The Actuarial Society

Gambling is a zero-sum game and is miles apart from insurance or any other related products that Actuaries typically design. However, that is no reason for us to think that actuaries have no role in this domain. Risk analysis and modeling is a skill that  every actuary possesses and that’s a fact. And unlike any investment product, gambling too is filled with risk.   Dominic Cortis, an associate actuary explained how he carries out modeling for betting. He explained how he builds a model using a set of assumptions which is later developed into a more sophisticated version of itself by working on its intricacies. Dominic also threw light on the fact that the modelling process and the experts involved in gambling are not very different from those in the finance domain. Dominic also considers insurance and gambling to be exactly the same and the only dissimilarity he sees between the two is “insurable Interest” i.e, a person paying for insurance has something to lose but the case...

  “Data science is very empowering for actuaries: it gives them a platform to move into wider fields.”   John Taylor, Immediate Past President, The Institute and Faculty of Actuaries  What is Data Science? Data Science is no longer a buzzword in the industry, and is being implemented as a part of day to day operations of organizations across the board. It combines programming skills, mathematical and statistical knowledge, and domain expertise to gain valuable insights from data. Data scientists apply machine learning algorithms to data in all forms- number, text, images, audio, video, and more, to design artificial intelligence (AI) systems which can perform tasks which would normally require human intelligence. These systems also generate insights into the data which are used by business analysts for making crucial decisions. Actuarial Science and Data Science: What are the similarities and differences? Data is a crucial tool for both actuaries and data scientists – the...

Actuary is a profession most people associate with the insurance and risk industry, while it is true that most actuaries work in the insurance sector many of them are branching out into niche fields like finance, gambling, weather forecasting and even sports analytics! With a keen analytical mind and good set of interpersonal skills, actuaries are an asset to any domain that relies on data analytics and risk management. The sports industry is experiencing a boom, with greater use of technology and better data driven analysis it’s now easier for the average viewer to get a view of how their favorite team or player performs in real time. This is also attracting new viewership and fans. With the ever-increasing popularity of sports, data analytics in the field has garnered more interest. Data in sports is used for simple things like match statistics to complex calculations that involve determination of a player's match performance and future potential. An actuary’s skill set would ena...

Whenever we hear the term Actuarial Science, our first thought is insurance. This is because actuaries have been employed in the insurance domain since the 1700s and majority of them still work at insurance companies. While most traditional actuarial practices revolve around mortality analysis of life insurance, these processes can also be applied to property, motor, liability and other forms of non-life insurance. However, the main question still remains, what exactly it is that they do in the insurance sector? Let’s find out. Risk accompanies every human activity. An expert in risk estimation is an actuary. Actuaries evaluate financial risks in the insurance and finance fields, using mathematical and statistical methods. They apply the mathematics of probability and statistics to define, analyze, and solve the financial implications of uncertain future events. In order to stay in business, insurance companies need a way to access risk and quantify it before writing a new insurance p...

  Have you ever wondered how many people must gather in a room in order for you to find your birthday twin? Probability theory says it's merely 23. Yes! There is a 50% chance (50.73% to be precise) that at least 2 individuals out of 23  will share their birthday. Move the party to a bigger room to accommodate 75 people and you will find out that there is a 99% chance that at least 2 people will share their birthday!  As strange as it sounds, it is in fact true. How do we get it? Let's take an example to understand this better. Assume two friends, Rahul and Anjali. The probability of Rahul and Anjali having different birthdays is 364/365, i.e, around 99.7%! Add Tina to the group and the probability of all of them having unique birthdays falls down to 363/365. Aman joins the group and the probability of an unrepeated birthday is further reduced  to 362/365. We continue doing this till we reach the 23rd person. The probability of the 23 individuals having a unique birth...

What is Insurtech?  The Insurtech domain recently marked its first decade on the calendar yet masses don’t have the slightest idea how impactful the field is. Short for Insurance technology - Insurtech is a very vast field of ever-evolving technologies used by insurance companies for increased efficiency and accuracy.  The domain makes use of multiple modern-day fields like Big Data and Artificial Intelligence. Insurance companies are increasing their expenditure towards Insurtech every year with the hope to maximize profits.     Need and capabilities of Insurtech  Insurtech, inspired by Fintech, was originally developed to meet the customers’ demand for digitization. Later companies adopted the idea because of the reciprocated benefits. Underwriters assess risk based on the individual’s history, as well as other factors that are deemed, important predictors. Companies have started automating the process of underwriting using Machine Learning. Companies have use...

  Progress is impossible without change”- George Bernard Shaw The actuarial profession hasn’t always been the same.  However, throughout history, ​  actuaries have been involved in a variety of work not restricted to the insurance sector. Actuaries have worked in insurance, banking, finance, enterprise risk management and even casinos. The profession has gone through revolutionary changes since the 1980s owing to the union of actuarial models with financial theory and the advent of the Internet and high-speed computers.   The Roots of Modern Actuarial Science-   The insurance market in London existed by 1500, mainly for marine insurance. While the earliest life insurance policy was issued in 1583, there is no well known documentation of any actuarial table used during that period. Actuarial science was formally introduced to the world in 1693 when Edmond Halley published the First Life Table and described the method of using such a table to calculate the price o...