Actuaries: a new role in enterprise risk management

by Gill Montia

Story link: Actuaries: a new role in enterprise risk management

Aon Benfield is highlighting what it sees as the future “critical” role of actuaries in managing emerging risks for the re/insurance industry.

The intermediary believes the role of the actuary will evolve in the years ahead “to deliver more robust enterprise risk management (ERM), including designing potential scenarios rather than solely performing retrospective statistical analysis”.

Addressing the Institute of Actuaries in Australia, Aon Benfield’s head of actuarial & ERM in Asia Pacific, David Maneval, said: “On the horizon, new risks are emerging in the shape of regulatory shifts, climate change, inflation, cyber risk, nanotechnologies and pandemics.”

He added: “Managing emerging risks is an opportunity for actuaries to add significant value to the risk management function.”

According to Mr Maneval, the role of the actuary is likely to evolve in the following ways: designing prospective scenarios, rather than solely performing statistical analysis and interacting and communicating at all levels across an organisation.

Actuaries will also be working with boards of directors on the complexity and management of risks, keeping up to date as emerging risks change and new paradigms emerge, and helping with holistic response plans and dry runs to assess a plan’s effectiveness.