From banking to actuarial work

[wanderlust.xx]

Hi! I graduated in 2012 from university (yep, I'm British) with a good degree in maths.

I currently work in the Risk Management Division of a bank. Typically, this involves working with data and using SAS a fair amount. I've only been here six months, and my manager has been wonderful at guiding me and keeping me interested. My technical skills are growing stronger and she has been pointed out that it would be useful for me to start to think about where I'd like my career to go... she means working in the same department in a different team doing slightly different work, but this has gotten me thinking about alternative options. I'm not planning on leaving my role for the foreseeable future - at least a year - but it's nice to have a goal.

I've always been interested in a career as an actuary. I tried getting into a consultancy after graduation but never quite made it. So, as someone with good technical knowledge (SAS, VBA, Excel, SQL), would a career as an actuary now be a possibility?

Is this a good idea? I've always loved maths and stats, and the idea of doing the CTs and CAs is incredibly appealing... even if my written ability isn't fantastic. Ideally I'd like to continue using SAS - would this typically mean I'd need to get into pricing in insurance? Do consultancies use much of SAS and VBA daily?

Your opinions are greatly appreciated.

 

[Oxymoron]

I work in a pretty similar profile and all I can say is : don't think too much.

There's no reason to change anything as long as the work is good, your work provides you opportunity and you are working for people who appreciate what you do. There's so much uncertainty involved that there's no point in making backup plans years earlier that are doomed to not work when its actually time to make a decision. Just put your head down and concentrate on work as long as things are going smooth.

 

[GI Jane]

I used to work as a risk analyst in a retail bank, working on scorecards. The work is very similar to GI Pricing in my opinion.

I moved after three years as I felt banking was not the place to be. No promotions, pay increases or bonuses and a lack of a proper 'profession' so less pay, less in house reputation etc. There is the risk management exams - PRMIA etc but it seemed fairly unstructured and no huge incentive to do them.

I moved to insurance a few years ago and took my first actuary exam in 2011. I had two exemptions and I just sat my last (hopefully) in April. I work in GI Pricing in model development in an insurance company and I love it. I am so glad I moved from banking. I use SAS every day in my current job, as well as Excel.

As an aside, my bank did start sponsoring CT1 for non members after I left. You could try that in the meantime, see how you get on?

 

[waddle]

Absolutely no reason why you couldn't embark on becoming an actuary. Just bear in mind that:

- pension and life market is gloomy. You will struggle to get a job and even if you do, the job offer is very likely to be worse than your current job.
- you may need to think about what you want to do as an actuary. Actuary does all sorts of different things and they often find specialism early on, though the flexibility to move later on is there.
- many actuaries end up doing risk management work (at least in my company). If this is what you're destined as an actuary, you may consider whether it's worth the effort to sacrifice many hours of life to become the actuary.

 

[Oxymoron]

I moved after three years as I felt banking was not the place to be. No promotions, pay increases or bonuses and a lack of a proper 'profession' so less pay, less in house reputation etc. There is the risk management exams - PRMIA etc but it seemed fairly unstructured and no huge incentive to do them.

Not every bank/financial institution works like this. Companies (that aren't governed by statutory requirements) don't care about qualifications after a stage but instead look at the candidate's value addition to business. I've had a colleague who had every qualification starting with the letter 'C' (CA, CFA, CMA, CS, CWA etc etc) and got fired for being incompetent and lacking any practical potential. The idea that such qualifications are required for promotions is usually an excuse given by managers who try to play mind-games.

The difference between a banking role and a core actuarial role is you will have to compete in an open challenge with your co-workers in the former - and promotions/pay-rise is usually judged based on actual work performance and potential rather than being linked to just clearing actuarial papers. It's more work and a massive challenge when you have to clear papers at the same time - but the reward is pretty clear IMHO.