Head of Actuarial - Parktown at Rand Mutual - RMA

WHAT WILL YOU DO?

Key Responsibilities:

Product Design and Development

• Support and participate in the execution of the Life product strategy in an agile manner
• Understand the business needs and related gaps to inform the design of product solutions
• Understand the overall competitive landscape and commercial and economic environment through market research in order to help inform product design
• Partner with various business stakeholders (including Sales and Distribution and the CEO of RMA Life) to design innovative products that consider the end to end customer journey and policy lifecycle
• Collaborate with support teams and risk areas in the product design process. This includes Customer Experience, Sales and Distribution, Claims, Legal and Compliance, Risk and IT
• Present product features and actuarial results to project teams, management, and other stakeholders such as marketing and distribution
• Apply pricing practices and develop modelling to set appropriate rates, understand profitability, and analyze sensitivities
• Perform feasibility analyses and pricing projects for products, including deriving assumptions, constructing pricing models, performing in-depth risk and pricing analysis, producing product approval presentation, and support product filing and implementation
• Analyse product profitability and recommend product design changes where necessary
• Continually review, identify and promote best practices and opportunities for improvement to the products
• Assume overall responsibility for each product project

Data Analysis and Reporting        

• Oversee the development of actuarial or statistical models to aid decision-making and for short- and long-term financial projections
• Analyse data to identify trends and key insights
• Develop and report on key performance and experience monitoring metrics
• Identify key trends and engage with business to understand the impact of these trends. Identify possible courses of action to take advantage of the trends identified
• Produce regular and ad-hoc reports and presentations as required
• Compile reports and presentations for the Exco, Board and Actuarial Committee

Legal and Compliance      

• Understand and ensure adherence to regulatory requirements and internal governance and control policies and procedures
• Prepare or review product specifications and actuarial reports

Oversee the provision of actuarial business support to RMA Life         

• Support the RMA Life business as a member of the divisional exco team
• Oversee the application of ORSA methodology and SAM processes and procedures
• Timeously respond to actuarial queries from the regulators (FSB/SARB/SARS)
• Plan and Budget actuarial matters and maintain a timetable of submission (financial projections)
• Inform management of actuarial specific regulatory issues (solvency and capital requirements) for the Group
• Ensure that a summary of returns and any actuarial issues are maintained to report to management (EXCO/BOARD/AUDIT etc)
• Prepare and present actuarial matters to the Board and act as an advisor to the Board and its sub-committees
• Monitor experience (reserving and pricing)
• Prepare actuarial specific areas in all the Group regulatory returns
• Monthly, Quarterly, Annual
• ORSA and SAM reporting

Staff management and monthly reporting 

• Manage, supervise and training of staff
• Manage relationships within the company and stakeholders e.g. Statutory Actuary
• Lead and motivate a team to achieve targets
• Monthly reporting of the Key Performance indications for the actuarial reporting function
• Monthly report to FM on status of accounts and returns for EXCO submission
• Effective reporting and assessment of problem areas

Regulatory compliance      

• Ensure that all work is performed in terms of required standard and regulation
• Ensure that RMA’s position is translated into standards by assessing gaps in methodology, assumptions and overall products and align standards to RMA)
• Ensure that all company policies and procedures are adhered to
• Ensure timely submission of various periodical reports, highlights of the previous month’s reports

WHAT YOU'LL BRING TO THE TABLE?

Minimum Qualification       

• NQF Level 7: Bachelor’s degree – Actuarial Science
• Qualified Actuary
• Member of Actuarial Society /Institute of Actuaries

Minimum Experience         

• Minimum 8 years’ experience in an insurance regulatory environment
• Minimum 5 years’ experience within actuarial environment, with specific experience related to life insurance pricing and product.
• Proven experience in pricing and product management and strategy development.
• Strong knowledge of actuarial principles, methodologies, and relevant software tools (such as Excel, SAS, R, or Python).

Knowledge and Skills required     

• Advanced Excel
• Insurance knowledge is essential
• Reporting experience
• Life and non-life experience
• Knowledge of the Insurance Acts (long and short term) including SAM, IFRS17
• Actuarial guidelines
• Experience leading/managing a team