The Strange Intellectual Death of the Pension Actuary

In a letter to the Financial Times on the 20 October 2022 a correspondent asked, in response to the LDI crisis in the UK that month, “were all actuaries asleep at the wheel?”.

An interesting question… and one that didn’t get any published reply. This was on top of the great debate that occurred in that newspaper about the funding of the Universities Pension Plan in the UK that had occurred over the previous year. Why had there been, again, next to nothing from actuaries in that newspaper on the subject which is essentially core to their existence? The great closure of defined benefit pension plans has been caused by them being too expensive, too risky and over-regulated over the years - but these issues reflect the model(s) which have been used as the correct way to measure the liability and its risks.

This paper traces the intellectual debate that has occurred over the years on the issue. It asks two big questions: is it too late to change things, and does the Pension Actuary have a real role?

Find the Q&A here: Q&A on 'Pension Reform and Evolution'