Working as an actuary is a challenging career for those enthralled with mathematics and numbers, with brisk job growth prospects as Thailand has very few people on this career path.
Providing insurance policy details to clients. Actuaries play a significant role in forming insurance policy plans. PORNPROM SATRABHAYA
Actuaries are business professionals who deal with the measurement and management of risk and uncertainty. Most of them work for insurance companies, superannuation funds, consulting firms, and government organisations.
For decades, the common perception in Thailand has been that career prospects for this job were limited to the insurance industry. The experience of the US and UK disproves this notion, as actuarial sciences are one of the most popular career paths among first-time workers because jobs can generate huge income for those employed by accounting or auditing partners and law firms.
On the domestic front, there are only 127 certified actuaries working in Thailand's insurance industry, with 75 fellowships from the internationally recognised Society of Actuaries (SOA), said Suthiphon Thaveechaiyagarn, secretary-general of the Office of Insurance Commission (OIC).
Of the 127 certified actuaries, 76 are plying their trade for 23 life insurance companies, with the rest working for 60 non-life insurance companies.
BRISK CAREER PATH
For insurance companies, individuals who have a background in actuarial science will have a better career path, with a good likelihood of becoming chief financial offers or chief executive officers as actuaries are responsible for calculating costs and setting insurance product prices, said Pichet Jiaramaneetaweesin, president of the Society of Actuaries of Thailand.
Simply put, they are the brains behind a series of corporate strategies being put into practice.
Experienced actuaries are offered a seven-digit monthly salary as company executives, while the starting salary is akin to other jobs, except for those equipped with actuary fellowships, he said.
Mr Pichet is still the only Thai national who has received fellowships from actuarial boards in three countries -- the US, the UK, and Thailand.
With an undergraduate educational background as an industrial engineer, he became familiar with the actuarial profession 20 years ago through a website. He began his journey with a rigorous four-year programme to pass exams at the fellowship level for the SOA.
Aged 41, Mr Pichet has his own company, Actuarial Business Solution.
The company has two business segments -- offering consults to 24 life insurance and 60 non-life insurance companies on insurance product design and calculating reserved funds in case of outsourcing or a lack of personnel.
The company also operates as an adviser for merger and acquisition deals of insurance companies.
"An actuary is someone who can calculate the true value of an insurance company. This is calculated from the company's profit projections, including insurance claims," he said.
His company also provides insurtech, offering ultra-customised policies, social insurance, using new streams of data from internet-enabled devices to dynamically price premiums according to observed behaviour, and is an adviser for online insurance products as well.
"There is no retirement age for professional actuaries. I have seen many actuaries who are 70 years old, but are still active," said Mr Pichet.
But those above 35 years who are just joining the field may find it difficult to reach the fellowship level, he said.
The exception are those who undergo a professional actuarial course to create an advantage for themselves as actuarial sciences can be applied to various fields.
From the viewpoint of an advisory company, Mr Pichet said the staff that he looks for should have English-language competence, be proficient with at least one computer program, and be able to learn computer programming.
MERIT-BASED PAY
Paichayon Tongsin, a 33-year-old who works as an assistant manager at Advance Life Insurance, has been in this career for five years.
He worked as a construction engineer for a year and learned about actuarial sciences through a friend working in the financial industry.
Since then, he decided to take a master's degree in insurance at the National Institute of Development Administration and changed his career path to insurance.
"The interesting part of this job is the salary raises. The company I work for adjusts employee salaries after each level of actuarial exams is passed. You can earn a higher income depending on your desire and discipline," said Mr Paichayon.
Salary adjustment for staff who pass exam levels 1-3 is between 2,000-5,000 baht per level, while the raise is around 4,000-6,000 baht per level for exam levels 4-5. From level 5 onwards, salary adjustment is 10,000 baht per level.
The salary for first-time workers who have already attained a high level of certification might not be as high because they lack work experience, he said.
Exam fees can be reimbursed from most insurance companies, while some companies provide leave for employees preparing for exams.
Seen as a backbone for insurance companies, actuaries have low career risk as they help companies to minimise operation risks.
MATH WHIZZES
"Actuaries are necessary not only for the insurance industry, but also the public sector. Many state agencies such as the Social Security Office [SSO], the Public Health Ministry, the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives are in need of actuaries as well," said Napoom Suwannapoom, 29, who works as a statistician at the R&D division of the statistical and actuarial department under the SSO.
Mr Napoom has been working at the SSO for more three years and the R&D division, which was set up a couple of years ago, has three staff who have educational backgrounds in actuarial science, with the rest of the team having statistical backgrounds.
As the first recipient of SSO scholarship with a master's degree in actuarial science from the Britain, Mr Napoom said actuarial science can be applied to all issues related to numbers and mathematics. His passion lies in calculating risk and uncertainty.
The SSO's role is to manage the social fund received from member companies.
Money from the fund is collected from monthly salary contributions of both employees and employers, making up around 80% of the fund, while government monthly contribution is at 2.75%.
"Working at the SSO is really challenging as it is the country's largest fund related to people's retirement age and retirement savings," he said.
One of the most challenging aspects is undertaking the revision of pension payments when a member is deceased, whereby the minimum guarantee for beneficiaries has been revised to five years from 10 months previously.
As his passion lies in mathematics, Mr Napoom enjoys every bit of calculation involving maths for statistical calculations and pension guarantees.
The payment revision of pensions requires mathematical knowledge and literacy on population models such as fertility and mortality rates, along with statistics on the number of expatriates working in Thailand and their contribution to Social Security, he said.
Knowledge on retirees' mortality rate and the effect on the fund is also vital, said Mr Napoom.
Despite rigorous calculations, the charm of this career is, he said, is being a part of the policy devised from gathering evidence and information.
"Actuaries are able to see statistical numbers differently than other people do. They can foresee the future from numbers [such as] how benefits will be carried out to specific people," said Mr Napoom.
"Apart from experiencing a new dimension [of policy assessment], I take pride in the recognition of the work that I do.
"I am proud that I am able to do this job, where before only foreigners were hired for this profession."
Pichet: Calculating true values
Suthiphon: Only 127 are certified actuaries