Professionalism, ethics and the Actuaries' Code in general insurance practice
Ethics questions are situational: you are given pressure, ambiguity and a plausible reason to stay quiet, and asked what you do as a professional.
The Actuaries' Code
- The IFoA's Actuaries' Code sets five principles: Integrity; Competence and Care; Impartiality; Compliance; and Openness and Transparency.
- Openness and Transparency carries the speak-up expectation: if you believe something material is being concealed or misrepresented, raise it internally and, if unresolved, consider the regulator.
- Technical work must comply with the applicable TAS; work outside your competence must be referred or supervised.
- CPD must be recorded, and practising certificates are required for specified reserved roles.
- Confidentiality is not a shield: legal and professional obligations override instructions from an employer or client.
Worked example
A reserving actuary is asked to cut IBNR by 4m to support a dividend, justified only by the claims team feeling optimistic. The professional response: test whether evidence exists (late-reported large claims, faster settlement, genuine inflation data); if not, decline to sign the revised figure; record the request and your reasoning; escalate to the chief actuary and audit committee; consider whether the Board is being misled and, if unaddressed, use the speak-up route. Document contemporaneously - the file is your defence.
Traps
Hiding behind the client's right to decide; treating confidentiality as a reason not to escalate; signing a figure you do not believe with a vague caveat; missing pressure applied indirectly through scope or deadline.