Indian regulator to tighten criteria for appointment of actuaries

In a bid to improve scrutiny of the financial impact of risk and uncertainty on insurance business, the IRDA is working on tightening the criteria for the appointment of actuaries.

The Economic Times, citing a draft of the proposed new rules sent to insurance companies, reports that IRDA says that an actuary should be a company employee and below 65 years of age. Currently, actuaries, particularly in general insurance firms, work as consultants and are more than 65 years old.

Five or six general insurance companies in India have full-time actuaries who are employees, while the remaining 17 non-life insurers work with part time consultants.

The draft regulations are issued at a time when IRDA itself has failed to fill the post of Member Actuary, a key person behind product approvals at IRDA.