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I expect loads of students have simply pasted objects (ctrl+c/ctrl+v) in the past with no issues. But...personal experience is that pasting an...

The troublesome paragraph is 33 (my emphasis)... 33. Candidates are allowed to use any standard function available in Excel, Word and R but this...

Hi.Please see https://www.caa-global.org/covid-19-updates

Unfortunately due to COVID-19 no-one is taking M0 in May. https://www.caa-global.org/covid-19-updates

1. not a lot of difference, the same layout should suffice for both 2. an acknowledgement of the initial communication is normal and generally...

Hi. My house is very marketable (I reckon I could easily find a buyer who wants to buy it). But my house is not very liquid - it would takes...

1. Is it fine to use the sentences in our answer same as the one given in the scenario material ? I often do that, is it acceptable or not? No -...

Hi. The Q&A is not Core Reading. I would also advise making sure you have the various upgrades to the 2018 CMP. I think in this question, it is...

Hi Alex Until we know more, deadlines etc are unchanged. Keep studying!

Which question are you looking at? (Just so I can see it in context)

They are slightly different measures and beware there are many ways of defining these values (especially ES). Also, be careful about comparing...

HI. You should have received an email from the IFoA with instructions on how to access the exam. If not, contact them straight away. Education...

Hi. Yes, please see our FAQs here "Other free and paid-for eReader applications are available if you prefer not to use Adobe or if you are using...

Might be a controversial view, but I think all actuaries work in risk in one way or another.

Glad you solved it - the key is "reducing balance basis" - easy mistake to make - always read the question carefully :-)

See https://ceraglobal.org/ A quick search of The Actuary jobs currently has 3 mentioning CERA, eg...

Hi. There is another syllabus item "Construct simple statements of financial position and statements of profit or loss; understand and interpret...

Hi - the syllabus states that you need to 'Understand the structure and content of insurance company accounts.' (This does not mention 'construct'...

Hi - that's exactly why there is a marking schedule. Your script is not judged against the sample solution, but against a formal marking schedule....

Yes, it should be 54,800 resulting in ROCE of 42.7%

HI - I'm sorry, I don't know - ActEd are not involved in these. I'd have to look at the IFoA website myself!

A subsidiary is a company which the parent company has "a controlling interest". Control is normally defined as greater than 50% of the voting...

HI - if there was full dependence (ie if one risk occurred, then all the other risks occurred) you would be adding a (large!) covariance term not...

H. Congratulations on passing ST9. Your best source of information on the seminar is the IFoA here...

When considering this - remember that the exam will have been drafted in Q4 2017.

The question doesn't ask what might alter the EPS, it asks why it is necessary to quote it. The presence of convertible loan stock means there is...

The question states that the project "will increase the company's present market capitalisation by 20%". So, think of it as two steps; 1. value of...

Hi - 2 rules for you: 1. only ever make a recommendation if it is explicitly asked for in the question (otherwise you should simply "suggest" a...

Hi. The growth rate and the volatility are connected (higher expected growth implies higher variability). Intuitively you can either consider the...

No, I don't believe so. r is the risk-free rate as normal in the BS model. The company growth rate (ie increase in X) is irrelevant as the model...

HI. No major changes. Only a few tweaks to the syllabus that you can see on the IFoA 2019 pages.

40 years ago Google did not exist. It was only founded 20 years ago. Even JANET (the precursor university network to the internet) did not exist...

on page 11, it states "There is no need to learn the detailed content of a typical annual report." You should have an awareness of the sorts of...

Hi, yes "hurdle" is abbreviation of "hurdle rate" You can't deduct Capital from Risk-adj return. A bank's capital will be many multiples of its...

Let's take your example. How do you determine what X should be? How do you calculate the asset share? What will be the cost Y of a comparable...

HI. I'm not that familiar with these terms. There are a few (and only a few) Google results on these. Suggest having a look at the papers that...

If C is the Risk weighted assets then the capital required in respect of credit risk is C x 8% We also need capital of M and Op for market and...

There is no compulsion to do this - but it is an example of regulatory arbitrage. Say I have to hold a certain amount of capital against an asset....

This is a fairly complex area. You are right that as credit risk is transferred, so the capital requirement should go down - indeed this is often...

"Benefits" and "upside" are not quite the same. For example, if you insure your car, the benefit of the insurance is that if you crash, you will...

Hi. I think the XS distribution (ie Y=X-u) is uniform U(0,b-u) not (u,b). So, you end up with mean of (b-u)/2 as expected. Intuitively this must...

A new version of Digital Editions (4.5.8) has now been released which we hope will solve a number of issues. It is available to download from...

I'm not sure that marks are awarded in the examiner's report (or ASET) for simply restating that the funds are active/passive. Rather marks are...

Hi. You would certainly have scored some marks. The key point is that there is likely to be little data, so quantitative techniques may be...

For any technical issues you need to contact the IFoA directly. If you have been provided with a helpline, please use that, else try the Oxford...

You may not always be investing to match liabilities. In which case you are looking to outperform some benchmark (eg the FTSE100 or a competitor...

Hi - I was pointing out that you don't need to rebalance. Just look at the returns over the full 3-year period for the starting allocations. The...

Don't forget the XD index is cumulative. So XD(2)=XD(1)+18.65. So the income in period (2) = XD(2) - XD(1) = 18.65.

TRI(0) is whatever you chose it to be. Typically it is set to I(0).

Our interpretation is that "for background information only" means "not examinable" for ST5. (As you say this was not caveated in this way until...

Please see this thread https://www.acted.co.uk/forums/index.php?threads/cp3-exam-in-progress.14924/

Hi. There is no need to rebalance in this question. The question states that the fund manager does not rebalance. It is perhaps less obvious that...

Hi - Yes, it is often the case in ST9 that relevant points that are not on the marking schedule will gain marks. However, the marking schedule is...

I'm not sure how you'd define "proper jargon". As jargon is a function of your audience, it would be difficult to construct a definitive list.

Sorry, I'm not sure I understand the query. If you don't take any risk then you expect a risk-free return by definition?

The Core reading does indeed refer to Industrials in this context. As Industrials source goods from the Basic Materials companies then the same...

It could be any form of written communication, including those you have mentioned.

Hi. You should not need to spend 3 hours on it in total!

Yes, usually, as the income is part of the return you are trying to find.

Hi. There is no single correct way to write a report. It depends on your audience and the messages you are trying to convey. It's up to you.

This assumes you are aware that Eurodollar contracts are quoted in this way (see Chapter 11 p15)

Your RF is not correct. 6% is the continuously compounded forward rate. For valuing the FRA you need an i(4) (ie the same compounding frequency as...

To buy a bond and pay the CDS premiums costs money (even allowing for the coupons on the bond). This cost must be funded (ie there is a cost of...

Hi. As the CDS requires funding it is less attractive and thus buyers are not prepared to pay such a high price (the funding is not part of the...

Hi The ActEd solutions are not meant to be perfect, but we do try to avoid deliberately contradicting our own advice! 1. SRA is defined (not...

You would certainly be throwing marks away by using such an abbreviation (unless you really really needed to define the term!)

No - it is saying marks will be awarded for having at least two headings - ie at two sections, each with has suitable heading (there may well be...

It depends on the intended audience, a report for a Board of Directors may be different to a paper for academics. However I would expect them to...

Not really. Coupons are expressed as a percentage of the nominal, payable at the specified frequency. Eg £100 at 5% payable half yearly = two...

Hi - you would have to ask the IFoA about this discrepancy. I guess it's possible that different markers made different allowances for words in...

I think, in this context "...dividend and earnings cover..." is referring to a) dividend (level, consistency etc) and b) the dividend cover (as...

In theory the CT2 ratios are prior knowledge and could be examinable. Some of the more likely ratios for ST5 are covered in Questions 10.4, 10.11...

Sorry for the delay replying over the bank holiday weekend. 1. "You are not required to undertake any research or additional reading relating to...

There are a few other changes, including increased time for the written communication, provision of the advance material and introduction of...

"Jargon" refers to words that we think are likely to be jargon in any communication on the topic in hand. "Possible jargon" means those words or...

You can only withdraw above the initial margin. In the +/-20 case, the winner has 100 (20 withdrawn) and the loser is on 80. The CH has 180 of...

1) yes, this is somewhat frustrating. Fortunately there are plenty of other marks available for discussing the managing of risk. 2) these are...

Yes, but the marginal CDFs produce a probability. So, the outcome from these is a U[0,1] regardless of the underlying distribution.

You might like to think about 0^-2 a little. Try rewriting as 1/0^2

Log is used to refer to both base 10 and base e. In the Actuarial Tables it is stated on page 1 of the yellow formula pages that "log" refers to...

Hi. They are correct. Make sure you are working in RAD and LN

Yes and no. The first formula on p21 is the generic form of the lower bound. As the copula is only defined in 2-dimensions, then N=2 and you end...

A swaption is an option to enter into a swap, so if you have a floating rate loan plus a swaption, you can enter into a swap to exchange your...

But don't forget the losing party will have deposited initial margin. If both parties initially deposit 100, say, and maintenance is set at 70,...

You can't sell shares if you have lent them out. Most lenders are long-term holders in any event. I guess if you had lent shares and wished to...

1. Initial margin is set at establishment of the contact and paid. Yes 2. Daily level of outstanding margin adjusted by marking to market...

Basically that is correct - just convert this to a £ amount

Clearing houses are for-profit and charge fees. For example, the LCH is a UK limited company (with a French holding company parent). You can see...

It is a zero-sum game. If the asset is exchanged then the seller's position is "less one asset" and the buyer is "plus one asset". The seller has...

The word count is only based on the main body of text (not the address etc).

Please check the 2018 Upgrade document https://www.acted.co.uk/paper_cmp_upgrade.html

Yes, they should. I suppose we could think about a new Board member, or a NED who needs a reminder!

As a clue, you are asked to find a 95% VaR (ie min loss in 5% of cases). You have been given the size of the loss that might occur at 5% .....

Yes.

I would see ALM as included in 2. investment strategy

There are lots of resources on this online - suggest a bit of Googling in the first instance. Not really, by definition. Do some research on...

1. yes 2. sometimes it is easier to work in generator functions than in the copula function, they tend to be closed form functions

Hi, there is rather a lot more to ST9 than The Sweeting textbook. Obviously, I'd encourage you to use the ActEd CMP, but at the very least you...