On September 26th the University of Waterloo’s Risk Management, Economic Sustainability and Actuarial Science Development in Indonesia (READI) project along with its co-sponsor, Otoritas Jasa Keuangan (OJK), brought together 95 senior representatives from universities, life and general insurance companies, Government of Indonesia (GoI), the Embassy of Canada, and national and international associations to discuss the challenges facing the actuarial profession and actuarial education in Indonesia. The $15.5M READI project is being undertaken with the financial support of the Government of Canada provided through Global Affairs Canada (GAC). Manulife Indonesia has committed an additional $1M in support and CIMB Sun Life has similarly provided a $500,000 donation.
The workshop “Global Trends in Actuarial Education and Professional Development”, which was held in Jakarta, allowed participants to better understand the challenges to increasing the number of qualified actuaries and developing centres of actuarial science expertise at leading universities in Indonesia.
The OJK’s Asep Suwondo, director of pension and BPJS employment supervision, identified six challenges facing the actuarial profession in Indonesia and highlighted the requirements the GoI has put on the insurance industry to employ actuaries to strengthen risk management and governance.
Rianto Ahmadi Djojosugito, president of Persatuan Aktuaris Indonesia (PAI) spoke about the urgency to bring up to a 1,000 new graduates into the actuarial profession to meet the growing needs of the insurance and pension industries.
Addressing the global context, both Craig Reynolds, president of the Society of Actuaries and Colin Wilson, president of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, presented the latest developments within respective associations, outlined their Asia initiatives, highlighted services and resources available to existing and aspiring actuaries in Indonesia, and identified potential areas for synergy with the READI project and its partners.
An executive lunch meeting provided senior university and insurance industry representatives, regulators, and senior officers from the GoI and GAC with an opportunity to discuss strategies to engage in constructive collaboration to support READI.
During the afternoon, PAI leaders held in-depth discussions with the IFoA leadership, and then with the SOA leadership, to discuss how best to address the challenges facing the Indonesia’s actuarial profession. They also discussed avenues for fostering constructive collaboration. The remaining participants participated in a breakout session focused on strengthening the actuarial science profession in Indonesia with a focus on “what's working, what's not and what can be improved”. The six breakout groups identified key issues and challenges related to strengthening actuarial science education and university-industry cooperation, generated recommendations to help accelerate actuarial science education in Indonesia and suggested potential follow-up activities to support and extend the capacity development objectives targeted by the project.
Interest in the workshop was keen with participants from the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of State Secretariat, Ministry of Education and Culture, Ministry of Women's Empowerment and Child Protection, the National Development Planning Agency (BAPPENAS), and representatives from many actuarial science umbrella agencies all actively participating in the event. A firm foundation was laid for future multi-stakeholder efforts.
