Actuary
An actuary is a professional working in the insurance industry. Actuaries specialize in the analysis, evaluation and management of statistical information. Their role is crucial to the financial success of an insurance company as they have to ensure that the insurance company remains profitable and financially stable.
An actuary achieves profitability and financial stability through:
- the setting of insurance premium prices or rates
- determining the rating methods
- continually assessing insurance trends in the market place—locally as well as internationally
- determining the amount to hold in reserves to cover possible claims—this amount is also a legal
- requirement expressed as a percentage
- determining other business and financial risks
- calculating dividends payable to shareholders
- carrying out other insurance-related statistical studies
Actuaries have a set of beliefs (philosophy) is their profession, some of these beliefs are:
- experiences in the past can be used to make reasonable future projections
- analysis must be as detailed as possibly allowed by the available information
- analysis is never based on apparent appearances without further investigation
- risk and uncertainty cannot be avoided but can be managed
Actuaries use a proven actuarial scientific method that describes how they collect, structure and analyse information, formulate assumptions and construct models in their problem solving processes.