The SOA’s Latin America Committee Hosts Professionalism Webinar

The webcast is the SOA’s first recorded in Spanish Federico Tassara July 2020

The Society of Actuaries (SOA) Latin America Committee (LAC) hosted the first Professionalism webinar for the region on May 14. Two-hundred attendees from 10 different countries participated, and it is now available for download for those who may have missed it.

Three local actuarial associations participated and gave access to all their members:

The Professional Council of Economic Sciences of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires
The Colombian Association of Actuaries
The National College of Actuaries of Mexico

The webcast, which was coordinated by Sofi García, international projects specialist for the SOA, allowed many actuaries to access an SOA professional development session for the first time. Presentations were made by Christian Mora, delegate superintendent for Insurance of the Financial Superintendence of Colombia; Stephen Camilli, FSA, professor at the University of Connecticut and member of the LAC, and me—I am Southern Europe & Latin America Life & Health senior actuary at Munich Re and a member of the LAC.

Mora presented on the evolution of the Colombian Association of Actuaries, which has 150 members and has been a full member of the International Actuarial Association (IAA) since 2013. He also explored how actuaries are strategic allies in supervisory roles. The objectives ahead in Colombia are to reinforce training, enforce the professionalism code, define specialized training to practice and empower actuaries.

I described the current situation in Chile, where despite having a solid market, the profession does not yet exist. There is no formal actuarial career or actuarial association. Only 17 percent of the 408 professionals who act as actuaries in Chile are effectively actuaries, and they are mostly from Argentina—the others are different types of engineers. I also analyzed three case studies to understand how this can solve problems for society. Finally, I highlighted the need to develop regulations for the actuarial profession if the regulator wants to implement Solvency II and the International Financial Reporting Standard 17 (IFRS 17) in the short term.

Camilli presented a possible path to professionalism based on the recommendations from the IAA. He explained how the main elements of professionalism work in the United States. The elements discussed include:

Code of Professional Conduct
Actuarial Standards of Practice
Discipline system
Qualification standards
Continuing education

To close, the exhibitors answered questions from the audience about how to help develop the profession in their countries, comparison of legislation between different markets and professional development opportunities. Attendees also were invited to participate in other SOA webinars, access available materials at SOA.org and get involved in SOA activities.

The webcast was the SOA’s first professional material recorded in Spanish. It is now available for download.

Federico Tassara, ASA, is Senior Life & Health Actuary for Munich Re, Southern Europe & Latin America.