Strategy Plan

The Society has grown from just 17 members when we started in 1972 to over 2,150 members now.  It’s not just size that has changed – we now have members from all around the world who joined under Mutual Recognition Agreements with other actuarial associations and the profession has benefited from the diversity that brings in terms of culture, experiences and perspectives.  We are proud of our growth – but a downside is that it’s not so easy anymore for everyone to know everyone else!  

The sense of community and the strong collaborative culture that have existed to date have proved enormously beneficial to individual members and to the collective profession.  We are indebted to all the members who volunteer to participate in the Society’s work – it is through their efforts that we are able to speak out on behalf of the profession, establish standards, deliver learning opportunities for members, and much more.

As we grow, we will strive to protect these characteristics of the profession.  So, expect to see an increased focus on building connection and engagement with and between members – we will deliver a strong member proposition that is valued by members and their employers, we will foster and facilitate engagement between members and we will ask members to be active participants in moving their profession forward.

Actuaries bring a unique combination of skills, combined with a strong ethos of professionalism, to their work and (whether individually through their jobs or collectively through the Society) their contribution to the public interest.  
We will continue to educate and develop actuaries in such a way that we retain and indeed build upon the profession’s capabilities and credibility.

In particular, we will support our members in expanding their competencies in areas such as artificial intelligence (AI), data science and climate science, building on the strong foundation provided by the core actuarial skillset.  These evolving fields bring both complexity and opportunities for businesses.  Actuaries are well placed to help businesses to embrace the possibilities while managing the risks, with the interests of the end consumer always at heart.

Prompted by input from employers at our first Actuarial Employers Forum in April 2023, and also by views from members in our strategy sessions, we will become more active in shaping the education of actuaries, from college (recognising the talent that abounds across a variety of degree programmes) through to later personal and career development.  We will also provide more support to actuaries at or transitioning to pivotal points in their career, such as taking on regulated roles, leadership positions or other positions of high responsibility. 

We raise the public profile for our profession and highlight the value of actuarial work to employers, regulatory and supervisory bodies, policymakers, potential future entrants to the profession, and the general public. 

In our conversations with members about our strategy, it was encouraging to hear that members want us to find ways to contribute more to important societal topics, such as climate change, the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI), the changing landscape for pensions provision, financial literacy and inclusion, to mention just a few. 

Going forward, we will strive to grow our capacity to contribute to public debate and discourse.  This will include increasing our capacity to collate fact-based evidence, carry out thoughtful analysis and synthesise this into articulate positions or points of view that can help to inform decision-making.

We will continue to be diligent in responding to public consultations from regulatory and supervisory bodies and policymakers and providing our expertise and experience on topics of relevance to actuarial work. 

We will also pro-actively engage with members to identify topics on which we should contribute and we will invite members and, where appropriate, non-members with interest and expertise in these areas to work with us on them. 

Our strong profile and reputation will help us to have influence in our public interest activities, and in turn the value that we add through these activities will reinforce our profile and reputation.