Reflecting and Looking Ahead

SOA Greater Asia Committee chair shares highlights from 2024 and plans for 2025

Taik Ki (TK) Lee April 2025

Photo: Adobe

The Society of Actuaries (SOA) established the Greater Asia Committee in 2015 to serve SOA members and candidates and coordinate activities in nine key regions across Asia. This committee supports the Asian actuarial community in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam, and helps inform SOA members and candidates about emerging actuarial trends. Our mission is to enhance engagement and professional development within the actuarial community through significant events and initiatives such as in-person events, webcasts and regional outreach.

REFLECTING ON 2024

Looking back at 2024, the actuarial community focused on preparing for new regulations (IFRS 17 and local solvency regimes), and improving the financial reporting process was still at the center of interest for valuation and modeling actuaries. In this process, technology advancements to improve computing power and modeling methodologies were shared and discussed.

We also explored the impact of and ethical considerations around artificial intelligence (AI) on the actuarial field. Additionally, the importance of climate risk for insurers was a prominent topic given the increasing frequency of extreme weather events.

In 2024, we had many exciting activities and programs that engaged members and candidates in different regions in collaboration with local actuarial associations.

EVENTS, ARTICLES AND VIRTUAL LEARNING IN 2024

Attending conferences and seminars is a great way to learn about current hot topics in the industry, exchange ideas and network with other candidates and members.

In-person Events

One of the key highlights for 2024 was the SOA Asia-Pacific Annual Symposium, which took place in Kuala Lumpur on June 12–13; the two-day event attracted more than 300 participants from 16 countries.

A look at the 2024 SOA Asia-Pacific Symposium. — A panel discussion at the 2024 SOA Asia-Pacific Symposium.

The majority of the attendees were C-suite leaders and senior and middle managers. This signature event was complemented by four seminars across Asia, including the SOA Singapore Seminar in March, the AICT-SOA Joint Seminar in April in Taipei, the Seoul Seminar in September, and the SOA-SOAT Joint Professionalism Seminar in November in Bangkok. Combined, more than 400 participants attended the events, with full houses in Taipei and Seoul.

Webcasts

In 2024, we hosted five paid webcasts covering professionalism, health products, risk-based capital (RBC), technological advancements in insurance, and reinsurance solutions on assets and liabilities. Additionally, the Faculty Webcast Series featured three sessions, focusing on SOA education and research, industrial sharing on actuarial career options and faculty sharing.

REGIONAL OUTREACH

Increasing our visibility in the local industries is as important as supporting our members and candidates through the activities described above. To increase SOA’s visibility to local societies, we conduct many activities, including local university visits, career fairs and employer meetings. We also hold several networking events in a few local markets.

Regional outreach efforts included in-person and virtual networking events. Notable events were the networking receptions in Seoul and Hong Kong, and a virtual Singapore candidate event in August. There were also university visits, employer visits and meetings, and sponsored events in Asia.

Sponsored events featured student events, such as the SAS Career Fair and practitioner events, including the Singapore Actuarial Conference, East Asian Insurance Congress (EAIC), Asian Actuarial Conference (AAC ) in Hong Kong, Vietnam Actuarial Conference (VAC) and the 65th Annual Actuarial Society of the Philippines (ASP) convention. I personally had the privilege of speaking at the ASP event and enjoyed the vibrant atmosphere created by passionate actuaries.

To reach a wider audience in the region, the Greater Asia Committee’s webcast subcommittee hosted eight monthly webcasts in 2024. Topics and speakers were carefully selected to help members and candidates stay competent in this fast-evolving environment. Participants included Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam among others from the region.

In 2024, our editorial subcommittee published seven articles in The Actuary digital magazine.

We also continued our Asia Young Actuary Program and coordinated fun contests for Asia candidates and members. The Young Actuary video contest attracted many participants.

The research subcommittee has also actively discussed topics to research in depth so it can support members and candidates in the field.

LOOKING AHEAD TO 2025

As we move full steam ahead into 2025, we will continue to support the actuarial journey through exciting events and learning opportunities. We have formed an organizing committee to prepare for our flagship event, June’s Asia-Pacific Annual Symposium to be held in Hong Kong. A lot of exciting topics have been proposed, and we expect this to be another great event.

Besides the PAI-SOA Joint Webinar held in February, we have several exciting seminars planned in Taiwan, Korea and Malaysia this year in collaboration with our professional actuarial association partners. For details of the latest Asia events, feel free to follow us on Asia LinkedIn and Asia Facebook, and search for ways to engage on the SOA Professional Development Opportunities home page.

Webcasts and articles tackling very interesting topics reflecting current trends are on the way. We will continue our strong relationships with local associations, schools and communities to increase the visibility of the actuarial profession.

We will also continue to expand our regional outreach, including university visits, scholarship offerings and local networking events. So, stay tuned for these upcoming opportunities for you to connect with fellow members, faculty and actuarial students.

I would like to express my deepest appreciation for the Greater Asia Committee volunteers’ generous contributions to our successes last year. Their passion for this career, the SOA, and fellow members and candidates is what really energizes this journey.

For those who haven’t had a chance to volunteer, I strongly encourage you to consider joining the Greater Asia Committee. It is a great opportunity to contribute to improving our organization.

Taik Ki (TK) Lee, FSA, is managing director and head of Aon PathWise APAC with expertise and experiences in a variety of actuarial areas, notably in hedging and asset-liability management (ALM).

Statements of fact and opinions expressed herein are those of the individual authors and are not necessarily those of the Society of Actuaries or the respective authors’ employers.