASP isavailable on the Society’s website(https://web.actuaries.ie/standards/asp/asp-pa-1).

The main changes include:

Increased CPD requirement

An increase in the amount of CPD to becompleted, phased in over two years(i.e. some of the increase will apply inthis CPD year 2014/2015 and the newrequirements will be fully introducedfor the CPD year 2015/2016 andthereafter).

New classification of CPD Categoryunder ASP PA-1 version 1.3

• Category 2 is “All actuaries who areworking, whether on a paid orvoluntary basis, but who do nothold a practising certificate issuedby the Society”.

• Category 2 is not restricted topeople who are doing actuarialwork.

• Category 3 is “All actuaries who arenot in work throughout the CPDyear (because, for example, they areretired or on a career break)”.

A Guide & Frequently Asked Questionsdocument, Guidance on the Society’sProfessionalism Training Requirementsand Guidance on Returns to theInstitute and Faculty of Actuaries arealso available on the Society’s website(https://web.actuaries.ie/cpd).

Audit of Verifiable CPD

Each year, as part of our review ofmembers’ compliance with ASP PA-1,Continuing Professional Development,the Society audits a proportion of CPDreturns to verify that activities listed asverifiable have indeed beenattended/completed.

The audit of verifiable CPD forms partof the Society’s quality assuranceprocess to ensure that memberscontinue to develop as professionals – a key objective of the CPD Scheme -and that CPD returns submitted areaccurate. The audit is in accordancewith paragraph 5.3 of version 1.3 of the ASP.

How are members selected?

The audit is a routine check and namesare chosen at random each year.

What do members need to do whenselected?

Society staff will check the Society’srecords to confirm a member’sattendance at any Society CPD eventsand committee/working party etc.meetings held at the Society’s officelisted on his or her CPD return.

If a member has included any otherverifiable CPD on his or her return, heor she is asked to provide evidencewithin a 2-3 week period.

Evidence of verifiable CPD may include:

• A copy of an attendance list / sign-in sheet for an event,

• A certificate of completion of acourse,

• Other written confirmation ofattendance from event organiser.

Please note that evidence of registeringfor an event is not sufficient as it doesnot verify attendance at the event.

Audit of verifiable CPD for yearending June 2014

The audit of verifiable CPD for yearending June 2014 commenced shortlyafter the end of the 2013/2014 CPDyear. In previous years, audits havetaken place in Q1 of the following year.Overall, moving the date of the auditcloser to the end of the CPD yearresulted in quicker responses frommembers which in turn has resulted inthe audit being completed morequickly than in previous years. As inprevious years, the members randomlyselected for audit were co-operativeand CPD records were generally well-maintained. However, there are a fewof things worth remembering:

• Members must take responsibility toensure that evidence is kept forevents. Please refer to paragraph4.2 of the ASP for more details. Thisapplies equally to events held withinyour own firm. Therefore, youshould ensure a sign-in sheet is inplace at internal events that theywish to submit as verifiable CPD.

• If you complete more CPD than theminimum required under ASP PA-1,

the Society encourages you toinclude details of all activities onyour CPD return. This may beimportant in the future if you needto average your CPD over two orthree years (the Society may permitthis in exceptional circumstances,e.g. long-term illness). Please takethe time when submitting yourreturns to ensure that theinformation submitted for eachevent is accurate and complete.

• As set out in the ASP, Service to theSociety means participation in workcarried out by the Society to deliveron its goals and objectives. This canbe done by, for example, being avolunteer member of one of theSociety’s committees/workingparties or presenting at Societyevents. The Society encouragesmember involvement and details ofthe benefits of volunteering, alongwith current volunteeropportunities, are set out on theSociety’s website(https://web.actuaries.ie/member-engagement/volunteering/home).

• If you are creating a return withrespect to CPD that meets thedefinition of “Service to the Society”as set out above, please ensure thatyou select “Service to Society ofActuaries in Ireland (e.g. committeework)” from the dropdown boxwhen creating your CPD return.

The next CPD audit will take place forthe year ending June 2015. In themeantime, if you would like furtherinformation about the Society’s CPDaudit or new CPD scheme, please seehttps://web.actuaries.ie/cpd or contactthe Society at info@actuaries.ie.

Pg 8 Society of Actuaries in Ireland | MARCH 2015

Question Time: Liam Sloyan

Liam Sloyan is a Fellow member of theSociety and recently took up the newlycreated position of National LotteryRegulator, having been Chief ExecutiveOfficer of the Health InsuranceAuthority since 2006.

Where did your actuarial career start?

I joined New Ireland straight fromschool back in 1988, but took a fairlylong break from the actuarial worldalong the way, studying maths, statsand theoretical physics and working insome different areas.

Joining New Ireland as a trainee straightfrom school sounds like a traditionalstart to an actuarial career, but it hasbeen anything but traditional from there.What prompted you to move away fromthe profession?

At school, I had intended doing aMaths degree and hadn’t actually heardof actuarial until a friend said they weregoing to Dublin for an aptitude testwith New Ireland. So I thought “whynot?”, it would be a day out. Fromthere, I sort of drifted in, enjoyedmyself enormously and stayed for 4years. The draw of studying maths atcollege was still there though andeventually I headed off to UCD.

College was great. I enjoyed thecourses, the people, playing a lot ofsport (badly). I also very much enjoyedteaching. The UCD actuarial degreehad just begun, so my actuarial examsenabled me to work as a tutor foractuarial subjects and, as I progressedin my studies, I took on more teachinghours in maths.

After finishing in college it was time tofocus on my career and, given that Ihad enjoyed my time in actuarial, itseemed natural to move back into theactuarial fold.

The move into the health insuranceworld was something of a departurefrom the traditional actuarial areas ofwork. Talk us through the thoughtprocess?

It’s a pity that, traditionally, actuarieshave not been involved in healthinsurance in Ireland to the same extentas other classes of insurance or indeedto the same extent that actuaries areinvolved in health insurance in othercountries. Thankfully, that is somethingthat is changing. Actuaries have asmuch to bring to health insurance asthey do to any other class of insuranceand, so, I don’t see the move to healthinsurance as particularly radical.Moving to a regulatory body was amuch bigger change and that wasdriven largely by a desire to influencethings.

What were the key challenges you facedin your time as CEO of the HIA?

The key challenge was establishing a strong risk equalisation system. In 2013 the RE system impacted insurers’accounts by up to €70m and it hasdeveloped further since. As would beexpected, the level of opposition to theestablishment of such a system wasenormous. At one point in 2008 therewere five separate court actionsongoing in relation to risk equalisation.The Health Insurance Authority’s role indevising, implementing andstrengthening a risk equalisation systemin the face of that level of opposition issomething of which everybody therecan be very proud.

Given that RE has been such a divisiveand controversial subject in the Irish PHImarket over the last decade or more, arewe finally starting to move beyond thisas an issue?

I think we have reached the pointwhere very few people argue that thereshould be no risk equalisation (and it isamazing to think that a large numberof people were arguing that just a fewyears ago) but I don’t think riskequalisation will ever go away as an

issue. There is too much moneyinvolved and you could argue thatcommercial organisations would not beserving their shareholders if they werenot always arguing for system changesthat benefit their organisations oramending their products and strategiesin light of the system. Likewisepolicymakers will always need tomonitor the impact of the system andcontinue to develop it.

We’ve seen the numbers of people withhealth insurance start to increasesomewhat again, signs of thingsstabilising and even some reductions inpremiums – are you moving on becauseeverything is now sorted?

It is, of course, important to take creditwhenever possible, but not all of thosethings were entirely within my control!I suppose, while I was Chief Executive ofthe HIA, we would have had a numberof main goals, such as the establishmentof a strong risk equalisation system, anenhanced competitive environment (forwhich risk equalisation is, of course, aprerequisite), the introduction ofLifetime Community Rating, building astrong consumer information functionand strengthening the Authority’spowers and functions. The organisationis blessed with a magnificent team andthese goals have been achieved. Itprobably does no harm for somebodywith a new perspective to come in.

What prompted your recent move todevelop and head up the NationalLottery Regulator?

It was time for a new challenge and theopportunity of establishing a body with such a significant role in relation to amajor State asset that is enjoyed bysuch a large portion of the populationand raises so much for good causes wasvery attractive to me.

The Lottery is enjoyed by around half ofthe population and raises around€200m p.a. for good causes. TheRegulator has extensive powers andfunctions in relation to the Lottery anduses these powers to ensure that a safe,sustainable, properly run lotterycontinues to be enjoyed by the Irishpeople and that, subject to this, theamounts going to good causes aremaximised.

MARCH 2015 | Society of Actuaries in Ireland Pg 9

Has it been a steep learning curve?

Any new job is a steep learning curve,but my experience as a regulator andmy technical skills as an actuary arevery relevant to this role, which involvesregulation in a financial context whereprobability, and risk management arecrucial.

Can you give us a flavour for thedevelopment of the National LotteryRegulator – how many people do youenvisage working for you, what kind ofwork will be involved. Interested inhaving other actuaries involved or is theskillset different?

There will be 10 people working in theorganisation. There will be a Deputy,who will also be in charge of Financeand Audit, a Head of Compliance, aHead of Player Protection, a CorporateAffairs Manager and support staff. I amalways interested in hiring actuaries.

What is your sense of how actuaries areviewed outside the profession?

In general, actuaries are viewedextremely positively outside theprofession. Saying that, I thinkactuaries are sometimes viewed muchmore as specialists than I think needs tobe the case. This is probably because,outside of insurance and pensions,most people would not haveexperience of working with an actuary.I think it is good that the Society islooking to promote actuaries in widerfields, but it is not easy and in a funnyway is possibly not helped by howsuccessful actuaries are in thetraditional areas.

The skills that actuaries have can addvalue in much wider areas than justinsurance and pensions but the lengthof time it took for the value of theseskills to be recognised even in healthinsurance may be indicative of howactuaries can sometimes be viewed. It probably requires individual actuariesworking in an area for the value theybring to be recognised.

Standard Questions:

Full name: Liam Sean Sloyan

Describe your family:Married to Rocio with a 5 year olddaughter, Aisling.

Qualification: MSc, FIA, FSAI

Current employer:Regulator of the National Lottery

Time you start work: 8:30am

If you weren’t an actuary what wouldyou be? Teacher

Any pet hates? Groupthink

Favourite actuarial joke: Non-actuary: “Look at those whitehorses over there.” Actuary: “They’re white on this side,anyway.”

Favourite holiday location: Best holiday that I ever had was Hawaii,but it is an awful long way to go.Mostly we go to Spain. It is a beautifulcountry and my wife’s family is there.

Favourite Music: I still enjoy the music I listened to inschool and in college, so music fromthe late 80s and Britpop from the 90s.

Favourite tipple: Smithwicks

Favourite TV programme: Breaking Bad – and optimistic aboutBetter Call Saul

Who would be your ideal dinner partyguests? Friends and family.

Favourite Pub: Dos Deditos, Jerez, Spain

How do you relax? With my family

Favourite book: A Song of Ice and Fire (aka Game ofThrones). Hopefully it gets finishedsomeday.Real books or a Kindle? Real books

Favourite movie: Godfather Part II

Most embarrassing moment. I would suggest that anybody who iswilling to share their most embarrassingmoment with their profession’sNewsletter has been particularlyfortunate

Last words: Well, I enjoyed that.

SAI MathsTutorialInitiative

Congrats to our members wholaunched the Society’s Maths TutorialsInitiative in Cork on 3rd March.

We received a lovely email from amaths teacher in one of the Corkschools …’My students said it was ‘ very helpful''great revision' 'they even did stuff youdidn't do sir!'

Maths Tutorials in Dublin continue totake place in Chartered AccountantsHouse and two Saturday morningrevision style sessions have been addedto the calendar this year.

Pg 10 Society of Actuaries in Ireland | MARCH 2015

Fellowship Ceremonies

Fellowship Ceremony held in the Royal Collegeof Physicians on 5th February 2015

From back, L-R:

Sean Hussey, David Whelan, Rhys Adams, Paul O’Sullivan,Alan Ridge

John O’Hare, Rebecca McIvor, Jane Cunningham, Dylan Sheehan

David Flood, Eolan Allen, David Boland, Oisin Kennedy

Evan Hanley, Colm Garvey, Aoife O’Brien, UnaMcMenamin, Andy Keegan

Deirdre Lawless, Cian McEneaney, Marie Kelly, Martin McGovern, Brian McGovern, Darragh Pelly

Rosaleen McHugh, Grainne Loscher, John Stevenson, Aidan O’Callaghan

Karl Fahy, President, Susan Egan, Mark Lee, Aindriu O Faolain

Fellowship Ceremony held in the Royal DublinSociety on 16th October 2014:

From back, L-R:

Daniel Finn, Shane O’Hara, Peter Burke, Donal McGinley,Brian Shields, Ciaran Ó Suilleabhain

Kevin O’Brien, Siobhan McDonnell, Jennifer Tweed,Richard Clossick

Jody Davis, Michelle Ward, Shane Kennedy, Claire Lalor,Emma Hutchinson, Shane O’Byrne

Aidan Mulvihill, Aoife Power, Tara Chambers, Anne-Marie Crowley, Eamonn Rooney

Cathal Lillis, Thomas Donohoe, Dermot Corry, Philip Conway, Sarah Kelly, Brendan Kearney.

MARCH 2015 | Society of Actuaries in Ireland Pg 11

Student NewsNight at the Dogs The first event of the new StudentSociety Committee for students andrecent qualifiers was held on 20thNovember 2014 – A Night at the Dogsat Shelbourne Park!

The event commenced at 6:30pm withup to 65 students arriving to enjoy thespeed of the dogs, the blur as theydisappeared around the first bend, thejostling for position and to cheer ontheir dog as it surged across the line.With a flutter riding on each dog, pulserates were raised that little bit higherand there were some big wins amongstthe attendees on the night. Where elsewould 30 seconds bring suchexcitement and fun! Shelbourne Parkprovided a fantastic range of fingerfood on the night, all washed downwith a few complementary drinks.

A great night was had by all andwe’d like to thank ShelbournePark for running the event and allthose who attended! Furtherpictures of the night can be foundon our Student Society ofActuaries in Ireland Facebookpage. We held a successfulCocktail Making Masterclass on26th February and will postphotos on our Facebook page.

Finally from all the StudentCommittee, we’d like tocongratulate those who weresuccessful in the Septemberexams and wish good luck to allthose sitting exams in April!

Adrian Varley

John Lee

John Lee is an instructor with BPPProfessional Education, better known tomany through its subsidiary ActEd.Rachel Gow recently met up with Johnto find out how he ended up in ActEdand to get some top tips for studentspreparing for exams.

JL: I had the most fantastic mathsteacher at A Level who made maths somuch fun that I went on to study it atOxford. One frustration I found atOxford was just how many tutors whowere clearly very bright and clever,simply could not explain complexproblems to mere mortals like me. I feltinspired from my time at Oxford tobecome a maths teacher and aftergraduation I completed a Post GraduateCertificate in Education (also at Oxford)and became a secondary school teacher.This was back in the early 90s, and Ispent the next decade working in avariety of secondary schools as a mathsteacher.

I loved a lot about the work, but endedup working 76 hour weeks. When I wasattacked by a student I decided that itwas time for a change. My wifestumbled across a job with ActEd(“teaching actuaries, that soundsexciting”) and although I barely knewwhat an actuary was, I went for it. Ireally enjoyed the interview, and they

must have liked me too, because I gotthe job and joined ActEd in 2001.

Of course I didn’t have any actuarialexams at that point, so I sat two examsbefore I started, and took the rest whileworking with ActEd (as you can imagine,the study package at ActEd is prettygenerous!). I qualified as a QFA in 2008,though I still haven’t managed tograduate to having a “proper actuary”job.

I love the challenge of taking ademanding syllabus and making it clear.There is a huge reward when a studentsays “I get it!”. As well as making it clearthere is the additional challenge ofmaking it interesting. Successfulteaching is like successful presenting – ithas to be educational but also fun andentertaining.

Probably the key piece of advice I wouldgive to someone who has failed an examis to learn from failures. Doing the samething again and hoping for a differentoutcome is a bad idea. You need tohonestly assess what went wrong. Didyou know all the formulae, the proofsand bookwork from the Core Reading?Had you done enough past papers? Hadyou followed up on problem areas orjust hoped these would not come up onthe exam? Follow up the problems byusing the forums or emailing your tutor.You can always go to Oxford, take theexaminers solutions or the ASET with

you and look your paper so you can seewhat you did wrong. Ultimately, thecritical thing is to learn from yourmistakes.

For someone leaving university andstarting exams while also starting anactuarial career, the key piece of adviceis around planning. At university yourfree time was called ‘a social life’. I’mafraid a large part of this is now ‘studytime’. To get a balance between workand study and still have some time forsocial outlets requires planning.

Typically you want to cover 1 chapterper week per course you’re studying andthen leave 1-2 months to do pastpapers. So plan when you’re going todo this. And also plan in “Sabbath”breaks where you don’t do any studying– all work and no play really does makeJack a dull actuary.

If that all sounds like hard work, it is, butthe rewards are worth it. To make youfeel better, here’s my favourite actuarialjoke:

An actuary walks into a bar and sees apretty lady at the counter. He walks upto her and introduces himself: “Hi, myname’s John. What do you do?”. “I’m amodel” she replies.

“Wow!” the actuary exclaims, “so whatare your assumptions?”

Rachel Gow

SAI Christmas 2014 QuizFollowing festive drinks and finger food, the Society Christmas quiz took place on2nd December in the Davenport Hotel. In keeping with recent tradition, thequestions this year were set by last year’s winners. With a number of last year’s teamflung to the furthest corners of the globe, it fell upon Kevin Humphreys and StephenJones to host the quiz for the night, with Stephen doing a fine job as quizmaster.

The questions were a blend of the delightful and the infuriating. Ranger’s historicalleague position plotted on a graph delighted many, infuriated many others. Bycontrast, the round focusing on Euro exchange rates can have delighted few.Perhaps most ingenious of all was the final round which accepted, and evenrewarded, use of mobile phones. Members who had perfected the fine art of secretlygoogling answers could now bring their skills out into the open, though for many ofus, it turned out that access to Google did little to improve our fortunes.

Special credit to Stephen for his continued efforts over the years to take part in theChristmas quiz, despite the twin obstacles of living in the UK and (whisper it) notbeing an actuary. Despite these unfortunate circumstances he has been a regularattendee at the quiz and a regular challenger for top honours. He certainlyentertained the audience with his tough questions and his observational humour.

In the end, the challenge proved too much for all but one team. Congratulations toStephen Doyle, Joe O’Dea and Paul Torsney of Towers Watson and Donal Keating ofPWC for a fine victory.

On the MoveFELLOWS:

Sinead Robertson moved from Aviva to Prudential International Brian Connaughton moved from Towers Watson to FBD Insurance plc Orlagh Woods moved from RSA to Zurich InsuranceNiamh McDermott moved from Ark Life to Central Bank of IrelandDavid O’Shea moved from New Ireland Assurance to MetLife Europe Robert Fitzgerald moved from Allianz to Zurich InsuranceDermot Mannion moved from MetLife to AXA Life InvestLiam Sloyan moved from the Health Insurance Authority to the National Lottery Regulator Denis Joyce moved from Aviva to Hansard InternationalNiamh Gaudin moved from the Central Bank of Ireland to AXA Insurance Sinead Carty moved from Aviva to SCOR Global LifeFrancis Coll moved from Irish Life to New Ireland Ronan Keane moved from Willis to NTMANaomi Cooney moved from KPMG to The World BankSarah Lynch moved from New Ireland to MetLife Grainne Tierney moved from Aviva to Liberty Insurance Declan Hanley moved from Mercer to DavyRachel Lynch has moved from Towers Watson to Allianz Global Life Philip Conway moved from RSA Insurance to Liberty Insurance

STUDENTS:

Louise Gallen moved from RSA to AXA Insurance LtdCaitriona Mulhern moved from Irish Life to AXA MPS FinancialNicola Kearns moved from New Ireland Assurance to Canada Life Reinsurance Joe Kelleher moved from VHI to EYKailem Gourley moved from Trident Consulting to MetLifeColin McCarthy moved from Mercer to SCOR Global Life Reinsurance Ireland Eanna Larkin moved from Ark Life to Irish Life Financial Services Shane Farrelly moved from RSA Insurance to Zurich Insurance Brian Fitzgerald moved from CACI to RSA Insurance Gillian Kissane moved from New Ireland to Santander Insurance IrelandNiall Keaveney moved from Ark Life to SCOR Global Life Re

Clanwilliam House, Clanwilliam Place, Dublin 2

Tel: +353 1 634 0020 Fax: +353 1 634 0039 Email: info@actuaries.ie Web: www.actuaries.ie

Pg 12 Society of Actuaries in Ireland | MARCH 2015

2015 AwardsforOutstandingContributionto the Society

Members are invited tonominate a Fellow orAssociate member, or in thecase of recently qualifiedmembers, an individual or agroup of Fellows andAssociates. The criteria forthe Awards are posted to thewebsite at:www.actuaries.ie/member-engagement/volunteering/award

Closing Date forNominations is 17th April 2015.