Greater Asia Committee Update

The immediate past chair of the Greater Asia Committee shares highlights from 2021

Simon Lam February 2022

Photo: iStock.com/Dmytro Aksonov

Simon Lam, FSA, CFA, EMBA (CUHK), FASHK, FLHC, FLMI, FRM

In 2016, under the direction of the Society of Actuaries (SOA) International Committee, the Greater Asia Committee was established to coordinate SOA activities in Asia (excluding mainland China) and contribute to the development of the SOA’s strategies and tactics for Asia. The Greater Asia region includes Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.

It was a pleasure to serve as chair of the Greater Asia Committee from October 2019 through September 2021. Even though 2021 was a challenging year for the Greater Asia Committee, we accomplished many memorable activities for Asia members and candidates.

Events, Content and Virtual Learning

As in the past, we held our flagship event, the Asia-Pacific Annual Symposium, in 2021. This time we collaborated with the Actuarial Institute of Chinese Taipei (AICT) and conducted it in a fully virtual format. Additionally, we hosted our SOA Asia Activity Update Townhall Webcast in April 2021 to update our Asia members about the SOA’s latest developments in Asia.

Besides these efforts, we developed eight articles for our Asia members that were published on The Actuary website in 2021. We also continued our Asia Young Actuary Program for a second year, conducting a board game design contest for Asia candidates and members. The contest’s three winning teams were from Indonesia, Malaysia and Hong Kong.

To fulfill the learning needs of our members and contacts in Asia, the webcast sub-committee of the Greater Asia Committee hosted 10 monthly webcasts in 2021 that covered key topics like recent product trends in Asia and insurance pricing powered by predictive analytics. Additionally, we organized four professional development virtual seminars for our Asia audience:

The Asia Insurance Product Outlook Virtual Seminar in October 2021 explored trends under the low interest environment.
In November 2021, the SOA AICT Joint Seminar – Post-Pandemic World for Life Insurers was held in conjunction with the AICT.
The first ImpACT Asia: Risk & Capital Management Virtual Seminar also took place in November 2021. In addition to local Asia content, the event included content from the SOA ImpACT conference, such as the Presidential Remarks, which allowed the Asia audience to engage with the SOA ImpACT conference.
The SOA Data Analytics and Professionalism Virtual Seminar was held in December 2021.

Regional Outreach

In Hong Kong, we conducted stakeholder outreach by paying visits to The Hang Seng University of Hong Kong and the AIA. We also co-sponsored several local events like the Actuarial Society of Hong Kong (ASHK) 4th General Insurance Virtual Seminar and the ASHK IFRS Seminar 2021.

In Malaysia, we sponsored the Case Study Challenge, “ASymposium: Envisioning Actuarial Spectrum,” and a networking session for SOA candidates in Malaysia.

In other regions, we co-sponsored numerous events for the local actuarial societies. For example, in Singapore, we co-sponsored several events, such as the Singapore Actuarial Society (SAS) Career Fair, Joint SAS-IAAHS Health Conference and the Singapore Actuarial Conference. In Japan, we supported the Institute of Actuaries of Japan (IAJ) with its annual event and the IAJ Annual Open Discussion Forum in November 2021. In the Philippines, we supported the Actuarial Society of the Philippines’ 62nd Annual Convention.

To create connections among our candidates and members during the pandemic, we hosted various networking events in Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia and South Korea by collaborating with the local actuarial associations. We also hosted bilateral meetings between the SOA and numerous local actuarial societies, including the ASHK, the Actuarial Society of Malaysia (ASM) and the Society of Actuaries of Thailand (SOAT), to enhance the communication between the actuarial societies.

In Vietnam, we are planning to support the local actuaries in updating their latest mortality table. This work currently is in progress.

Conclusion

I would like to express my deep appreciation for the Greater Asia Committee volunteers’ contributions to our successes last year and for their steadfast and generous volunteer service. I am sure they experienced and learned a lot.

I also would like to encourage all of our Asia members to join us in this journey in making our actuarial society better. Finally, I am pleased that Paul Setio Kartono, ASA, MAAA, has taken on the leadership role as chair of the Greater Asia Committee. I know the committee will continue to serve our Asia members and build a better actuarial society for all of us.

My best wishes for a healthy and wonderful 2022 for all of you! Thank you.

Simon Lam, FSA, CFA, EMBA (CUHK), FASHK, FLHC, FLMI, FRM, is chief actuary and appointed actuary at China Pacific Life Insurance (H.K.) Company Limited. He is also vice president at The Actuarial Society of Hong Kong and adjunct assistant professor at The Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Statements of fact and opinions expressed herein are those of the individual authors and are not necessarily those of the Society of Actuaries or the respective authors’ employers.