Actuaries Institute Podcast

Angela Tatarow interviews self described 'actuary without border' and runner up of the Institute's Weapons of Mass Deduction video competition Queenie Chow.Queenie discusses her career path, experiences working abroad, why she's passionate about being part of the institutes Diversity and Inclusion working Group and what inspired her to create her entry for the Weapons of Mass Deduction competition. Queenie also touches on her niche role in microinsurance.SHOW NOTESActuaries Without Borderswww.actuaries.asn.au/Library/Events/YAP/2016/AWBQueenieChow.pdfWeapons of Mass Deductionhttps://actuaries.asn.au/microsites/actuaries-in-data-analytics/video-competitionWorld Health Organisation - Global Health Observatory data https://www.who.int/gho/database/en/Australia's public datahttps://search.data.gov.au/Google Trendshttps://trends.google.com/trends/?geoDiversity and Inclusion Working Group (DIWG)https://actuaries.asn.au/about-us/governance/committees/all-committees/members?ID=ZNjqeCg7c0U%3d

Ignatius Li interviews Dr. Raymond Yeow on his experiences and career as an actuary turned doctor.Show NotesFuture of Health Seminarhttps://actuaries.asn.au/microsites/future-of-health-seminar-2018Health Practice Committeehttps://actuaries.asn.au/practice-area/healthMaking Medicare: The Politics of Universal Health Care in AustraliaAuthored by Anne-Marie Boxall and James Gillespiehttp://www.publish.csiro.au/AH/pdf/AHv38n1_BR1Davidson's Principles and Practice of Medicine: 12th editionhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2159046/Davidson's Principles and Practice of Medicine: 23rd editionhttps://www.elsevierhealth.com.au/davidsons-principles-and-practice-of-medicine-9780702070280.htmlThe PatientAuthored by Mohamed H Khadrahttp://www.urology.net.au/the-patient-book.htmlTerminal DeclineAuthored by Mohamed H Khadrahttp://www.urology.net.au/terminal-decline-book.htmlAustralia's Health 2016https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/australias-health/australias-health-2016/contents/summary

John McLenaghan (Public Policy Advisor Advisor at the Actuaries Institute) sits down with Andrew Brown, a consulting actuary and Council member to discuss his new paper, 'Building Adaptive Capacity - Individuals, Groups & Society' as part of the Institute's Dialogue thought leadership series.John and Andrew discuss;- How and why culture can come from the top- Factors that cause venerable public and private institutions to fall from grace- How boards and management can really transform culture in large organisations with tens of thousands of employees- International organisations with large spans of control and how cultural barriers can embed shared values- Generational factors to consider when attempting to make organisations more adaptive- The role regulators play in changing board cultures- How long should it take to change banking culture?Visit the public policy and media section of our website for more thought leadership papershttps://actuaries.asn.au/public-policy-and-mediaFollow the Actuaries Instit

Tuan Ming and Elayne Grace discuss the rapid growth of online insurance in Asia and the Chinese appetite for product innovation and business opportunities in this area.This is the second instalment in our ‘Inside Asia’ podcast series which aims to explore the experiences of actuaries working in Asia or moving between the Australian and Asian markets.On 27 August 2018, Elayne Grace, CEO of the Actuaries Institute, and Tuan Ming, Head of ASEAN, China, HK and India Regions at Gen Re (for Life & Health), met in Sydney to discuss what some of the innovative Chinese insurance market players are up to.The Chinese appetite for new forms of online insurance – both among internet giants like Alibaba, and traditional insurance players ­– is generating many examples of innovation in the insurance industry.China is the world’s second largest insurance market and growing fast. As someone who’s been working in Asia for over 20 years, Tuan has witnessed how the Chinese market has changed. “It is just unimaginable, from a

Tuan Ming, Head of ASEAN, China, HK and India Regions at Gen Re (for Life & Health), travels extensively for work and he joins Elayne on the inaugural ‘Inside Asia’ to discuss life, career and advice for actuaries.This is the first instalment in our ‘Inside Asia’ podcast series which aims to explore the experiences of actuaries working in Asia or moving between the Australian and Asian markets. The second instalment on the booming online insurance market in China is here.What do you do in your current role and what does it involve in terms of travelling between Asia and Australia?I manage the Life and Health reinsurance business of Gen Re across China, HK, South East Asia countries and India. I travel extensively to all these countries and it is my first trip back to Sydney in 12 years’ time. So I do not travel to Australia extensively. I cover half of the world’s population. There are a lot of emerging markets in these areas, I get the opportunity to see new things and what is happening in different mark

Tim Andrews (Principal at Finity Consulting) and Vanessa Beenders (Practice Excellence Advisor at the Actuaries Institute) met to discuss Tim's involvement in the creation of the Australian Actuaries Climate Index and why it's necessary for businesses and actuaries to utilise the data.Tim expands on how the Australian Actuaries Climate Index was created and why actuaries and wider industries should be utilising the index to inform their business decisions and inform their risk management framework including climate change policies.To see the index, please visit the site belowhttps://actuaries.asn.au/microsites/climate-index

Effective data scientists need to understand the workings of IT teams and identify the limits of truth in models, says Co-Founder and Chief Scientist at Ambiata.Tiberio was interviewed by Anthony Tockar on the Actuaries Institute’s podcast last month. This is the second episode from that conversation (the first explored the ethics of machine learning).If an actuary is working as a data scientist for a large organisation with millions of customers and complex internal IT legacy systems, being able to engage well with internal IT and data teams is critical. That means, as a first step, knowing their lingo.Data science combines both statistics and computer science. Actuaries are skilled in the former through their modelling and forecasting work, for the latter, they must upskill. As an actuary who transitioned into data science, Anthony said he spent most of his learning time on computer science. He highlights the importance of having a good handle on the underlying flow of data that informs the modelling.

Head of Actuarial and Analytics at World Nomads and Weapons of Mass Deduction judge Jacky Poon interviews Andrew Xu, Actuary at Finity Consulting, on his entry into the WOMD competition, focusing on Geospatial analysis and a career in data analytics.Andrew created an entry that incorporated animation, Google Maps street view and motion graphics to explain the importance of Geospatial analysis and how it is used by actuaries for geographical models. He is one of the Top 3 entrants along with Minh Phan and Queenie Chow who created their entries on CatBoost and open source data.Jacky and Andrew touch on the wider aspects of Geospatial analysis including it's changing application over the years to using different analysis methods including R which he learned form his current role at FinityJacky asks a range of question including;How are you feeling about the [competition winner] announcement?Tell me a bit about yourself?Tell me about your hobby [in video production]?How did you get into R for analysis?What other

Angat Sandhu and Katherine Gobbi share their unique insights into claims management, it's place in the insurance value chain, future opportunities and key trends in the area.Katheirne Gobbi is Chief Executive Officer at EMLife, leading a team of life insurance claims specialists dedicated to making life easier for insurance partners and their customers with over 15 years experience in personal injury claims management and working with regulatory bodies. She met with Angat Sandhu on September 19 to discuss current issues in claims management, scrutiny of general insurance and what improvements are needed.Angat asks a range of question including; Can you share some thoughts on what are the most important trends you are seeing in claims management?What is most important from a customer’s perspective?There has been a fair bit of scrutiny on claims practices recently, what are some takeaways for the insurance industry?If there is one thing that will be different about claims management over the next 2-3 years, wha

Download the MP3 file herehttps://api.spreaker.com/v2/episodes/15816934/download.mp3Dr Raymond Yeow and Dr Kevin Cheng discuss the future of health insurance including a focus on Dr Kevin's Osana care model and a sneak peek into his plenary session at the upcoming Future of Health Seminar.Register now!https://www.actuaries.asn.au/FOHS2018

The Institute’s latest Dialogue thought leadership paper explores where better outcomes can be delivered and significant savings can be made in social welfare through better data analytics.Vanessa Beenders from the HQ Public Policy team interviews Hugh Miller, Principal Actuary at Taylor Fry, on his new Dialogue thought leadership paper titled ‘People, projections and payments: A look at modern government service delivery’.For each vulnerable individual in society, services spending across welfare, housing, health care, justice and child protection can easily amount to up to $1 million over a lifetimeIn the discussion, questions for Hugh include:1.What different areas of service delivery are included in your paper? 2.How actuaries are helping governments to improve the service delivered and outcomes experienced by people? 3.Talk us though the investment approach to improving services 4.How does this differ to cost-benefit analysis as a tool?5.How does Australia compare with NZ in the use of data analytics to

Tackling the big issues in the general insurance industry, representing actuaries and motivating a group of volunteers has been the remit of IAG’s Chief Actuary Tim Clark for the last five years.After five years as the Convenor of the Institute’s General Insurance Practice Committee (GIPC), Tim Clark has stepped down due to work commitments. In this podcast, Tim speaks with GIPC member Kitty Ho about memorable moments over the last five years, including debates over general insurance cover of mental health conditions and of flood damage following Cyclone Yasi.Tim talks about the challenge for actuaries to uphold their reputation and, given the 2014 Financial Services Inquiry (FSI) and current Royal Commission, touts the unique idea of having a CRO for Australia.Commenting on his departure, Elayne Grace CEO said:"Tim is a great lateral thinker who brings positive energy to the brainstorming of issues facing our profession and industry. He encourages us all to be able to articulate the clear value differentiato

Estelle Pearson and Tony Coleman share their unique insights into the HIH Royal Commission, from watching lawyers "excitedly finding smoking guns in emails" to getting "requests for interviews from 4-Corners within 24 hrs". They reflect on lessons learned, as the current Financial Services Royal Commission enters its sixth set of public hearings.Tony was President of the Institute when HIH collapsed, in what was the largest corporate collapse in Australia's history, in March 2001. The events that followed radically affected his Presidential year. As the Commission's and the media's attention turned to actuaries for explanations of the collapse, the Institute took the opportunity to suggest possible solutions early in the piece.As the actuarial expert to the HIH Royal Commission, Estelle assisted Justice Owen and Council to understand the fundamentals of insurance, and how reinsurance and actuarial reserving works.She worked alongside lawyers and their assistants as they trawled through emails, handwritten not

With companies starting to pay the price for inadvertent unethical outcomes created by their systems and engineering, there is a need for data scientists, actuaries and professionals to respect the discipline of ethics."Artificial Intelligence" (AI) conjures fear, excitement and confusion in humans.In this podcast episode, Tiberio Caetano, Co-Founder and Chief Scientist at Ambiata, one of the most respected data science companies in Australia, clears up some of the confusion by unpacking the complex problem of ethics.Tiberio is interviewed by Anthony Tockar, Director at Verge Labs and Curator of the Data Digital Track at the upcoming General Insurance Seminar (GIS2018).Tiberio explains two sub-problems within ethics: the valuation problem, which is about the desirability of a given world, and the causation problem which is more of a navigation problem about what one has to do to obtain the result they want.Ethics can also be conceptualised through the lens of descriptive ethics, which is about what people thi

Transactions Actuary at Swiss Re, Eric Tsui, discusses the challenges he encountered when taking parental leave, and the support he received from his employer to do so.This instalment of the Institute’s Diversity and Inclusion at work series discusses the topic of parental leave with an interview between Ashish Ahluwalia (Principal at Finity Consulting) and Eric Tsui.The pair discuss how employers who are:1. committed to diversity and inclusion in its broadest sense; and2. allow their employees to achieve a real balance between work and family are able to increase their employee retention.In the podcast, Eric describes the difference between being in the workplace and being on parental leave.“When you are on parental leave your mind is kind of idle, but it’s a very physical kind of job, wrangling a baby or just pushing the pram for kilometres on end.” - Eric TsuiChildren grow up so quickly and as Eric says “every moment, every time they do something it could be the last time that they do it because they move

As the Australian Government Actuary (AGA) nears 100 years of service, Elayne Grace caught up with its current leader, Guy Thorburn, to find out what the agency of the Treasury does and has achieved.Australian Government Actuary and Macquarie University graduate Guy Thorburn joined Elayne Grace (CEO of the Actuaries Institute) on Tuesday 14 August 2018 on the Actuaries Institute Podcast. The pair discussed how the AGA, with its team of 12, operate in providing services to more than 40 Government departments and agencies.Guy discussed a challenging project being the long-term cost report the AGA carried out for the Defence superannuation fund. There were some significant changes in the assumptions required and most notably, the discount rate had to be reviewed.The AGA's work on a DSS means-testing framework and parameters for the framework was a project Guy then described as a rewarding one over the last 18 months."That was a good outcome from an actuarial perspective... it created something different in a cha

This instalment of the Institute's Diversity and Inclusion series asks the Chief Actuary at MLC Insurance, Darren Robinson, about his experience managing employees with flexible work (remote location and part time) arrangements. Darren discusses the value of an 'agile coach' in supporting part-time staff and how productivity, retention and morale can be affected by flexible working.Ashish Ahluwalia (Principal at Finity Consulting) discusses with Darren, the increasing take-up of flexible work arrangements and how - with the correct planning, level of trust, capability and communication - both employers and employees can benefit. Darren explains some of his own staff's requests - including when returning from maternity leave and scenarios where 'Head Of' Departments moved interstate - and offers advice for both employees and mangers on negotiating such arrangements.Darren emphasises that maintaining strong lines of communication, despite the geographical distance, is important. As is facilitating 'water-cooler

Public Policy Advisor John McLenaghan, asks Michael Rice, CEO of Rice Warner and 2017 Actuary of the Year about the story of his career. From early beginnings in South Africa, Michael decided to switch from accounting to actuarial after a conversation with a golfing friend. His first practice area was Pensions - a sphere that he has now had significant influence on through his public policy work. Michael is a well known actuary in the profession, the Australian government, media and the broader financial services industry.Listen-in to hear about Michael's mentors, his career journey, thoughts on the challenges facing the profession, and his firm's current nomination for 'Employer of the Year'.John asks a range of questions including:- What created this desire for public policy?- Is diversity a key component of the Rice Warner workforce?- Can you give an outline for younger members of the profession about the birth and growth of superannuation in Australia, more around industry super?- Do you think the public

In this instalment of the CareerView Podcast, Jas Singh and Mariella El-Azzi discuss how to create satisfaction in actuarial roles to build a fulfilling career including advice on negotiating conflict, forming relationships with team members and choosing the right role.Jas Singh (Managing Director at SKL Actuarial) and Mariella El-Azzi (Pricing Analyst at IAL Insurance) discuss how actuaries can advance their career through identifying key areas to help build fulfilment and satisfaction in roles and what actuaries need to be looking for when changing roles or career paths.They also discuss how career changes can involve:1. De-learning habits to increase network opportunities and managerial skills.2. Taking advantage of risks and opportunities while young and free of family responsibility including working abroad.3. Negotiating conflict in the workplace.Jas also discusses how engagement, relationships with your team and manager/s and organization structure are the three crucial key areas to determine your sati

Ashish Ahluwalia (Principal at Finity Consulting) and Lesley Traverso (Director at Talent Insights) discuss the Institutes' Diversity and Inclusion Working Group (DIWG) and how diversity and inclusion is crucial for innovation in the workplace and how businesses can create a strategy that includes diversity as a key focus.Ashish Ashulwalia and Lesley Traverso discuss the three main areas that council have put forward into the Diversity and Inclusion action plan as part of the working group's strategy for the year including;1. Creating a diverse and inclusive environment for members and HQ staff2. Encouraging committees and working groups to represent the diversity of the Institute memberships3. Promoting the benefits of diversity within the profession from an internal and external perspectiveAshish and Lesley also discuss how the Institute can promote it's larger takeup in the STEM field for women with ANU discussing the 35% to 65% female to male split in actuarial studies, which is encouraging considering th