SOA To Rethink Credentials Changes

By Allison Bell

October 26, 2009 at 08:00 PM

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The Society of Actuaries board says it will drop the current version of efforts to update the SOA system for verifying would-be actuaries' actuarial knowledge.

The "Future Education Methods concept" called for letting successful graduates of accredited university actuarial courses use the courses in place of some of the notoriously tough actuarial competency exams.

The SOA, Schaumburg, Ill., has been working on the concept with two other actuarial groups – the Canadian Institute of Actuaries, Ottawa, Ontario, and the Casualty Actuarial Society, Arlington, Va.

SOA officials reported in September that it, the CIA and the CAS had received about 1,000 comments on the concept.

This weekend, at an SOA board meeting, the "board acknowledged the significant concerns raised by the membership and their employers regarding the Future Education Methods concept and has agreed not to proceed with the concept in its current form," the SOA says.

The SOA board is asking the committees in charge of "knowledge transfer initiatives" to consider alternatives to the concept and report back in February 2010.

"The SOA will also appoint a task force to recommend enhanced communications with our members on this subject," the group says.

In other matters, the SOA board:

- Is working on a treaty that would make the Chartered Enterprise Risk Analyst credential the "global enterprise risk management credential."

- Has created a professional development committee, in an effort to improve professional development programs.

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