Insurance actuaries and boards should work closely together to improve communication and break down technical barriers to create a ‘virtuous cycle’ that will help boost business decision making. 

In this ‘virtuous cycle’, actuaries deliver relevant insight to the board, equipping the board to better challenge all areas of the business. This, in turn, helps the actuarial function to deliver even better and more targeted insights.

We interviewed 25 of the UK’s leading general insurers to understand how they make key business decisions based on actuarial advice, and this has enabled us to produce a comprehensive guide to best practice in this important area. 

What's inside: 

• Our analysis and key insights from the in-depth interviews and survey.
• A best practice self-assessment guide which brings together the best ideas from the detailed discussions with the 25 insurers.
• A virtuous cycle essential toolkit which includes top tips, examples and key lessons for both boards and actuaries.

Our research brought home just how much insurers rely on timely and insightful actuarial advice. The future will never precisely mirror the assumptions, so for the board to get value from actuarial advice it needs to be understood, discussed and challenged.

To achieve a virtuous cycle ground rules need to be set. A firm’s culture needs to allow actuaries to give their views without fear of criticism, enabling the board to trust what they are hearing. In turn, actuaries need to be able to draw the different strands of work they do together to present a whole and digestible picture to boards and feed into future work, demonstrating how their insights can provide crucial business insight.