• Congratulations to the Feedback Prize Draw winner for the September 2025 sitting. If you fancy winning £150 worth of gift vouchers (from a major UK store) for the Summer 2025 exam sitting for just a few minutes of your time throughout the session, please see our website at https://www.acted.co.uk/further-info.html?pat=feedback#feedback-prize for more information on how you can make sure your name is included in the draw at the end of the session.
  • For every marked assignment, mock or tutorial for which you submit feedback, we will enter your name into the prize draw giving you the opportunity to win £150 of gift vouchers.

Topical issues list (updated January 2026)

Lindsay Smitherman said:
Topical issues update for 2022 exams

As a brief update on topical issues, ready for the new exam year, the list posted in December 2020 (see above) remains a very useful checklist. Additional items that might be considered include:
  • infrastructure investment, particularly those that meet sustainability objectives
  • potential reduction in the generosity of tax advantages for pensions accumulation business
  • increase in global middle classes and market expansion in developing economies
  • significant increase in data availability and connectivity potentially leading to more personalised insurance product design and pricing, including 'continuous underwriting'
  • the development of International Capital Standards (ICS) for internationally active insurance groups by the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) - see the following for an overview: https://www.bis.org/fsi/fsisummaries/ics_overview.pdf
Please do feel free to post up any other suggestions.
Click to expand...

Thanks for this Lindsay.. Are there any links you can share in relation to points 2-4 please?
 
Lindsay Smitherman said:
  • increase in global middle classes and market expansion in developing economies
Click to expand...

Hi Lindsay, for this point, are you referring to a rise in microinsurance? And maybe just generally offering insurance in less developed countries? Thank you in advance.
 
Yes, both an expansion of the potential market for microinsurance (which targets those on low incomes) but also an increase in those on middle incomes who would look to purchase standard insurance products.
 
Topical issues update for 2023 exams:
Hi

For the SA level subjects, it is important to keep abreast of current developments in the insurance industry. Although you shouldn't be tested on factual knowledge outside of the Core Reading, it is possible that some exam questions may cover topical issues that are not covered explicitly by the Course Notes.

Below is a list of topics you may wish to consider as a student studying SA2. The attached document expands briefly on the following topics:
· High inflation environment
· Implications of global pandemics on the life insurance industry
· Implications of Brexit, eg on Solvency II, EU gender directive
· IFRS 17, eg implementation issues
· The latest development of the International Capital Standards (ICS). Further information can also be found at: https://www.bis.org/fsi/fsisummaries/ics_overview.pdf)
· Climate change and the impact on insurers
· Data science and analytics
· Cyber risk

Further topics you may also want to consider are:
· Use of AI in life insurance
· The expansion of the global insurance market, eg within developing economies
· Changing pensions environment, eg reducing tax advantages
· Infrastructure investment and sustainability.

Hope you find this useful.
 

Attachments

Topical issues update for 2024 exams

Please see below a list of topics which you may wish to look further into.

Please note, this is not a exhaustive list and is just a suggestion of topics to help with further understanding of the life insurance market, which may help when answering questions from an SA2 exam scenario, particularly around practical and operational issues.

Please do feel free to post any other suggestions.
  • Climate stress and scenario testing
  • AI and its use in life insurance
  • Sustainable / ESG investment (factors to consider)
  • Increasing interest rates and high inflation environment and impacts on pricing
  • Life insurance industry’s focus on liquidity risk and liquidity risk management following economic uncertainty
  • Mortality rates – impacts from pandemic and technological advances
  • IFRS 17 latest and impacts on life insurance companies (including operational impacts)
  • Use of big data within the life insurance industry
  • Further developments within the microinsurance market
 
Topical issues update for 2025 exams

We believe that the above list for 2024 exams remains valid for sitting exams in 2025. Please feel free to post any additional suggestions.
 
Mark Willder said:
It is important that Subject SA2 students take the opportunity to keep abreast of current developments in life insurance. It is possible that some exam questions may cover topical issues that are not covered explicitly by the Course Notes alone (although you shouldn't be tested on factual knowledge outside of the Core Reading).

We've produced a document about topical issues and this is attached as a pdf. It provides a brief summary of a number of issues and weblinks to further sources of information.

Please use this thread to add any comments about topical issues and recommend any useful sources of further information.
Click to expand...
Unable to open this attached pdf? is there an alternative way? and also is there a update version for April 2025?
 
Hi, can I check that the most up to date PDF is the one from December 2022? I see the list of topical issues posted November 2023 but just wanted to check that there wasn't a document delving into more depth on each of these somewhere?
Em Francis said:
This is the latest.
Are you signed in?
Click to expand...
 
MattGlancy said:
Hi, can I check that the most up to date PDF is the one from December 2022? I see the list of topical issues posted November 2023 but just wanted to check that there wasn't a document delving into more depth on each of these somewhere?
Click to expand...
Hi

No, that is the latest. We believe these are still topical and we haven't provided detailed information as this will just be a snippet which you can easily find out by researching it. We would suggest just spending some brief time making sure you appreciate such a scenario in an exam. You would not need to know any details of these issues if they are not in the Core Reading.
 
We have updated the topical issues documents for 2026. These are now available in the Studying Subject SA2 course on the Hub. You can access this here:
https://www.bpp.com/account

You will have access to the Hub if you have purchased any online product in the past, or any product this session. The courses available to you show under the "My Learning" option.

If you haven't purchased anything for the 2026 exams and need access (ie this is a retake) you can request this via the ActEd estore:
ActEd eStore home page

The Studying Subject courses are available free of charge. You will be asked for your details but will not be charged for this product.

Once in the Studying Subject SA2 course, you'll find the topical issues under the "While you are studying" section.

Please continue to post any queries you have on the Subject SA2 course here.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top