Reflections from Actuary Today 2018

Kelvin Hii shares his experience in representing the Actuaries Institute at the Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman’s Actuary Today event in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Actuary Today 2018 was the fifth biennial ‘Actuary Today’ events organised by the Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (“UTAR”) Actuarial Science Society.

For me, this event marks my involvement for the past three Actuary Today events. However, the 2018 event was more special to me for two reasons:

  1. I had the opportunity to proudly represent the Actuaries Institute; and
  2. my company, MSIG Insurance (Malaysia) Bhd., was the top sponsor for the event.

 

 

This mega-scale event was held from 7-10 June 2018 with the following objectives:

  • to provide a platform for experienced practicing actuaries to share their knowledge with actuarial undergraduates and college students; and
  • to provide a better understanding of actuarial science to the public.

The event was opened by Chairperson of the Actuary Today event, Mr Lim Chin Hui. In his opening speech he highlighted the aim of the event – to enhance the knowledge of the public and actuarial science students about the future prospects and versatility of actuarial science, which was in line with the Actuary Today 2018 slogan – ‘Visualise the Unforeseen’.

The opening ceremony was also graced by the following guests of honour:

  • Prof Ir Dr Ewe Hong Tat, UTAR Vice President for Internationalisation and Academic Development;
  • Prof Ir Dr Goi Bok Min, Dean of UTAR Lee Kong Chian Faculty of Engineering and Science;
  • Mr Gary Hoo, President of the Actuarial Society of Malaysia;
  • Ms Sophia Ch’ng, President-Elect of the Actuarial Society of Malaysia;
  • Mr Simon Lam, President of Actuarial Society of Hong Kong;
  • Ms Jennifer Hsu, Chief Operating Officer of MSIG Insurance (Malaysia) Bhd.;
  • Mr Kelvin Hii, Vice President – Actuarial of MSIG Insurance (Malaysia) Bhd.; and
  • Ms Chong Wan Leng, Appointed Actuary of Labuan Reinsurance Limited.

The event sponsors and invitees for the opening ceremony included:

  • MSIG Insurance (Malaysia) Bhd.;
  • Institute of Actuaries of Australia;
  • Society of Actuaries;
  • Casualty Actuarial Society;
  • Institute and Faculty of Actuaries;
  • Life Insurance Association of Malaysia; and
  • Actuarial Society of Malaysia.

 

Sponsors and Judges

 

This event was also comprised of three concurrent sub-events.

Actuarial Exposition

The exposition was open to the public and was held throughout the four days (7-10 June). There were featured booths for the sponsors, a section providing a wealth of actuarial-related information and a games section. Over the four days, members of the public could learn more about the history of actuarial science, basic information about actuarial science, actuarial job prospects, the various professional actuarial examination paths and their corresponding actuarial associations, detailed analysis of local universities offering the actuarial science course, career fairs and actuarial-related jokes.  During the Actuarial Exposition, I had the opportunity to brief the public about the Actuaries Institute as well as promoting the Actuarial Sprint app.

 

Actuarial Conference

As the conference was held over a weekend, it drew many participants from the various high schools and local universities. The participants benefited from knowledge shared by lecturers and practicing actuaries on a range of topics including:

  • Overview of Actuarial Science;
  • Overview of Reinsurance: The Insurance for Insurers;
  • Introduction to Excel;
  • Introduction to VBA Workshop;
  • The Eighth Wonder of the World: Compound Interest and a Glimpse into Actuarial Mathematics;
  • Life Insurance vs General Insurance;
  • Discovering the Mysteries of Probability for High School and Pre-University Students;
  • Valuation, the Estimation of Future Liabilities and Assets;
  • Risk seminar; and
  • Town hall meeting with distinguished actuaries.

Actuarial Challenge

The Actuarial Challenge was an American Idol/ The Apprentice/ Part III Commercial Actuarial Practice-style challenge, where participating universities sent a group of their top six students to solve a business problem.  Each group had 24 hours to solve the business problem and present their findings and recommendations to a panel of judges.  The Actuarial Challenge question this year was designed by yours truly, and was based on the newly-issued Phased Liberalisation of the Motor Tariff guideline by the regulators of the hypothetical country of Actuaryland (which was intended to be similar to the Malaysia general insurance industry).

Participants were required to analyse Motor market claim trends, rationalise the extent of their deviation from the tariff rates, structure a process flow for the introduction of new products and propose the new products to be introduced with strong justifications before a panel of judges which comprised of Mr Simon Lam, Ms Chong Wan Leng and myself. For the 2018 Actuarial Challenge, six universities battled for bragging rights – Asia Pacific University, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Heriot Watt University Malaysia, UCSI University, University of Malaya, and Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman.  Personally, I was pleasantly surprised by the maturity of some the students’ recommendations.

Congratulations to the following universities that emerged as podium finishers for this year’s Actuarial Challenge:

Champion:            University of Malaya

1st Runner Up:      Heriot Watt University Malaysia

2nd Runner Up:     Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman

As I reflected over Actuary Today 2018, I felt happy to be part of this event because I believe that the various participants from different backgrounds were able to enrich their knowledge of the actuarial profession.  I’m already looking forward to the next Actuary Today event in 2020.

 

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