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Insurance ERM Article on Ten Top Actuaries

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In November 2012 the magazine Insurance ERM ran an article on ten actuaries who had recently been awarded the Chartered Enterprise Risk Actuary (CERA) qualification on the grounds of their contribution to thought leadership on Enterprise Risk Management. One of the actuaries honoured in this way was Nematrian’s founder, Malcolm Kemp.

 

Malcolm’s responses to the questions for ten top actuaries posed by Insurance ERM were:

 

1.            What made you choose your line of work?

 

I became an actuary after leaving university because I wanted to use my mathematical skills to help a wide range of people. Organisations that actuaries advise or work for, such as insurance companies, pension funds and asset managers, impact many people across many different parts of society.

 

2.            What do you enjoy about it most?

 

I enjoy the variety of work, some more academic, some more practical.

 

3.            What advice would you give those just entering the actuarial or risk management business?

 

Try to seize opportunities to develop broader business and market awareness. This will help develop your career further and make your job more interesting.

 

4.            Do you think the CERA is gaining recognition as “the gold standard in enterprise risk management training”?

 

The risk management professional scene is still relatively fragmented with many different professions seeking to expand their coverage in this area. ERM is and probably always will be more multi-disciplinary than many other areas of actuarial work. Against this backdrop CERA is making significant headway.

 

5.            Whom do you most admire in the insurance sector?

 

Those far sighted enough to be looking beyond Solvency II to see how the insurance industry and related professions will evolve in the future.

 

6.            What’s the greatest challenge for the industry over the next 12 months?

 

For the insurance industry globally it will no doubt include successfully navigating through ongoing market challenges such as sovereign debt crises. More parochially, much of the UK life insurance industry seems not to have fully faced up to the longer-term challenges posed by RDR and related regulatory trends.

 

7.            What are your interests outside work?

 

I play the piano. I like doing mathematical puzzles and kayaking with my wife and two boys. I am an active member of a local Anglican church and on the finance committee of an international Christian charity.

 

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