Asia’s Emergence as the Engine of Global Economy Will Provide Greater Opportunities for Insurance and Actuaries Sector in India to Offer Affordability and Accessibility of Services – IRDAI Chairman

GURGAON, India, November 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

The 20th Asian Actuarial Conference (20th AAC), an event of the Asian Actuarial Congress (AAC) being organized by the Institute of Actuaries of India on behalf of AAC, was inaugurated with a keynote address by T.S. Vijayan, Chairman IRDAI.

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Hosted for the first time in India, the Conference created a confluence of over 700 professionals including actuaries, risk officers, policy makers, subject matter experts and other stakeholders in the financial services space from across the globe.

Echoing the theme of 'Changing Asian Societies: Challenges and Opportunities' that underscores the Conference, T.S. Vijayan commented in his inaugural address, "While nearly 60 percent of world's population resides in Asia their contribution towards global economy is about 33 percent. As the economic growth rates of Asian countries are significantly higher than the developed economies of the West, this presents greater opportunities for the insurance and actuarial profession."

Emphasizing his faith in the potential lying within the unmet demand of insurance services in Asian economies and pointing out the levels of insurance penetration, the Chairman added, "In addition to the premium densities, the number of lives covered and amount of risks covered should also be the focus for the industry." Drawing the attention of delegates to the successful implementation of affordable insurance schemes, introduced by the Government of India in the recent past, he added that over 120 million people in India participating in the programs shows the desire of Indian societies to avail insurance. Providing insurance coverage at affordable premium and availability of cover are the challenges in Asia and India in particular.

Sanjeeb Kumar, President, Institute of Actuaries of India, the organizers of the Conference addressed the delegates on the developments in the Indian actuarial profession as well as outlined the strategies to attract and nurture the talent pool to support the industry's growth. "Although the role of actuaries as a profession is witnessing steady increase in demand, we have around 70,000 working actuaries globally. There is a shortage of approximately 40,000 actuaries globally. Indian Actuarial profession consist of over 10,600 members which includes over 330 Fellows and over 160 Associate members. We have about 35 newly-qualified actuaries in FY 2016 and over next few years we aim to have over 100 newly qualified actuaries each year," he added.

Rajesh Dalmia, Chair of 20th AAC and former President IAI said, "In future, in order to foster a promising ecosystem for newly-qualified actuaries, there is a need to push the boundaries of profession traditional areas where actuarial expertise is of significance."

The AAC programme covers 4 plenary sessions and 36 concurrent sessions, providing insights into the current issues related to the actuarial profession and industry. The concurrent sessions cover general insurance, health insurance, claim inflation, risk function effectiveness and pension and employee benefits. 

The Asian Actuarial Congress (AAC) was established in 1981 with initial nine Actuarial Societies representing respective countries. Year 2005 gave it a new colour when the Indian Actuarial Profession then called Actuarial Society of India became its member, the first new one after 1981. As of now the Actuarial Societies in Australia, China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Chinese Taipei and India constitute its members. The activities of AAC now envelope whole of Asia. 

Rajesh Dalmia, Chairman AAC; N. Rangachary, First Chairman of IRDIAI; Jerry Brown President Elect, Society of Actuaries, US; Alissa Holz , SVP and Chief Pricing Actuary at Reinsurance Group of America;Sanjeeb Kumar, President, Institute of Actuaries of India; R. Arunachalam, Vice-President, Institute of Actuaries of India; Nilesh Sathe, Member (Life), IRDAI; Mary Frances Miller, CAS and K. Subrahmanyam, Former ED, IRDAI were some of the eminent panellists who participated in the inaugural session and the subsequent panel discussions.

The conference witnessed participation of over 700 delegates from 26 countries. 

About Institute of Actuaries of India:
Institute of Actuaries of India is a statutory body established under The Actuaries Act 2006 (35 of 2006) for regulation of profession of Actuaries in India. 

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