Most financial services companies these days have a risk management framework with three lines of defence. The diagram below shows the three lines of defence, as illustrated by a bank. So where does the Appointed Actuary fit into this picture? The original Appointed Actuary in the UK was effectively solelyContinue Reading
Last year I read a fascinating book, Unnatural Selection: Choosing Boys Over Girls, and the Consequences of a World Full of Men, by Mara Hvistendahl. She talks about the issue of missing women, how demographically, there should be more women than there are in many different countries of the world. TheContinue Reading
Regulatory change is a constant in most financial services areas these days. Insurance in Australia is no different. APRA is in the middle of a major upgrade to the regulatory capital regime for life and general insurers, which is due to start from 1 January 2013. So far, most ofContinue Reading
This article, from the US smart money magazine, is a fascinating look at the latest thinking on how long we are likely to live. You really should read it in full. It looks at the latest thinking on longevity, and what that means for retirement planning. Some US life insurersContinue Reading
Today’s book review is Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, by Daniel Pink. For a quick summary of the thesis, his Ted Talk is a good start, with the bonus that it will only take 20 minutes to watch. And this is a fairly slight book. But the thesis isContinue Reading
Last month, the annual fertility rates were released by the ABS. I last did a post on this two years ago, so it is time for an update. My broad conclusion was that fertility rates are pretty stable in Australia, with the very important caveat that that stability is in theContinue Reading
Currently on our travels, I’m in Norway, and Norway, in the 21st century, is proud of its position as one of the most equal countries (by gender roles) in the world. Statistics Norway has a special gender equality index, and 40% of the parliament (the Storting) is female. Norway has goneContinue Reading
As we missed yet another u-bahn train laboriously putting €2.80 in a ticket machine yesterday for the boys’ train tickets, I pondered the various approaches taken to honesty by all the public transport systems we have tried. Singapore, China, Israel, and the Netherlands share a common characteristic. It is nigh onContinue Reading
Ross Gittins, in his column this week talked about how much we seem to distrust the government because we don’t want to pay extra taxes to help flood victims, even though we are very willing to give money voluntarily. And yet Julie Bishop this week complained that the government isn’t doingContinue Reading
A few weeks ago, the Penguin family had a very enjoyable time at Rocket Car Day, in inner-city Sydney. Our car, the Silver Surfer, won its heat, and was a respectable third place in its repechage final (also in the SMH here). The day was very enjoyable. It was entirelyContinue Reading