A Trip to Brussels November 2012 – by Anthony Pfaff

I am just back from the Actuarial Profession’s life convention – this year in Brussels in Belgium – the land of chocolates, waffles , Tin Tin and Hercule Poirot.

I have to say the profession delivered a high quality and relevant conference with the President, Philip Scott, challenging and hopefully motivating actuaries to be leaders in these uncertain times.

It was set against the backdrop of the fall out of credit crunch and a currency crisis where the Euro was facing significant challenges.

The weather was suitably miserable at the start. However the bleak and rainy weather soon gave way to bright winter sunshine and, although the financial world appeared uncertain and volatile at the moment, the conference delivered a realistic but fairly positive message throughout.

Paul Mason of Newsnight suggested that we perhaps faced the biggest shift in how things worked since Edward III brought down the feudal system by bankrupting the Florentine bankers -when he defaulted on his debts in the 1300s.

Andrew Goodwin of Ernst and Young suggested that we had lived in a bubble with unrealistic growth expectations prior to 2008 and that realistic growth rates should actually have been much less than those experienced – although many had assumed these were going to be the norm moving forward.

Carlos Montalvo delivered a witty and animated speech about EIOPA (the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority) – defending what it stood for and was trying to achieve. He challenged actuaries to get involved with EIOPA, describing Frankfurt as a great place to work.

For those who survived the dinner, Roy Sheppard of www.royspeaks.com moved us away from the financial world and gave a frank insight into how to build relationships to enhance reputation. He reminded us that reputation is not what we think of ourselves but what others think of us and consequently what was said behind our backs. How do we ensure this is positive? He confirmed what we at YUVA consultants believe – good networking is key to a positive reputation.

Finally Otto Thoresen of the ABI ended the conference by looking at the role of insurance in the 21st Century and what role the ABI could, and is, playing in this, as a credible advocate of the life insurance industry. I asked him how we could avoid the banks dominating the financial services sector and its regulation. How could we recover credibility for the life industry? The way forward was unclear but we both agreed that, to achieve this credibility, the Life Sector had to demonstrate a social responsibility in providing proper long term care and protection to the public and could not simply be seen as a business out to generate profits like the Banks.

All the delegates I networked with agreed it had been well worth while attending. Congratulations to the organising committee and all who participated.

Finally thanks to Hymans Robertson of www.hymans.co.uk for awarding my third prize in the competition run from their stall in the exhibition hall. I rarely win anything so am really looking forward to receiving my box of Belgian chocolates!